18 Lively Ideas for Beach Parties

Last year, Hermès threw a beachside bash known as “Les Jeux d’Hermès,” or Hermès games, with oversize jewelry installations, models on trampolines, and a branded ringtoss. Balloons wrapped in Hermès silk scarf prints stood at the entrance.

To disguise the concrete barricade, Hermès added mirrors to the entire stretch of a lower beach wall, reflecting the activities and sights on the sand.

A seven-foot sandcastle heralded the start of a major residential construction project in Miami last year. Aria Development Group celebrated the groundbreaking of its luxury condominium, 321 Ocean, with a ceremony for city officials, buyers, and friends and family. Guests gathered around the sandcastle—a whimsical replica of the forthcoming property—for a toast, then headed to nearby restaurant Estiatorio Milos for a reception.

Victoria’s Secret Pink's Spring Break Beach Party took place in Destin, Florida, in March, decorating the sandy locale with customized surfboards and offering a juice bar, giveaways, dance challenges, and music from DJ Irie.

The Model Beach Volleyball Tournament returned to South Beach for the fifth year in February. The free public competition drew coed teams from modeling agencies in Miami for the two-day event, which saw models dressed head to toe by sponsor Wildfox Couture. Organizers even worked the clothing company's logo into the design of the tournament's net.

In 2009, Mattel celebrated Barbie's 50th anniversary with a bash for 200 in Los Angeles. Playing off the Malibu Dream House toy—a coveted accessory for the iconic doll—organizers picked a real-life beach house on Pacific Coast Highway and went wild with full-size incarnations of the doll's tiny treasures and pleasures. With the beach as a backdrop, guests picked up signature drinks such as Barbie Doll-icious, Ken's Caiprirosca, Strawberry Blonde, and It's a Pink Thing from an alfresco bar.

For the Louis Vuitton Charlotte Perriand V.I.P. dinner during Art Basel last year, the luxury brand set up an alfresco table right on the beach. The event had a chic, minimalist look with glowing orbs hanging overhead.

The iHeartRadio Ultimate Pool Party drew more than 2,500 people for daytime and evening concerts at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach hotel last year. Among the eye-catching details was an armchair made of ice, with the Visit Florida hashtag and sunglasses frozen inside.

In 2011, the Wolfsonian-Florida International University honored architect Rene Gonzalez with an intimate dinner on the beach. The 48-person affair was planned by Jose Zaldivar of Fiction Events, who covered the tables with burlap cloth and driftwood.

At Cosmopolitan en Español’s beach bash at Nikki Beach last June, burlap gift bags stocked with fashion and beauty products had the feel of a beach-day carryall.

In 2009, Yelp lured New Yorkers to an urban beach bash with promises of cocktails, barbecue, and activities. Held at the now-closed Water Taxi Beach in Long Island City, the event also offered handheld fans and misting stations to keep attendees cool.

In 2007, Boost Mobile's barbecue at the pop-up Polaroid Beach House in Malibu offered surf lessons on the beach in front of the property.

When Cosmopolitan brought more than 700 bikini-clad locals, tourists, and spring breakers to Miami Beach for a stunt in 2009, the magazine created a station for guests to get sunscreen applied by shirtless male ambassadors. The concept was tied to Cosmopolitan's "Practice Safe Sun" campaign.

Fox's Television Critics Association party at Los Angeles's Gladstone's in 2011 took full advantage of the beachy Malibu location. The press wall—a powder-coated steel frame and cable with a grid of floating Fox logos—allowed the beach and ocean behind it to become a part of the photo backdrop.

The CW took over a Malibu lot on 300 feet of Pacific Ocean frontage for a 2008 premiere party for 90210, where an illuminated sign of the show's name provided a focal point and directed attention to the ocean views.

At the opening party for Delta Air Lines Global Sales Conference in 2011, American Express provided white flip-flops marked with its blue logo. As the 850 guests made their way through the party set up around the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin’s pool and beach, the sandals left imprints of the brand's name in the sand.

In 2011, Victoria’s Secret Pink took over Miami's Lummus Park for its Pink Nation Beach Bash. There, guests had the chance to spin the wheel to win Pink-branded giveaway items.

The 2008 launch of Wonderwall, surfer Laird Hamilton's surf and skate apparel collection with Steve & Barry's stores, was held at L.A.'s Paradise Cove beach, where a white picket fence on the technically public beach contained the intimate event.