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Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Color and Design in Corporate Party Planning


Party planning on a big or small level invites a level of creativity that leaves behind the restraints of everyday design and color rules. Nowhere are you more free to pull out all the stops in visuals than with planning a party. The idea of large scale party planning seems intimidating and exciting to me. The more successful and carefree the event seems, you can bet the more planning and organizing it took to pull off.

I remember back in the tech boom hey day of the 1990's while I was living in Silicon Valley, the promise of a lavish company holiday party was assured. Didn't matter whether you worked in high tech or not, big company parties were a perk you could count on. In those days, I was working in the medical field for a small hospital. They never failed to provide a venue for dressing up and partying during the holidays. Music, dinner, dancing, music, drinks and maybe even a photo with your date. Fast forward through the last decade. Holiday parties seem to be a rare bird these days. Talking with my friends, it seems most companies or departments may throw an afternoon party at the office or a boss's home.

The Office

Maybe a lunch out with the co-workers. Today's economy has taken the punch out of the creative dreaming of wannabe party planners like me who envision creating an event where you can check out of the harsh realities of the working world for a few hours.


Luck has it that my husband works for a large company that is still able to throw a holiday bash for it's hardworking employees. This San Francisco company obviously employs or hires an agency to organize their parties. They happen to mirror my idea of what fun you can have with themes, color, design and whimsy. My husband has had no luck with detective work in finding these creative geniuses. Each year, I'm on pins and needles as to whether the tradition will continue and to see what they have dreamed up! It is definitely a guilty pleasure to enjoy such a party during terrible economic times but for one night a year, we all check out and just enjoy.......

Photo: Reklam Yonetmeni


This year's theme was loosely based on Alice in Wonderland's Mad Hatters Tea Party. I'm sadly aware that my point and click camera was no match for what I was trying to photograph. I realize the pictures are grainy so I hope you can bear with them and visualize the spaces.

After passing an Elton John impersonator at the door, we entered the enormous convention center through a long, dark hallway lined with servers bearing trays of all varieties of wine.


We emptied out into a black room where artists were busy at work painting body models. Many artists were set up and waiting to paint guests faces/arms with any number of artistic additions.


Me with my artist and work art:


Onto the larger room, we entered into an all white room with mirrors on each wall, banquets, tables and an array of different food options set up at various tents. White rose petals and candles were along all of the tables.

Giant capize shell lights-sorry for the blurriness but you get the general idea!



Some amazing floral/fruit arrangements:


Good food:


About an hour into the event, a bartender let me in on the fact that there was a larger, hidden room to be unveiled. Soon enough, a large curtain at the back of the white room opened and revealed an even bigger “red room”.

A band played at one end, while a stage was set up at the other end for headline act, Cyndy Lauper! This was the desert/dance room.



Tables of candies, chocolates and cupcakes were everywhere. On a split upper level were long tables dressed for an tea party.



Now the rose petals and candles were everywhere again, but red.

Large gold and silver chairs were at the ends of each table. Photographers were there with green screens ready to take your picture with a faux backdrop of San Francisco. I was taken by the flower arrangements and paper lanterns as well as the large red trees that adorned the space.

Even Cyndi Lauper came out, surveyed the room from stage and remarked on how cool it all looked!

I so appreciated all of the thought, hard work and creativity that went into this event. It was really hard to leave and head back into reality and the rainy night.

Happy Holidays!!


Photo: Cal KT

































































Friday, December 10, 2010

Have Yourself an Untraditional Little Christmas



Happy weekend! Is your tree up? I thought I'd share a few fun images with you to inspire you over the weekend. During the holidays, I always appreciate some out of the box, push the envelope thinking when it comes to trees and holiday decorating. Why not get out of the red/green rut and do something a little more original?



While I'm not a huge fan of pink, this is gorgeous!

Blueprint magazine

Simple and modern:

Apartment Therapy

Or you could go the other way and turn Christmas completely on it's head:

John Lewis, UK

Goth Christmas anyone?? A black tree:

ChristmasTreeForMe.com

Even the traditional green or red can be reworked:


LivingEtc. Magazine

I'm always on the lookout for exceptionally unusual public trees.....and I found them:

I saw this one the other evening in Emeryville while out at dinner, it's shopping baskets!


Oakland Tribune

My husband is an old school gamer, so this one's for him....Pacman tree in Madrid:


My favorite, a Murano glass tree in Italy:


.........And then there are trees I love for just beauty or nostalgia:

No holiday is complete for us without a trip to see the giant tree in Neiman Marcus, Union Square
.


.....or any tree lit in the snow.........sigh...........


......Or trees in tropical locations,



Have a great weekend and don't be afraid to challenge your holiday design ideas.

For bold, soft, traditional, or out of the box architectural color, please contact me: Marie@ColorMarie.com