It's not every day you see a lush bed of dry couscous doubling as beach sand. But Manhattan doesn't have much in the way of natural beaches, so such improvising was needed to create the festive oceanside mood for Register.com's second anniversary party at the Lighthouse at Chelsea Piers.
In a time where dot-coms are closing their doors left and right, a second anniversary can be cause for celebration. This is why Register.com PR and special events manager Valerie Kristlibas worked with Eventstyle's Mark Addison and Lighthouse caterer Abigail Kirsch Culinary Productions to create a fun party that showed Register.com's appreciation for all of its 200 employees without spending an extravagant amount of money. (Register.com CEO Richard Forman joked that after a Wall Street Journal article about the company focused on his passion for cost cutting, staffers asked if they'd have to pay for drinks at the party. They didn't.)
So Addison brought in some beachy decor pieces that brought some flair to the evening without breaking the bank. Colorful beach umbrellas with hanging polka-dotted paper ball lights, yellow shovels and green pails with Register.com's logo decorated the large buffet tables. Partygoers sat down to eat their food at tables covered with sand colored tablecloths and decorated with vases filled with water, seashells and pieces of sea glass surrounded by three small candles.
Large pieces of driftwood decorated with candles in mini hanging holders sat on Abigail Kirsch's three buffet tables (each with a different style of food). And the couscous (the sand stand-in) was piled around the serving dishes, adding a beachy flavor, without risking contaminating the food--as Addison pointed out, if the couscous happened to make its way into the food, it was better to eat than real sand.
--Kathy Morgenstern
In a time where dot-coms are closing their doors left and right, a second anniversary can be cause for celebration. This is why Register.com PR and special events manager Valerie Kristlibas worked with Eventstyle's Mark Addison and Lighthouse caterer Abigail Kirsch Culinary Productions to create a fun party that showed Register.com's appreciation for all of its 200 employees without spending an extravagant amount of money. (Register.com CEO Richard Forman joked that after a Wall Street Journal article about the company focused on his passion for cost cutting, staffers asked if they'd have to pay for drinks at the party. They didn't.)
So Addison brought in some beachy decor pieces that brought some flair to the evening without breaking the bank. Colorful beach umbrellas with hanging polka-dotted paper ball lights, yellow shovels and green pails with Register.com's logo decorated the large buffet tables. Partygoers sat down to eat their food at tables covered with sand colored tablecloths and decorated with vases filled with water, seashells and pieces of sea glass surrounded by three small candles.
Large pieces of driftwood decorated with candles in mini hanging holders sat on Abigail Kirsch's three buffet tables (each with a different style of food). And the couscous (the sand stand-in) was piled around the serving dishes, adding a beachy flavor, without risking contaminating the food--as Addison pointed out, if the couscous happened to make its way into the food, it was better to eat than real sand.
--Kathy Morgenstern