Rentals Never Looked This Good

• By Denise Penny
• Published Winter 2006

If you've already sat in one too many charivari chairs and are loath to feature the same elegant but generic rentals at your own event, the city has a surfeit of more original inventories: (1) at Broadway Famous, there are 400 linen choices, dishware in styles from vibrant-preppy to angular deco, candelabras, and stainless steel bamboo-handled flatware (212-269-2666); (2) standouts at Party Rental Ltd. are black-and-white checkered dance floors, Parisian-style bistro chairs, vintagey stemware, Lucite podiums, and wicker cornucopias (888-774-4776); and (3) Props for Today has products so stylish (think 100 guests in Louis Ghost Chairs) they often decorate movie sets or celebrity receptions, like that of Salman Rushdie to Padma Lakshmi (212-244-9600).