The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History's rotunda transformed into a jungle for a private donor dinner for 135 guests and then a grand opening cocktail reception for 600 guests, complete with tropical greenery and projections with swooping pterodactyls. There was a gigantic printed piece of fabric that featured one of the murals from the actual fossil hall that shows a carboniferous forest. The idea was to try to make you feel like you were in that forest on both of the nights.
What to serve at a dino-theme party? Occasions Caterers found a way to play with the prehistoric theme in an elegant way. Example: dishes like bone marrow and cauliflower and white truffle pots de crème in a buffet station called "Ancient Grains, Bones and Skeletons." The caterer and the event team at the Natural History Museum worked closely together to avoid clichés and focus on science and education; creating a sophisticated experience for guests.
Before the curtain opened to reveal the fossil hall, guests at the cocktail reception explored the first floor of the museum in stations that played with extinct creatures' diets. A lot of researching and careful crafting went into the dining experience. Having herbivore and carnivore stations seemed a natural. The seated dinner's menu reflected that research too. The plated first course reflected the grazing diet of forest-dwelling dinosaurs!
Occasions Caterers' creativity inspired desserts like a "Woolly Mammoth Shaved Ice Station" and a "La Brea Tar Pit" with a vat of molten bittersweet Belgian chocolate and brownie bites for dipping. Another interactive dessert wowed during the seated dinner. The interactive dessert allowed guests to play the role of an archeologist and 'discover' an ammonite fossil. Guests were amazed and delighted.
We can't imagine an event like this ever going extinct! Take tips from the Smithsonian and devour the details of a gala unlike any other!
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