To advance in your event planning career, it is crucial to plan themed events. Combining brand culture, event themes, and actual execution perfectly is the basic quality required for marketing.
A suitable theme can ignite excitement during the pre-event phase and bring continuous promotion after the event ends. Therefore, a good theme plan is something many people dream of.
Today, these 30 creative themes hope to bring you some help.
1. Color Run
As an activity that has become popular in recent years, the Color Run initially involved participants being splashed with neon paint and colored powder during the run. Today, it has evolved into a popular theme that permeates various outdoor activities, such as music festivals, warm-up games for car test drives, and green fitness activities.
2. Back to School
Turn attending guests into school children and have them dig out their old school uniforms. This not only creates a nostalgic atmosphere but also helps bring people together. You can dress employees as teachers, use huge digital blackboard graffiti walls, and add quirky and fun seating, like vintage school desks.
3. Escape Room
Many brands' customer experience activities, anniversary celebrations, etc., are increasingly leaning towards experiential marketing, which requires event companies to have a big imagination and ideas. Escape room gameplay, without major sports or danger, can get people's adrenaline pumping, making it an interesting and experiential activity for many guests. Below is an escape room used by LiveKingway at a Mercedes-Benz GLA fan party.
4. The Great Gatsby
This is a very popular theme suitable for balls, weddings, and dinners, as luxurious venues and flowing gowns easily elevate the tone of the event. If your budget is low, you can use gold and black backdrops to represent the theme without needing elaborate decorations.
5. Historical Reenactment
Invite guests to dress up as historical figures throughout the event, turning the venue into a living history book. You can play historical characters in games and have huge props from different eras. Notably, you can let different eras interact, allowing one realm to blend into another, which always leads to interesting planning. This theme often needs to be combined with classical performances and exhibitions.
6. Chinese Style Theme
The Chinese style theme uses traditional gold and red tones, paired with vintage venue decor, to create a royal, noble, and dignified atmosphere. It is often used for corporate celebrations, private closed-door dinners, and similar occasions.
7. Costume Party Theme
Derived from masquerade and costume balls, this is a timeless idea that has been favored by many big names in recent years, who have appeared in character, such as Jack Ma. If you want to add a theme or a bit of fun to a serious event, this can be a fun medium for them to wear quirky outfits while still participating. It can also spawn many different variations, such as "hats" or family matching outfits.
8. Space Theme
For evening events, a space theme works well, featuring a dark color palette and starry lights. You can add planets or satellites to enhance the centerpieces and table layouts, with space as the main theme. You can incorporate aerospace exhibition props, elements from Star Wars IP, and combine with VR and other new technologies to create a stronger atmosphere and experience.
9. Mythical Creatures
From dragons, fairies, to goblins and werewolves, you can invent anything you can think of—there are no limits. Whether from movies, books, or TV shows, you can bring these mythical creatures and ideas to your event. Of course, it's not just about copying; you need to combine different ideas, such as mythical figures with 3D projection, or dragon elements like dragon boats or dragon-shaped floats. Essentially, it's like an IP novel adaptation exhibition, but you need to use it flexibly.
10. Handicraft Art Exhibition
Handicraft art exhibitions cover a wide range and are a very divergent theme. It can be high-end, such as luxury handicrafts from Hermès, Fendi, etc. It can be traditional, such as root carving, round fans, stone carving, paper cutting, and other traditional craftsman arts. It can also be eco-friendly, such as handicrafts made from waste materials, combined with a green and environmental protection theme.
11. Beach Party
When mentioning beach parties, Hawaii comes to mind. There are many activities on the beach, such as music festivals, bonfire parties, and rally races. This year, several music events were held at Jinshan Beach in Shanghai.
To attract attention, you can also have a swimsuit show. Bikinis, beach, beer, music, lights, and other elements collide, and the excitement speaks for itself.
12. Urban Graffiti
If you want a more local theme or want to incorporate the city's urban landscape, graffiti is a great idea. You can make it digital or let artists create their own backgrounds. Add bold, blocky colors, some geometric shapes, and of course, you can also reveal brand logos and sponsor messages.
You can even create a graffiti space, such as a building or a ship, combined with brand culture, to create a unique event. The range of brands that can collaborate is even wider, including various trendy brands, AJ, Converse, Budweiser, all of which can combine with this bold element.
13. Prairie Ethnic Style
This theme includes many elements: hula dance, ethnic dance & horse riding and archery, etc. Set up a stage for performances, let guests experience games like horse riding and archery, and in the evening, have a bonfire party together. This style seems suitable for car test drive events or outdoor activities for sports brands.
14. Black and White & Various Colors
Give the event a theme color. Black and white are classic colors used in many traditional press conferences, such as Apple's launches, with a simple yet high-end tone.
You can even name the event something mystical like "The night gave me black eyes," and have all guests dress in black and white, creating a solemn ceremonial feel. Of course, in China, this might have some inauspicious connotations, but it doesn't affect promotion.
Other colors offer more possibilities, like Dior's Blue Night or Hermès' orange. You can decide the main color based on the brand's color.
15. Market & Maker Festival
Big, bold colors and signs, performers, a playground, lots of stalls and games, popcorn and cotton candy on snack tables are all great starting points for this theme. Combine various eye-catching elements, interactive themes, and IPs. Taobao Maker Festival is a typical example.
16. Cruise Ship Theme
A cruise ship is truly an easy theme to ignite excitement. It can be a ball or dinner—think of the Titanic's banquet hall. Staff can dress in nautical themes or sailor suits, and guests can choose nautical themes, beach bikinis, or ball gowns. Entertainment can include onboard casinos, water light shows, and performances like jet ski stunts. The bigger your imagination, the more you can do.
17. Activities on an Airplane
Move the event venue to an airplane, symbolizing soaring and flying high. All staff dressed in aviation uniforms is also an eye-catching idea, which can complement events like grand openings or property launches.
18. Train Theme Event
Train activities are slightly different from cruise ships and airplanes. You can paint or stick brand-related information inside and outside the carriages, and then give each carriage a different theme, including entertainment, performances, and food sections. This way, each carriage guests enter is a different world, providing an excellent experience.
19. Beer
Our usual definition of a beer festival is barbecue, summer, and sports. Actually, it has many fun variations. We can learn from Munich's Oktoberfest, whose main colors tend to be brown and green. There can be music and dance performances, float parades, beauty shows, various fun interactive games, and even a carnival.
20. Harry Potter
19 years later, Harry Potter is still a trend phenomenon and a deeply rooted culture for many. So why not use a Harry Potter theme? There are so many elements to use.
Take a ride on a steam train, hold a Quidditch match in a vintage castle, create amazing lighting effects with floating candles, recreate the shapes of the beasts, put on a replica performance, or even simply have everyone wear a cloak—all can bring unexpected promotional effects.
21. Rock / Jazz
Whether rock or jazz, many iconic scenes from American movies can inspire you. "Drive-thru," "American diner," "blues music," and "country music" can all bring a strong atmosphere and vibe. This theme is suitable for music festivals, high-end banquets, anniversary celebrations, and is highly inclusive.
22. Chocolate Paradise
Who doesn't like chocolate? How about a chocolate-themed event for Valentine's Day or Qixi Festival? Choose a cream and brown color scheme, add a love theme, and chocolate can be made into many shapes, increasing brand exposure opportunities.
23. Moulin Rouge
This movie and its original inspiration include cabaret, courtesans, and of course, can-can! Focusing on dance and entertainment, this theme is filled with vibrant red and gold. Extreme sexy song and dance, combined with charming stage lighting, creates an atmosphere of decadent luxury.
24. Carnival Before Lent
This is a Christian carnival. Currently, there is a large Christian population in China, so why not have a unique carnival? Bead necklaces, bold colors and masks, orange, pink or purple lace, feathers, floats, etc. Of course, you can think more divergently—Torch Festival, Water Splashing Festival, etc., are also possible.
25. Emerald City / Wizard of Oz
This theme is actually more suitable for family activities. Below is a square in Nanjing that used lighting and digital projection to turn the place into a green paradise.
You can also incorporate the "Yellow Brick Road" by projecting a map or laying yellow carpet on the floor (instead of red), and even stage a 3D Wizard of Oz fantasy play, especially fitting for Children's Day celebrations.
26. Atlantis Underwater
Mermaids are a hot topic now, and these can be easily integrated into an ocean theme, including blue lighting and stages, as well as colorful tropical fish.
You can also have hanging bubbles or kelp, use seashells as decorations, and this doesn't require a high budget. Those with more resources can even bring an aquarium to the venue. Seashell exhibitions and aquarium resources are also very popular now.