Themes for banquets include holidays, history, celebrity and more.
Banquets are held for any number of reasons, such as celebrating a holiday or a person, commemorating an event, raising funds for a worthy cause or spending a special night out with their business partners or families. The theme for a banquet may be more serious for fund-raising, or more informal for fun. Does this Spark an idea?
Holidays
For Valentine's Day, decorate in red, pink and white. Create centerpieces of roses and candy hearts spilling out of a basket. Use large, wrapped chocolates for the base of a place card that is fastened to a toothpick and stuck into the chocolate. Shape a cake as a heart and include heart-shaped balloons. For the Fourth of July, use flags and bells as decorations as well as red, white and blue crepe paper twisted together and laid down the center of the tables. Hang the crepe paper twists around the door entrance and over the banner "Freedom! Liberty! Independence!" with a liberty bell beneath the text. Keep food served to the red, white and blue color scheme.
Religious
Include a banner featuring an appropriate verse from the Bible used along with the focus for the evening, which might be an anniversary of the congregation, an appreciation dinner for staff, a fund-raiser for repairs or a new building or to send out missionaries. For an anniversary celebration, put together a slide show or video of the history of the congregation. Include memories from older members. Add dates with centerpieces, the cake and on a banner, such as "From 1885 To Today... and Still Going Strong," or "Thanking God for the First 75." For a building or repair fund-raiser, lay out plans and a model of what the building will look like once completed. Show graphs of needed finances. If the banquet honors missionaries, have them act the speakers. Include pictures of the country in which they will serve, as well as maps and information. Decorate with cultural items of the country and its national colors.
Historical
For a World War II theme, display military medals, a WWII-era rifle and a military uniform. Create centerpieces around a picture of a soldier in uniform against a candle surrounded with greenery. For a Civil War theme, add sabers and mementos from that era. Include pictures of President Lincoln, Clara Barton and Harriet Tubman. For an Old West theme, create short lariats to circle around tall candles or lanterns for centerpieces. Tuck in a pistol. Turn western hats upside down and use them to hold rolls on the tables. Serve informal-style foods such as pork and beans, barbecue beef on buns, corn on the cob and homemade ice cream. Encourage guests to wear clothing reminiscent of the Old West. If the banquet includes the entire family, provide sheriff stars for each child and appoint them official sheriff's deputies.
Celebrity
Use Hollywood as the theme with a banner that declares "All About Celebrity" or "You Are Special." Use the theme for napkins and place cards. Add candelabras on the tables with tall, elegant candles wrapped in roses for centerpieces. Ask everyone to dress up as her favorite contemporary celebrity. Use an era theme of celebrities of the 1930s, 1940s or 1950s and decorate according to the era. For example, for the 1960s, decorate with swirls of bright clashing colors and flowers. Play music from the period and ask guests to arrived dressed as a celebrity movie or television star of that decade. Give "Oscars" for best costume, best imitation of the person portrayed and more.
Tags: Create centerpieces, crepe paper, Include pictures, white blue