Planning
To New Yorkers, New York City is life, to non-New Yorkers, New York City is a Theme! Movies are set there, fashion lives there, not to mention every element of fine entertaining: Broadway, amazing restaurants, even drinks are named after this amazing city. When planning a party that you want to embody sophistication, creating a NYC atmosphere is a great foundation. New York City at night is a great backdrop for your party. You can add subtle elements that elude to New York City or you can be literal and surround your party with a NYC skyline… This is also a GREAT theme if you want to take your Holiday party in a direction other than Santa and snowmen!
Here are some ideas and inspirations:
- New York City's skyline is known to almost everyone. You can create it as a backdrop to your party or as a feature. Consider the following:
- Using wood or very sturdy cardboard you can do a cut out of the skyline along the walls of your event space. Spray paint it charcoal or black and have holes representing windows. Line the back of the façade with rope or twinkle lights so that your façade lights up your space with the glow of the NYC skyline.
- Create a cityscape centerpiece -
- use blocks of Styrofoam painted charcoal with black for windows along the center of your table.
- Create mini facades out of thin wood or sturdy cardboard with cut outs for windows about 12" high. Set in tea lights for sparkle.
- The Big Apple - nothing represents the Big Apple like, well, apples! You can have fun with this element tucked around your party space. Apple themed drinks ("Big-appletinis"!), apples in your décor - consider adding apples to your centerpiece or highlighting your buffet with bright red and green apples.
- Broadway may travel, but it lives in New York. If your guests are musical buffs you can add elements of the popular Broadway musicals into your party - music, décor, even fun themed drinks. Take an ice-breaker and give it a Broadway twist. What about a Playbill for your invitation?
- Central Park - second only to the Grand Canyon, I would pose that Central Park is the most famous park in the world. If you want to inject a little nature into your otherwise sophisticated party, try to get creative with Central Park. Perhaps you can surround your party space with the skyline and then have your buffet be natural and green?
- Subways and taxicabs - There is a culture and a life in NYC based on its transportation system. Have fun with this! What if your entertainment for the cocktail portion of your party was a sax player dressed in jeans and a T-shirt with his hat on the floor in front of him? The sounds of street artists are always drifting through the subway tunnels. Or what about appetizers that are ethnically diverse served with yellow and black check napkins? Not everything needs to be obvious - sometimes the hint of the theme can be just as much fun because the guests have fun with the discoveries.
- The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island - don't forget that New York City represents the largest source of our melting pot. And these two monuments attest to that. Immigration and diversity are the backdrop to what makes New York City amazing. Inject this into your food, your drinks, your décor…
- Frank Sinatra - need I say more? There is so much music written about New York that you can work with, but there are also artists that, no matter what they are singing, represent this amazing city. Frank is one. Your music selection can really contribute to this theme.
- Art Deco - NYC and art deco just go together. So many of the skyscrapers were built during the art deco period and their design still reflects that. Movies that have become classics were in New York City during this period and still inspire the connection.
- Martinis - if a drink can represent a city, this one speaks for NYC. Consider some signature martinis, or even a full martini bar. There are professional bartenders who do nothing but the most amazing martinis. There are also décor elements that can work with this, such as an ice sculpture that the martinis is poured through!
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