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Start with one part fundraiser. Add a celeb-packed guest list. Throw in some live music from Stevie Wonder, food from Thomas Keller and Charlie Palmer, or a silent auction with Louis Vuitton goodies or tennis lesson from Andre Agassi. Season to taste with black ties and cocktails. You’ve just whipped up one of Night+Day’s Best Annual Charity Events, some of the hottest parties on the social calendar.
Best Annual Charity Events in....
Best Annual Charity Events
D.C.
Meridian Ball Meridian House, 1630 Crescent Place NW, early October, 202-667-6800 meridian.org
The Draw: DC’s dual identity as national capital and international drawing card is the key to the yearly success of the luminous Meridian Ball, which benefits the public diplomacy, educational outreach, and arts and culture programs of the nonprofit Meridian International Center. Ambassadors, politicians, industry leaders, and up-and-comers happily glam it up for this bipartisan, good-for-us-all cause. The Scene: First, the dinners: A-list guests enjoy intimate dinners hosted by ambassadors at their elegant residences. Then, the Ball: It’s wall-to-wall hobnobbing throughout the exquisite salons of historic Meridian House, as men in tuxedoes, faces gleaming, and women with upswept hair, bare shoulders, and satiny, floor-length gowns thread their ways to the dessert buffet, or better yet, back from one of the bars. Hot Tip: A quite good jazz group usually plays inside the mansion, but if you want to get down to hipper tunes, head outdoors to the tented courtyard, where a DJ is in control. Then stroll among the linden trees and gaze southward for an awesome view of the city.
Washington Ballet’s Jeté Society Dance Party Located at a different embassy each year, early February washingtonballet.org
The Draw: Is there anything better than having fun while doing good? The Jeté Society’s 21- to 45-year-old members raise money for the Washington Ballet’s education programs with a winning location (always an embassy), live music, DJs, a brief performance by members of the Washington Ballet company, and an after-party that continues until the wee hours. The Scene: This is DC’s beauty crowd, no doubt: the women all dressed in shimmering, slinky cocktail dresses, the men in carefully creative suits. The party’s size depends on the particular embassy’s capacity, but it’s always sold out. An “everybody dance now” vibe rules as bright young ingénues and savvy sophisticates bust out their best moves, pausing only to sip a Grey Goose martini or nibble on smoked trout pâté. Hot Tip: Taxi to the celebration, since transportation (a gaggle of school buses) between the main event and the after-party is included in the ticket price.
White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner Washington Hilton Hotel, 1919 Connecticut Ave NW, early May whca.net/dinner.htm
The Draw: The year’s biggest social event, when journalists drop their pens and grab the arms of their guests—newsmakers from every arena, from politics to Hollywood. Competitive? You think? The bigger the “get,” the higher a news organization’s cred (Tina Fey = major coup; Rod Blagojevich, negative). The night raises funds for journalism scholarships for 17 DC high-school students. The Scene: A whole lot of swivel-necking goes on as begowned and bejeweled guests check each other out, snapping photos of the most famous faces. The Hilton ballroom is one of the biggest on the East Coast, and on this night it is packed. A comic such as Jay Leno emcees the event, and the President attends to give his own standup act, with both performers doing a pretty good job of bringing the house down. Hot Tip: Just as hot as the dinner itself are the after-parties hosted by the various news organizations; the Vanity Fair and the Bloomberg News Service celebrations are always A-list, but MSNBC’s is gaining on them.
