3 Creative Live Activation Ideas for your NYFW + Valentine's Day Event

February 2, 2026

Valentine’s day is taking place during New York Fashion Week once again! If you’re in search of the perfect, on-theme activation to entertain your guests with, you’re in the right place! Here are some creative station ideas to make your special event unforgettable:

Guest in sketches in this post are wearing looks from Dior Spring ‘26 and Valentino Spring 26

Decorate your own fashion portrait

Guest’s love seeing themselves transformed into fashion sketches, especially when they’re dressed for the front row! Take it a step further by setting up a little decoration station where guests can then embellish their portraits with stickers, glitter, or other fun accents. Bonus points if you include branded elements! For example: stickers of mini shopping bags with your logo, or tiny product stickers guests can place on their sketch. This not only adds a playful, interactive touch, but it also reinforces your brand in a memorable way!

Live Fashion sketches: Get guests involved by letting them embellish their portraits after the artist draws them.

2. Fashion ‘Galentines’

Treat your guests to their own Valentine featuring a fun fashion portrait of themselves. To make it extra special, you can provide lace, colorful mini paper hearts, and ribbons so they can each decorate their Valentine themselves after having their sketch done. This is a perfect way to give attendees a keepsake they’ll treasure, and also invite them to join in on the creativity.

Fashion valentines: Guests can take their completed sketch over to the DIY valentine station and get creative!

3. Themed live product customization

Have an artist onsite to personalize your gift bags in real time! This creates a lasting, functional memento from the event, and also gives guests highly shareable, on-theme content. It works especially well for cosmetics and fashion brands, events with swag and sponsors, and bridal showers or parties.

Product customization: Guests can request specific motifs, or the artist can offer design options from a brand approved list.

After all, when Fashion Week and Valentine’s day overlap, it’s the perfect excuse to host the cutest event! 💕

Which of these ideas is your favorite? Leave a comment!

Deanna Kei is a fashion and beauty illustrator who collaborates with brands to create custom illustrations, and illustrated trend reports and content. She also sketches guests live at special events, brand activations, weddings, and private parties. To discuss a collaboration or book live fashion art for your next event contact: DeannaKei@gmail.com or see here for more details!

A recap of Barbie's 65th Anniversary Celebration in NYC

September 10, 2024

Everyone knows that Barbie throws the best parties!

The Barbie shop inside the iconic F.A.O Schwarz toy store in Manhattan, NY was the perfect location for her 65th Anniversary. It was an event to remember, with an interactive activation that included live fashion sketches by Fashion Illustrator Deanna Kei (that’s me!) , and lots of other fun gifts!

The energy level inside the shop was off the charts! Everyone was so happy to be there! At the Barbie shop, fans can customize their very own Barbies with the help of a trained Barbie stylist. Each time a kid finished customizing their Barbie doll, the stylist presented them to the audience by name and everyone in the shop gave them a round of applause. The applause were going all day and had everyone smiling.

After guests chose their Barbies, they were treated to Barbie donuts and fashion sketches of themselves as a Barbie doll!

It was a fun filled day full of cute photo ops! Shoppers were given a Barbie hat with their purchases and the large Barbie box at the front of the store made the best frame for photos!

Barbie shoppers who spent $75 or more were able to have a live illustration done of themselves. The fashion illustrations were framed with a pink Barbie box border. It was the perfect memento from the day!

Krispy Kreme joined in on the festivities with a beautiful donut display of their Barbie x Krispy Kreme collaboration donuts. There were 4 different flavors to choose from, each featuring a different design! The Barbie donuts are available outside of the event too!* See Krispy Kreme for details.

Barbie fans showed up from all over, dressed in their best Barbie outfits. It was so much fun sketching everyone and chatting with them about their collections! There was a fun crowd around the sketch station and everyone was mingling with each other and showing off their Barbies and it was really just such an amazing day full of good, pink vibes!

The Barbie shop is located inside F.A.O Schwarz and is definitely worth a visit!

Deanna Kei is a fashion and beauty illustrator who works with brands to create custom illustrations, and she also sketches guests live at special events. To book live fashion art for your next event contact: DeannaKei@gmail.com or see here for more details!

Live Bag Painting for Activations and Events

January 28, 2023

Looking for even more creative ways to bring excitement to your events? Live bag painting is quickly becoming a favorite! I’ll share some details below on what Live bag painting is and how you can book a session for your next event!

What is live event bag painting?: A fun and creative way to customize your guests’ experience and give them a gift they can carry with them (in addition to the memories)!

How does it work?: I’ll create custom illustrated tote bags for your guests live. To get started I’ll chat with each guest about their preferences, favorite colors, and any ideas they have while suggesting some of my own ideas. Then I’ll create their very own bag design based on their likes. The fabric markers I use dry instantly so there’s no wait time.

What are some popular designs?: The NYC skyline, taxis, flowers, and fashion illustrations (of the guest) are some of my most requested designs.

What kind of totes do you use?: I can draw on most light colored types of canvas/fabric bags and can supply plain totes or work with your existing branded totes. *Tote size varies by availability at the time of booking.

Are the illustrated bags waterproof?: I use pre-tested waterproof fabric markers so the bags can safely get wet without the colors running.

How long does it take? That will depend on the tote size selected for your event and the types of designs requested. We’ll work out the details together at the time of booking.

To get more information about booking for your own event fill out the form below!

To see more photos of totes I’ve illustrated live at past events scroll to the bottom of this page!