To encourage attendees to mingle, organizers provided blankets and picnic baskets filled with food for six and invited them to find others to share it.
For a couple’s cocktail hour, Boutique Bites incorporated hand-made ramen (pictured, left) served in tiny sake cups with mini chopsticks. The cups were wrapped with decorative washi tape and served on a tray with mini mugs of Sapporo beer. For another couple’s playful reception, the Chicago-based catering company created mini funnel cakes, which were served in clear funnels on top of small glass bottles that were filled with orange and cherry soda; the serving tray was lined with cotton to give the illusion the dessert was sitting in a cloud.
The 15th annual Boobyball, which raises funds for Rethink Breast Cancer, took place October 14 at Rebel in Toronto. Produced by Rethink's event team, the event had a tropical "Paradise City" theme and featured an oxygen bar from Element Oxygen Bars.
Experimental food, design, and technology studio BevLab offered guests edible sugar balloons.
To celebrate the start of the 2016-2017 basketball season, the N.B.A. partnered with Mountain Dew to install 40-foot-tall branded basketball installations for fan events. The installations, which were designed by Firstborn and fabricated by Inflatable Design Group, came to the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on October 21, the Wynwood Art District in Miami on October 23, and the Public Square in Cleveland on October 25. The event series was produced by FreemanXP.
On October 24 at Sony Square NYC, Sony Pictures Television debuted two immersive "escape games" based on its NBC dramas Timeless and The Blacklist. Open to the public through December 2, the interactive experience allows participants to step inside the world of one of the two shows by becoming a character and participating in a storyline that involves solving a critical mission within 10 minutes. The experience, which was created by LeadDog Marketing Group, incorporates Sony technology in both challenges.
This year's Forbes Under 30 Summit took place October 16 to 19 at various locations in Boston. Event sponsor Ocean Spray created a cranberry bog in the middle of the Under 30 Village and invited guests to put on waders and step inside, where they could relax at a table and talk to cranberry growers about the future of food and farming.
The ninth annual Food Network & Cooking Channel New York City Wine & Food Festival Presented by Coca-Cola took place October 13 to 16. At the Grand Tasting presented by ShopRite at Pier 94, scotch brand and festival sponsor the Glenlivet hosted its immersive traveling Dram Room whiskey experience in a branded structure. The Dram Room, which aims to educate consumers about Glenlivet scotch, showcased an aroma station in which guests could smell the brand's numerous scotch products.
At Barilla's Italian Table at Pier 92 on October 13, the pasta brand showcased a "Passion for Pasta" photo booth in which guests could dress up and pose behind outfits made with various types of uncooked pasta.
Children's Hospital Los Angeles's "Once Upon a Time" gala took place October 15 at the Event Deck at L.A. Live. Produced by Events by Fabulous, the event had a storybook theme brought to life by costumed performers.
The gala had a photo booth that included a fairytale story backdrop and props.
Hyatt Centric promoted its travel destination and exploration-focused "Sunrise to Sunrise" campaign with a pop-up vending machine that came to New York's Flatiron Plaza on October 20. Produced by Awestruck Marketing, the machine offered more than 1,600 travel-theme prizes to passersby if they posted their favorite destination on Instagram with the hashtags #HyattCentric and #Sweepstakes.
