Whether you are planning a birthday party, corporate event, holiday party or your wedding, every event is capable of having a theme of some sort.

Themes can be carried out in many different ways and often evolves during the planning process based on available resources and budget. These are just a few considerations:

• Colors - much of your event design may revolve around colors. Colors may also drive other decisions as to what you may do for your bridal party attire, the type of flowers or décor used, linen selections, lighting, matching specialty cocktails and selections for your candy buffet.
• You may also choose to incorporate an identity to your event whether it is through your company logo, monogram, pattern, a character, sport or other insignia which may start with your invitation, table names, menu cards, candy buffet signs, place cards and thank you notes.
• Entertainment may also help to carry out your theme, but be sure that songs that are appropriate to the mood of the event. If you are having a very elegant black-tie affair, then a string trio or pianist would be more appropriate than a rock band or reggae. If you're having a Hawaii themed wedding, then guests greeted by a lei greeter, a conch shell blower to start the ceremony and a Hawaiian music and hula dancers during the cocktail hour may be most appropriate.
• When creating your menu, you may incorporate foods that tie in with your theme, but also be sure to be considerate of your guests. Depending on where your guests are from will influence their palates and their willingness to try new things. I always ask clients where their guests are from as that will make a big difference as to their expectations and what they would enjoy. When creating their menu we incorporated foods that would be familiar to both families' cultures and also incorporated some favorite Hawaiian dishes in smaller portions so that guests could try it but didn't have to rely upon to complete their meal.
• Don't forget your sense of smell. One of my favorite events was a "Chocolate and Champagne" second anniversary event which all the food stations were decorated with red roses and champagne glass shaped pieces or bottles that had been spray painted with chocolate. When you walked in to the room you could just smell the chocolate and were instantly greeted with a glass of champagne.

As an example of a holiday theme event was the Nutcracker Suite. Two large Nutcrackers were custom built for the entrance to the resort upon the guests' arrival while music from the Nutcracker suite was piped in and nutcrackers decorated the cocktail tables. After all of the guests arrived, unbeknownst to them, the large nutcrackers were relocated to the entrance of the ballroom to cost effectively reiterate the theme again as they entered the ballroom for dinner.

Fresh Christmas garland, holly, candles and twenty inch tall nutcrackers with velvet robes were used their centerpieces which carried out the theme and gave the smell of Christmas throughout the entire room. To ensure that all guests were able to enjoy dinner conversation and the special performance without an obstructed view, the dining tables were custom made 10' square tables that seated 8 guests in U-shape formation. During dinner, guests were entertained by the Ballet Hawaii who performed vignettes from the Nutcracker suite with a plated course that also matched the theme of each of the six songs. At the end of the dinner, guests were delighted to the unveiling of a dessert buffet featuring elements from the Nutcracker including sugar plums and marzipan.

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