Event Ideas

Todd Events designed the October 2013 event at the Rachofsky House in Dallas. "The black-and-white theme was selected because every year the event has an honorary artist," said a rep for the company. "The artist from last year worked in a black-and-white medium for his art pieces, so we played the event decor off that." Tables were decked with striped linens and glassware that reflected the theme.

The event's menu items also reflected the black-and-white theme.

Instead of a red carpet, designers laid down a black-and-white-striped carpet at the entrance.

This year's event took place at Toronto's the Carlu in February. To bring the old-Hollywood-style Casablanca theme to life, planners filled the dining room with tables decked in simple black linens and surrounded with white-cushioned chairs.

Books and the printed page inspired the Walrus Gala in Toronto in January. The black-and-white color scheme carried over into decor elements such as festive cocktail straws.

For the 2008 event in Toronto, graffiti artist Mike Echlin painted trees against a black backdrop for a haunted-forest effect.

For a 2012 wedding in New York that promoted the series, Sylvia Weinstock designed the cake, which was a black-and-white confection designed to look like a large vase of flowers. Fran Drescher (pictured) officiated.

The museum hosted a gala in 2013 to fete its "Impressionism, Fashion, and Modernity" exhibition. Event designer Bill Heffernan of HMR Design Group used a black-and-white color scheme inspired by some of the 19th-century dresses on display. To complement the fashion-inspired setting, tables were topped with 19th-century-style wire urns set atop black-and-white hat boxes.

Here's a clever idea for a black-and-white centerpiece: at the 2009 event in Miami, miniature working pianos were used as centerpieces in the dining room.

At the 2007 event in Washington, designer David Tutera wrapped napkins in paper filmstrips to create an old Hollywood look.

The 2006 ball had a look inspired by writer and illustrator Edward Gorey. Grayson Bakula Design's enchanted forest looked slightly more sinister with Bentley Meeker's barren branch projections.

The 2011 event in Boston had a Batman theme. In a subterranean carnival area, black-and-white signs for sponsors hung above the games. Winners received prizes from the designated sponsor.

At an HP promotion in Los Angeles in 2013, a palette of black and white created a visually striking scene.

The 2011 Emmy Governors Ball had the theme of "mod illusions" with a 1960s-style black-and-white decor scheme that hearkened back to the era of Truman Capote's famous bash.

At the museum's 2012 event, a streamlined, modern bar stood at the center of the room with an arrangement of black-and-white lanterns hanging overhead.

Striped tablecloths and mismatched seating offered a funky take on the theme at the 2011 event in Los Angeles. White messages decorated black walls in the dining room, and bright green floral arrangements added a pop of color.

The 2013 event took place at a Los Angeles mansion, and black-and-white decor took on a residential feel. To celebrate the heritage of British Airways, the Union Jack appeared on black-and-white pillows at a seating group that surrounded a modern fire pit.

The theme played out in an exotic, draped setting at the 2010 premiere in New York. The venue was divided into three distinct areas, one of which was the black-and white-toned Rink Bar. The producers built custom cabanas in the area, using striped draping, votive candles, and seven-watt globe lights for illumination.

In 2012, the symphony decked its ball in elegant, black-and-white decor from Blueprint Studios.

In 2010, the summertime event took place at an East Hampton sculpture garden and preserve. Presenting a more casual take on the black-and-white theme, planners erected a tented white lounge with large black scrims. The scrims displayed lyrics from honoree Laurie Anderson's songs, including "Falling," "Strange Perfumes," and "Thinking of You."

At the 2011 fund-raiser in Miami, Truman Capote's famous Black and White Ball inspired the look. Deco Productions created two 16- by 42-foot prints to display on either side of the stage, one showing a reclining model, the other showing a large eyeball. Each was divided into six individually framed panels and suspended from the ceiling.

Coinciding with Bastille Day, Fête Paradiso brought authentic French carnival amusements to Governors Island this summer. Rides included a bicycle carousel from the late 19th century, one of only two in the world that were created in Paris to encourage the use of what was then the new mode of transportation: the bicycle. (The other carousel can be seen in the film Midnight in Paris.) 

To launch its Jason Wu collection in January last year, the retail giant remodeled Skylight SoHo in New York into a Parisian street scene. In keeping with the night's theme, the waitstaff wore black and white clothing, with white shirts and black bow ties for the men and striped sweaters and pleated black skirts from the Jason Wu for Target collection for the women.

The Lyric Opera's February event in Chicago had a "Midnight in Paris" theme. In the lobby of the downtown opera house, Event Creative designer Jeffrey Foster erected giant replicas of Parisian street signs. An illuminated windmill nodded to the iconic signage of the Moulin Rouge; downstairs, cocktail tables were covered in giant tutus in a cheeky reference to the dancers.

In April, the Washington Ballet hosted "A Movable Feast: the Hemingway in Paris Ball" at the Library of Congress. Dancers from the professional company dressed in character and put on a skirt-lifting show inspired by the legendary performers of—you guessed it— the Moulin Rouge.

At the premiere party for the film at New York's Metropolitan Club in 2009, a raw bar filled with jumbo shrimp, clams, oysters, and crab claws was decorated with an elaborate Eiffel Tower ice sculpture.

During Art Basel in Miami last December, the Reprise Parisienne party at Villa 221 had a surreal French carnival theme. A theater troupe, Josepher the Ringleader and the Danger Kitties, dressed as freak-show mime characters and added to the arty vibe.

At the 2010 store opening in Chicago, New York-based caterer Olivier Cheng prepared a buffet of French desserts. Offerings included strawberry topiaries, macaron towers, rosemary-honey-almond tarts, and salted-caramel mousse in chocolate cups.

For an event hosted by the Travel Channel last October, Levy Lighting provided a surround-sound video that let guests feel like they were traveling. A floor-to-ceiling, wraparound screen formed a circle around the reception space at Center548 in New York, and the custom video projected footage from Paris and other locales.

Chambord hosted the official global launch party for its vodka at Mondrian South Beach in 2010. Entertainers dressed in risqué versions of Victorian-era French costumes greeted arriving guests.

The World Presidents' Organization New England Chapter Gala had a French theme in 2010, when it took over Boston's Langham Hotel. The dining room's decor, inspired once again by the Moulin Rouge, had feather-topped centerpieces that were illuminated from within.

In 2009, the Los Angeles event channeled a haunted French theater. Lounge areas around the room included black and gold seating accented by French-style lamps.

The Museum of Modern Art hosted the New York premiere party for Marie Antoinette in 2006. Sponsor Van Cleef & Arpels displayed jewels atop colorful confections.

The 2011 luncheon in Chicago took place at the Four Seasons Hotel but was dubbed “Lunch at Maxim's.” To bring the famous Parisian eatery to life, planners arranged for mustache-bearing maître d' characters to greet guests and lead them to the ballroom on a path lined with mini Eiffel Towers.

Lingerie Française Paris hosted a runway show at Toronto's Wychwood Barns in 2010. The event, dubbed “A French Rendez-Vous,” adopted a Parisian theme with images of iconic landmarks like the Eiffel Tower and the Moulin Rouge as a backdrop. Dancers from Hit and Run Productions added a theatrical element to the runway show and sported Parisian-inspired tropes such as parasols and ballet slippers.

French-inspired Hollywood spot Les Deux became an all-out 18th-century Parisian playground for TV Guide’s Emmy after-party in 2007. Models in period costumes lounged in the outdoor French manicured garden.

Phillips Collection Gala in Washington in 2008 had a French theme inspired by the collection's famed canvas: Renoir's "Luncheon of the Boating Party." The masterpiece was pictured on the event's program.

At the 2007 event in New York, umbrellas printed with an Eiffel Tower scene added a dreamlike quality—and a little French flair— to the deck of the Dream Hotel.

At the 2008 gala at the Liberty Grand Entertainment Complex in Toronto, replicas of the Eiffel Tower topped tables in a Paris-themed dining area.

An Eiffel Tower ice sculpture decorated one of the bars at the 2010 gala in Washington.

At last year's Boston gala, tables had woodsy decorations and names inspired by fairy tales. Some guests, for example, ate dinner at the Thumbelina table.

For the Toronto company's 2009 holiday party, chef Domenic Chiaromonte of Match Restaurant created a fairy tale-inspired menu. The chef, known for his scientific flair, used unexpected ingredients like edible paper adorned with the Capital C logo to create themed crackers (to accompany mini servings of butternut squash soup) and edible silver sparkle to top mini lobster burgers with double brie. For dessert, Chiaromonte served pink chocolate Cinderella shoes, jelly belly popcorn, flower pot mousse, and chocolate cheesecake orbs.

At the Aladdin-themed fund-raiser, held in Boston in 2010, servers wore fezzes as they passed hors d'oeuvres.

As a nod to the poisoned apple in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, escort cards at the fairy tale-themed gala were calligraphy-printed cards attached to red apples. The event was held in Washington in November.

In 2011, the Paris event included a fashion show with models sporting looks inspired by classic fairy-tale dresses. Flanked by the stage and bar, a 246-foot-long reflective runway ran the entire length of the tent and served as the site for the show.

The 2009 event in Toronto had a "Once Upon a Time" theme. The cocktail reception included a teacup ride.

Projections of moving bubbles lit up the opening-night party for the Broadway production of The Little Mermaid in 2008.

To play up the Cinderella theme at the opera's 2010 gala in Toronto, organizers placed a white carriage outside the entrance to the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts.

In 2010, Chicago's ballet company hosted a Cinderella-themed luncheon. Dessert was a dark-chocolate pumpkin filled with mousse and garnished with raspberries, hot-pink sugar, and a chocolate "XO."

The 2008 event also had a Cinderella theme. Guests entered on a pink carpet, flanked by trumpeters and two 8-year-old boys dressed as footmen.

At the tabletop design competition in Washington in 2010, Gloria Rhodes and Capital Party Rentals took the Princess and the Pea theme literally by placing peas and pea pods on the utensils and the menu.

Cheryl Cecchetto of Sequoia Productions executed the “romantic rhapsody in red” theme at the 2012 Emmys Governors Ball in Los Angeles with a giant rose concept and copious amounts of the color.

Stoelt Productions upped the excitement for the 2012 Clio awards after-party at New York’s American Museum of Natural History by flooding the event with red lighting.

The 2012 Pencer Brain Trust Gala in Toronto used flamboyant orange hues to support its edgy, rock theme. 

Even cocktails at the 2012 Pencer Brain Trust Gala were infused with the color.

Billy Butchkavitz’s design inspiration at HBO’s 2009 Golden Globes party in Los Angeles came from the colorful “emotional architecture” style of Luis Barragán and vintage ’60s textiles. Butchkavitz washed restaurant Circa 55 and the adjoining pool area at the Beverly Hilton in a banana yellow animal print.

Torches floated on lily-pad-like structures in the Beverly Hilton's pool, which reflected yellow decor elements from HBO’s 2009 Golden Globes party.

Lush canopies of natural greenery popped against neon green Lucite tabletops at the Museum of Modern Art’s 2013 Party in the Garden benefit in New York.