World famous picnic returns to Coast – Le Dîner en Blanc

WORDS: Emily Halloran - Hashtag Group PHOTOGRAPHY Supplied

THE Gold Coast has added another major event to this year’s growing calendar with the world-famous phenomenon, Le Dîner en Blanc, announcing today it will be returning on Saturday 4 September.

The exclusive alfresco event which launched in Paris in 1988 and on the Gold Coast in 2017, will see 1,200 people come together to share a glamorous picnic meal at a top-secret location.

With international travelling being mostly on hold for this year, Le Dîner en Blanc will send those attending on an uplifting holiday within the city, making you feel like you are on vacation in the south of France.

Le Dîner en Blanc is an event that, even by staying home, transports you into another world. The sea of people all adorned in white creates images that are instantly ‘Instagram-able’. Meeting new people or reuniting with long-time friends.  Getting all dressed up to attend a dinner à la française where conversation and champagne are essential.

Le Dîner en Blanc – Gold Coast will keep to its tradition and rules: an elegant all-white dress code, bring your own all-white table setting and a picnic hamper of fine food and proper glassware, and not revealing the location until the day of the event.

With tickets yet to come on sale, the event has been highly anticipated with already thousands of people from the Gold Coast and around Australia who have registered to the waitlist.

Participation to this unique event will happen in three stages: Phase 1 is for members who attended the last edition (in 2018); Phase 2 for new members referred from Phase 1 and Phase 3 is for people who signed up on the waiting list.

Le Dîner en Blanc – Gold Coast host, Sara Walsh, said she was proud the event would be returning to the city, and that this year’s event will help the local economy.

“This chic and elegant affair is encouraging people to shop local and bring to the event their favourite local flavour,” Ms Walsh said.

“We’ve been inundated with waitlist registrations. Most of them have come from Gold Coast residents but we have seen a big number of people want to attend from interstate.”

Le Dîner en Blanc – Gold Coast gratefully acknowledges Pacific Fair Shopping Centre as an official local partner of the 2021 edition of Le Dîner en Blanc.

Le Dîner en Blanc – Gold Coast will operate under a COVID-19 safe plane.

To keep up to date on event announcements, visit www.goldcoastdinerenblanc.com. To register for this year’s event, visit www.register.dinerenblanc.com/goldcoast.

Le Dîner en Blanc requirements which must be followed:

• Dress code: Elegant and white only.
• Originality is encouraged as long as it is stylish and tasteful.
• Table setting: all white
• As per Queensland alcohol laws, guests cannot bring their own alcohol. Guests wishing to enjoy some wine or Champagne, must reserve online through Le Dîner en Blanc’s e-store. However, guests are welcome to bring their own non-alcoholic beverages.
• To ensure that the location secret is kept undisclosed until the last minute
• Guests meet at the assigned departure location and are escorted by a Dîner en Blanc volunteer
• In order to leave the event location as clean as when they arrived, guests are required to leave with all their belongings, leftovers and any rubbish

Guests must bring

• A table, two white chairs, white tablecloth.
• A picnic basket comprising fine food and proper glassware and white dinnerware.
• A catered picnic hamper option, which can be picked up on site, will be available for those who do not wish to pack their own. Guests wishing to do so must reserve online through Le Dîner en Blanc’s e-store.

More about Le Dîner en Blanc

Over the years, Le Dîner en Blanc has become a worldwide epicurean phenomenon. What started off as a “friends and word-of-mouth only” event has grown into an international sensation celebrated on six continents. Launched in Paris in 1988 by Françoise Pasquier and a handful of friends, Le Dîner Blanc de Paris marked its 30th anniversary in 2018 with a record of 17,000 guests from Paris and around the world. While the technology around the event may have changed over the years, the principle fuelling this event has not: guests dressed in all white continue to gather at a secret location for the sole purpose of sharing a gourmet meal with good friends in one of their city’s most beautiful public spaces.

Founded in 2012 and headquartered in Montreal, Canada, Dîner en Blanc International is responsible for developing this secret posh picnic in over 80 cities in 30 countries around the world. Each event is headed by passionate local organizers who fell in love with the concept and wanted to bring it to their city, giving this rendezvous a local flair. For more info, photos and videos of Dîner en Blanc events from around the world, visit www.dinerenblanc.com.