30 Cool Event Ideas You May Have Missed From Canva, Peacock, Absolut, and More

To celebrate its new reality series Squid Game: The Challenge, Netflix opened an immersive experience in Los Angeles on Dec. 6. The 70-minute ticketed event, which is currently open through January, places fans into the world of Squid Game, where they can compete in six different games inspired by the show before a winner is declared.

After the competition, visitors can unwind at the Night Market, which offers an array of Korean and international sweet and savory food items along with beverages in collaboration with chef Katianna Hong of the Korean Americana restaurant YANGBAN. There’s also the on-site “Squid Mart” with exclusive Squid Game collectibles, games, and photo opportunities.

From Dec. 8-10 at movie theaters in New York and Los Angeles, Food Truck Promotions partnered with Searchlight Pictures to promote the premiere of the new Poor Things film. The team customized two identical tuk-tuks that popped up in the two locations, where movie fans could enjoy Portuguese pastries and hot chocolate inspired by the movie. There were also swag bags filled with official movie merch. Ultimately, more than 4,500 servings were handed out.

This holiday season, The Ready Rooftop at Moxy East Village hosted a pop-up called Chalet East. The festive space featured hanging snow from the ceiling, birch poles and red skies throughout the space, photo moments including a faux fireplace and red ski lift, and more.

Seasonal cocktails and desserts included a frozen espresso martini, frozen spiked apple cider, and warm churros served with spiced hot chocolate. The Ready can host as many as 150 people for a reception-style buyout.

At Advertising Week earlier this fall, Canva teamed up with Civic to create an experiential "brandega"—a bodega experience featuring flowers and a clever "creative juices" bar where visitors could get bottles of juice.

The red carpet for Warner Bros.' new Wonka film was a candy lovers dream, with oversize sweets transporting guests to the movie's colorful world. It was produced by 1540.

A step-and-repeat resembled a massive chocolate bar.

At IMPACT 23, an annual conference hosted by the Internet Marketing Association, Winspire Experience Agency created a fun networking opportunity that tapped into the popularity of pickleball—and that was designed to get guests moving, talking, and having fun. The corporate event planners hosted a tournament for the conference’s business and thought leaders on a custom-designed court located at Lido House in Newport Beach, Calif.

Conference attendees received custom-branded uniforms and paddles, which were ready for them in their hotel rooms upon arrival. The court also featured a custom lounge area featuring a lighthouse motif, a nod to the event’s coastal location.

The Firm Event Design helped Compass design and produce several events for its annual REtreat in San Diego, including a wellness pop-up featuring a 5K run, several fitness activations, and casual networking spaces.

The Firm also designed and produced the event's closing party (pictured) for 2,500 people at San Diego's Petco Park. Guests entered the venue through the stadium tunnel where they were greeted by three expansive clear-top structures in the outfield and custom Compass branding across the stadium’s digital boards and screens.

The tents had “coastal chic”-inspired decor including oversize, illuminated scenic wood suns; multilayered lantern installations; Compass-branded surfboards; illuminated scenic backdrops; and more. In addition to a live band performance, the event also featured LED poker tables, LED swings, pool and pingpong tables, shuffleboard, and a life-size chess activation. Decorative bars, themed food stations, and tray-passed late-night ballpark bites rounded out the evening.

Food Truck Promotions teamed up with Posh Peanut and Allure PR Group to celebrate "Poshmas" in Los Angeles Dec. 3-5. The day kicked off at The Americana at Brand in Glendale, where the team distributed hot cocoa and cookies; the first 100 people in line received a swag bag filled with Posh Peanut goodies and entered to win a toy G-Wagon. (Ultimately, the activation had more than 1,000 visitors.)

On the event's second and third days, the mobile pop-up rolled into the suburbs to spread the holiday spirit to the homes of select influencers and VIPs, including Lance Bass and Ashlee Simpson.

INVNT Group worked on several activations at COP28, the UN Climate Change Conference that took place in Dubai from Nov. 30-Dec. 13. A highlight was the Tree of Life, an interactive digital art installation featuring a Ghaf tree, which is indigenous to the United Arab Emirates and known for thriving in the harshest conditions. AI-generated art allowed visitors to learn about key themes and topics of COP28 and pledge their commitment to global environmental sustainability.

INVNT also handled project management, construction design, fabrication, and build for COP28’s Stella McCartney marketplace activation, designed to champion sustainable fashion. It featured both product displays and information on the brand’s commitment to sustainability.

Also at COP28, CNN hosted an education exhibition exploring the ways women are disproportionately affected by the climate crisis. The story was told through the lens of seven women photojournalists, who looked at girls’ education in Nigeria, food insecurity in Brazil, human trafficking in the Philippines, maternal health in Pakistan, migration in Guatemala, child marriage in Bangladesh, and gender-based violence in Kenya. INVNT handled project management, creative, art direction, and installation.

Aiming to blend holiday charm with technology, whiskey distiller Angel's Envy hosted a unique shopping experience at New York's Chelsea Market. Created in partnership with experiential agency Invisible North, the adults-only holiday pop-up shop featured an assortment of on-site gifting (made available to shop via QR codes), custom video content showcasing the distillery’s commitment to innovation and craft, a tasting bar where attendees sampled cocktails and savored Angel's Envy served neat, and complimentary bottle engraving.

At the heart of the shopping journey, Angel's Envy created the Whiskey Guardian AI Experience, which stems from its Whiskey Guardian program dedicated to whiskey education. Featuring a tablet with a mirrored screen, the experience provided a two-way interaction for guests and retail, encouraging them to pose questions and providing personalized answers spoken via AI voice output.

Variety’s annual Hitmakers Brunch was held on Dec. 2 at NYA Studios West in Los Angeles, drawing a who’s-who of the music industry including SZA, Billie Eilish, Boygenius, and Olivia Rodrigo. Stoelt Productions designed and fabricated the stage, which had a beveled mirror frame with a brushed metal wall and an inset LED logo. The frame's interior was double node RGB LED, and the gloss black stage was trimmed with RGB COB LEDs.

The event's overreaching design theme was liquid metal.

According to a new Peacock-commissioned survey exploring viewing habits, 65% of American sports fans indulge in the “sports sneak”—dipping away from gatherings to stream sports. So with the holiday season in full swing, Peacock wanted to step in and help make the “sports sneak” easier by hosting “SneakEasy” pop-ups in Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and Buffalo, N.Y. The events took place on Dec. 23, timed to the Los Angeles Chargers vs. Buffalo Bills game (which streamed exclusively on Peacock) and the Cincinnati Bengals vs. Pittsburgh Steelers game (which aired on NBC and simulcasted on Peacock.)

The Peacock SneakEasy was a ski chalet-inspired lounge where guests were able to watch their hometown teams play on big screens—and let Peacock take care of their last-minute holiday shopping with personal shopping assistance. Guests also enjoyed free holiday gift-wrapping stations and complimentary holiday refreshments. Jack Morton was the experiential partner on the activation.

In Prime Video’s new movie Candy Cane Lane, Eddie Murphy’s character is on a mission to win his neighborhood’s Christmas decoration contest. So it only makes sense that the premiere party, produced by 1540, featured over-the-top festive decor.

The design featured evergreen trees, piles of colorful gifts, and plenty of candy cane-inspired details.

Absolut and Kahlúa, the pair behind the espresso martini, celebrated the holidays this year with the release of Blend No. 83, a fragrance by Absolut x Kahlúa in partnership with the fragrance experts at Imaginary Authors. To bring the limited-edition fragrance to life, the brands hosted a three-day pop-up experience in New York City's Hudson Yards.

Visitors to the pop-up could purchase the fragrance and immerse themselves in the history of the cocktail while sipping a sample of the Absolut x Kahlúa espresso martini.

In November, Teremana Tequila launched its Mana Holiday House—a multifaceted festive experience available via a digital site—and in December, the brand brought the virtual house to life for consumers to enjoy for free in Los Angeles and New York. An immersive holiday experience centered on sharing the ‘mana,’ bringing people together, and toasting the season, the Mana Holiday House featured festive cocktails, tequila education, and cocktail-making sessions. Other fun touches? Bites inspired by brand founder Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s famous “cheat meals,” plus a Christmas tree made from tequila bottles.

“Perrier-Jouët House of Wonder” is described as "an immersive floral dreamscape" featuring a curation of art, nature, and Champagne experiences directly inspired by Maison Belle Epoque in Épernay, France. The immersive four-day pop-up at Hudson Yards in New York featured a partnership and film with French actress Mélanie Laurent. Organizers also partnered with local NYC florist FlowerBx to offer a unique Champagne and flower offering with every bottle of Perrier-Jouët Champagne purchased; guests received a complimentary bouquet delivered the same day by DoorDash on Perrier-Jouët flower-powered bikes.

The highly anticipated new Fontainebleau Las Vegas opened on Dec. 13 following a star-studded private opening celebration with a surprise headlining performance by Justin Timberlake.

The festivities kicked off with a “bleau carpet” and performances from Ketih Urban and Paul Anka throughout the property. Guests—who included the likes of Cher, Kim Kardashian, Lenny Kravitz, Axel Rose, Sylvester Stallone, and Tommy Hilfiger—could also explore the property’s top restaurants and attend after-parties at hotspots like LIV Las Vegas.