As an event planner or caterer there are often no more dreaded words than “open house”. An event that we put on in the middle of the week when it would likely be one of few evenings of normalcy. It is attended by our industry colleagues and we just hope to out-do one another and analyze what the other did or didn’t do and discuss how we would of course do it differently. So when the National Zoo came to us to participate in an open house it was met with a bit of hesitation and thoughts of the dull chit-chat that was bond to ensue. That was until I decided to take it into my own hands and step out of the boring, stuffy, open house box and have a little fun.

Born was “Step Right Up” a Nourish Events production.

Often in the event planning world we take ourselves so seriously and think that the only way to flex our planning muscles is by serving caviar laden morsels washed down with over thought specialty drinks among vignettes of overly white pleather lounge furniture. Believe me, I have been guilty of this myself but vow from here on out to never venture down that path again.

So back to the event…We had our selection of locations like the new Elephant House or the Tiger exhibit but I decided that the Great Meadow would be ideal complete with a rolling green lawn and peaked white tent. When I mapped out my theme for Chef Ramsey he gave me a reassuring “I got you” and went off to create and create he did! The menu featured items like black pepper funnel cake with avocado mango crab salad, heritage farms red wine braised pork shoulder spoon with chorizo pop rocks and my favorite – a deconstructed pb&j with champagne grape smear, fried peanut butter and brioche crisp. But the show stopper was the dessert station that centered around the 5-foot canister of liquid nitrogen where the chef was serving nitrogen frozen kettle corn pops.

I moved onto making the vision in my head come to life. I worked with Syzygy Events International who supplied rustic picnic tables, a shabby chic credenza for a retro candy display, a lemonade stand that doubled as our bar and playful centerpieces made up of mason jars, rolls of tickets and pinwheels. The bar would serve up coupes of sparkling wine poured over clouds of cotton candy which would make even the jaded among us smile. Drape Kings created a rich red entry way and guests were entertained by the coolest photo booth by Bash Booth DC and animal encounters from the zoo’s special guests. Of course it wouldn’t have been complete without the jam band-y sounds and Grateful Dead tunes.

So all in all the event was a success, clients were introduced to the zoo’s new in-house caterer and most importantly people had some fun. Moral of the story - don’t be afraid to break out of the typical corporate box and surprise people with the unexpected, childish and playful – we all long to be a kid again don’t we?