Garden Variety
For a gift that keeps on growing, consider Gardens-in-a-Bag. The leak-proof bags contain organic soil and seeds for flowers or herbs such as basil, sage or mint. Cost: $4 each. Orders of 200-plus can be customized for a $100 setup fee. (800) 505-7496; pottingshedcreations.com
Sitting Pretty
A crate and fern leaves add a distinctive touch of green to a seating-card display. Cost: from $10. Thanks to Blade Floral and Event Designs for the idea. (917) 723-3577; bladenyc.com
Tasty Trinkets
These bijou gems -- perfect for pillow gifts or teasers -- are made of delectable milk or dark chocolate. Cost: $21.95 per pound. (315) 559-0107; promisemechocolate.com
Knit Pick
Craft centerpieces with a homespun feel by filling a clear glass container with colorful skeins of yarn or spools of thread. Fiddlehead Flowers of Distinction created the design pictured for a recent gala. Cost: approximately $100. (978) 745-2812; fiddlehead-flowers.com
Bedside Manners
For the annual gala of the International Association of Airport Duty Free Stores, Hollywood, Fla.-based ME Productions, a DMC and event-production company (800) 544-0033; meproductions.com), wanted to make the lounge extra-casual and encourage interaction, so they built a giant "bed." No, it wasn't that kind of interaction: Attendees sat on the elegantly draped four-poster to chat. Mercifully, no one took a nap. (Taylor Creative has similar beds for rent, for $375, plus shipping and tax.)
Carry All
One major conundrum for coffee-loving travelers is that the coffee cup takes up the free hand. No longer: The CADDi is a harness that lets you carry the coffee with just one finger, with no spills. Individually, they cost $5.50, and a dozen cost $2.70 each. Custom labels are available for orders of 100 or more. (517) 321-2917; getthecaddi.com
Provision Quest
Instead of providing distinct morning and afternoon breaks, separated by those agonizing hours with no food at all, Horseshoe Bay Resort in the Texas Hill Country sets up a "general store" full of packaged items -- 100-calorie snack packs, chips, bottled soft drinks, etc. -- that don't get stale and thus can be left out all day. At peak mingling times, the resort brings in baked goods and smoothies. Because this type of break can't be easily patrolled, pricing is on a per-person, rather than consumption, basis. (877) 611-0112; hsbresort.com
Big Things, Small Packages
For an event at One Atlantic, an event space in Atlantic City (609-343-9902; oneatlanticevents.com), Philadelphia-based Beautiful Blooms created a "Box of Blooms," a moss-covered box with a handful of roses inside. The relatively small container made a big splash on tables. The small Box of Love costs $35 and the large box is $90. (215) 925-9300; beautifulblooms.com
Hear Me Now
Meetings held in the bowels of convention centers or during retreats in remote areas often mean terrible cell-phone service for everyone. Bring along a zBoost, a signal amplifier, and calls and data will come in more reliably. Models, which start at $119, are available both for a single cell phone and for creating a roomful of good service. (800) 871-1612; wi-ex.com
Bug Off
When a picnic area or golf course is buggy, hand out these logoable DEET-free wristbands, which protect against mosquitoes for 40 hours. Prices start at $1.79 each for a minimum of 100. The bands are white; other colors are possible for quantities of more than 2,000. Contact Dixie Flynn of Eagle Graphics for information. (800) 628-3676 ext. 129; eagle411.com
Snappy Shots
Give incentive participants a disposable camera or digital memory card (both provided by Fodeo), and ask them to shoot away. When the trip is over, send in the cameras or memory card, and Fodeo will make a photo montage, set to music and branded with your logo. Price: $19 for each package; there's a set-up fee of $40. (708) 579-1360; fodeo.biz
Motormouth
Banish long-windedness by implementing PechaKucha 20x20, a presentation format that requires speakers to limit their PowerPoint to 20 slides and speak about each slide for only one minute. The speedy pace keeps talks interesting. Though some speakers might balk, try it for a breakout session and see what happens. Thanks to John Nawn, founder of Evanston, Ill.-based meeting-design firm The Perfect Meeting (theperfectmeeting.com), for the suggestion. pecha-kucha.org/what