Each year organizers create a variety of lounges where attendees can watch a simulcast of speakers. New this year was a ball pit filled with beanbag chairs and beach balls.
Glamour magazine and Facebook are planning a series of live events to reach young women this election season. The initiative was announced at a launch party that took place in March at the P.O.V. Lounge at W Washington, D.C., hotel. Donkeys, elephants, and the Glamour and Facebook logos were emblazoned on the lemons and limes used to garnish drinks.
More than 10,000 unique visitors came through the activation over the course of two days. Specialty cocktails such as the Bacardi Governors Punch were available for purchase at a bar constructed out of plastic crates.
During this pre-dinner interactive experience from Wolfgang Puck Catering, guests break into groups and move from station to station pickling their own ingredients. Two weeks later, the jars are ready to eat. The catering company also provides recipe ideas with ways to use the new pickled ingredients.
At Kimpton Taconic's adult summer camp in Manchester, Vermont, guests spend a weekend participating in outdoor activities, including hiking, kayaking, yoga, kite making, glass blowing, and zip-lining. Plus, attendees learn how to master the pit with alfresco barbecue lessons. The hotel offers two camp sessions (June 23 to 26 and August 25 to 28), with other weekends available upon request with three weeks’ notice. The cost is $418 a night per person.
Launching this fall, the Hilton New Orleans Riverside will be offering hands-on mixology classes in Public Belt, the speakeasy-style piano lounge on the hotel’s second floor. The crash course begins with a cocktail history lesson, followed by an interactive demonstration of the city’s signature drink: the old-fashioned. Participants receive recipe cards and a Public Belt T-shirt. The fee is based on group size, with a maximum of 20 meeting attendees. And across the Mississippi at Whiskey and Rye at the Omni Fort Worth Hotel in Texas, groups learn how to make a local favorite: the Depot. The cocktail is served with Texas whiskey, muddled blackberries, Grand Marnier, lemon juice, and sugar.
The Thompson Playa del Carmen in Mexico offers up a “Catch of the Day” program, where guests team up with local fishermen to catch fresh fish offshore, which can then be grilled or made into ceviche or sushi for the group dinner. In addition, guests can pair their fish dishes with the hotel's tequila and mezcal flight-tasting classes.
At the Towers of the Waldorf Astoria New York, small groups can book an exclusive beekeeping experience, where they can explore the hotel's rooftop hives with a culinary team member and learn how the honey is incorporated into their three-course lunch of honey-infused dishes.
At the Marriott Harbor Beach Resort in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, groups head to the hotel’s herb garden to handpick their own mint to be muddled into cocktails during mojito mixology classes. And in Michigan, groups can create a farm-to-flute pineapple sage mojito at the JW Marriott Grand Rapids’ bar Jdek, which features an outdoor garden [pictured] and a living wall of herbs, fruits, and vegetables where participants learn how to pick pineapple sage and muddle it with fresh fruit.
In their spacious shop, the owners of Jersey City, New Jersey-based Bucket & Bay Craft Gelato Company teach guests how to make the company's inventive flavors from scratch, including gelato made with seasonal ingredients and infused with spirits like whiskey, rum, or mezcal. Bucket & Bay offers one-of-a-kind flavors such as Rose Latte (rose-petal-infused milk gelato); Purple Sticky Rice (black sticky rice and lemon grass); and Black Label Vanilla with Johnnie Walker Black Label.
At the Waldorf Astoria Orlando and Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek, guests create seasonal meals by plucking produce from an indoor herb wall and vegetable garden. Elsewhere in Florida, the Hilton West Palm Beach offers an experiential Mason jar salad-making class where attendees handpick oranges from the potted trees located on the Palm Deck to make a flavorful citrus dressing.
Denver-based winery the Infinite Monkey Theorem offers a blending trial at its Austin, Texas, location in which groups create their own vessel of wine. Guests can then take home two growlers of their custom blend.
The historic Clifton Inn in Charlottesville, Virginia, offers guests the opportunity to explore the 100-plus-acre property with hands-on foraging sessions and cooking classes as part of its two-day “Forage & Feast” package. In addition, guests learn basic culinary lessons, such as how to sharpen knives and how to clean and prepare fresh fish. The package costs $4,000 and requires a minimum of six guests.
Through its partnership with Wicked Dolphin Rum, guests of the Westin Cape Coral Resort at Marina Village in Florida can tour the distillery, learn the art of making rum, and sample specialty flights. Groups are provided with recipe cards and challenged to craft a cocktail with the company's rum and seasonal ingredients.
In Toronto, C2 Catering Couture serves sugar bubbles filled with chocolate mousse and a fortune cookie. The dessert is served alongside a hammer to crack open the sphere.
San Francisco's Asian Art Museum Gala took place March 2. The event, which celebrated the connection between art and technology, featured a 96-foot-long LED tube chandelier designed by Got Light. The multicolor installation was created with more than 200 tubes.
The St. Patrick's Episcopal Day School's annual spring auction took place March 4. The event had a "Be a Hero" theme, with decor that included a city skyline on the walls with silhouettes of superheroes flying above. Events by André Wells designed the event.
Veuve Clicquot's third annual Carnaval-theme event took place March 4 at Museum Park in Miami. Designed by Overland Entertainment Company, the event featured a backdrop of greenery that displayed the event's title and Veuve Clicquot champagne bottles.
Carnaval-theme entertainment included a batucada performance on a stage in the Veuve Clicquot color.
The event's hashtag was showcased in signage created with orange feathers.
PatrĂłn celebrated National Margarita Day on February 22 with a tequila-theme consumer event at Sir Stage37 in New York. The event, which kicked off the brand's annual Margarita of the Year competition, featured a branded pyramid that showcased projection-mapping technology. The top of the pyramid broadcast GIF videos created by attendees at a nearby kiosk.
Pinch Food Design created unique catering options including churros served from an umbrella.
Upfront Ventures hosted its fifth annual summit on February 1 and 2 at the Event Deck at L.A. Live in Los Angeles. Produced by RG Live Events, the event featured two interactive LED light tunnels that led to a custom-built theater.
Guests registered under a dome structure in the main tent, which provided an airy space with lounge seating.
To showcase how Google Home and Google Play Music work together, Google hosted a block-party-theme consumer event at Abbot Kinney in Los Angeles from February 11 to 12 and at Chelsea Market in New York from February 24 to 26. The activation, which was designed by Grow Marketing, featured three tiny homes with decor inspired by YouTube personalities.
Backstage during the ceremony, presenters and winners celebrated with golden goblets of Moët & Chandon, the official champagne of the Golden Globes. Overall, the brand served more than 1,500 Moët & Chandon Impérial minis, 125 cases of Moët & Chandon Grand Vintage 2006 and Moet Rosé Impérial magnums, and 500 cocktails featuring Moët & Chandon Impérial. The brand also continued its annual philanthropic initiative, “Toast for a Cause,” for the ninth year. The program invites nominees to raise a toast in support of their favorite charities; for each toast, Moët donates $1,000 to the charity in the nominees’ names.
