5 New Ideas for Entertaining in Chicago

In November 2015, JOOJ Blow Dry launched a mobile beauty experience based in Chicago's North Shore. Customized Airstream trailers visit corporate offices, hotels, private residences, and events around the city, providing on-site services like shampoos, blowouts, updos, and braids. Each Airstream is equipped with four stations where clients can get beautified without a trip to the salon. Pricing starts at $48.

Forget about the main course, Paramount Events now offers event menus composed exclusively of sides. Options include dishes like grilled asparagus, roasted potatoes and cauliflower, and macaroni and cheese.

Popular sushi spot Arami now holds monthly sushi-making classes. First, chef Nelson Vinansaca demonstrates maki- and temaki-rolling techniques, then guests try it themselves. Classes include a three-course menu that consists of the chef''s choice of sashimi and nigiri, special maki, and dessert. Meeting planners can also arrange private classes for groups.

Rather than formal, sit-down meals, Hotel Palomar Chicago now offers continual food service in the form of pop-up stations. Unique offerings like fajita, kabob, and doughnut bars, as well as carving stations, are rolled out over the course of the event. The concept allows guests to mix and mingle more than they would at a traditional dinner.

In August, Chicago launched a citywide project called Statue Stories Chicago to give voices, thanks to local artists and writers, to some of the town's most famous statues. As visitors pass each work of art, they can scan their smartphones on a nearby plaque to receive a call from the subject of the statue, whether it's Abraham Lincoln, a bronze lion, or a large reflective bean. Thirty iconic statues throughout the city are included in the public project, which runs through August 2016.