Dîner en Blanc 2017– Still the best night in Paris!

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It’s that time of year again for the best night in Paris.  For the last four years in Paris we’ve been lucky enough to attend the famed Dîner en Blanc (Dinner in white) event, which is a massive flash-mob like dining event held in a unique and amazing location each year in the city.  The event is traditionally held in early June, with its exact location kept secret until minutes before you arrive onsite.  Even the date is mostly under warps except to those invited.

I’ve written about it the previous times we attended – and this year will be no different.  In many ways this post is more for my long-term archival of the event than anything else.  Something that someday myself and The Girl can look back on.  It forces me to edit photos and put something to paper…err…digital paper.

The event starts off months in advance with securing a slot to the event.  It’s incredibly difficult and there’s no entry form.  You have to know someone that’s been invited in years past and remains in the good graces of the event for not violating any of the various protocols.

Then at noon on the day of the event you’ll receive a text with the initial meeting location to arrive at 8PM.  This location is in the general ballpark (within 800-1,000m) of the final location.  Because there are some 6,800 other people (this year) at the event, these locations are spread across the city around the undisclosed final location.  Ours was essentially atop a Velib station:

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It’s here that you’ll start your festivities with getting early liquids in.  Most of these waiting spots are adjacent to bars and cafes.  Then at 9PM you’ll receive another text with more specific details on where you’re going.  Before that point you don’t know the final spot – it could be anywhere.  In our case that meant about an 8-10 minute walk to the evening’s grounds – Hôtel de Ville.  In French, Hôtel de Ville means the town/city hall (it’s not an actual hotel).  In the case of Paris, there’s massive grounds outside it that host events year round (many of which you see in my posts).

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Once you arrived, you must quickly setup your tables.  With Dîner en Blanc – you bring everything in – including tables, food, glassware (no paper stuff allowed), and decorations for your table.  Likewise, you take everything out afterwards as if nobody was ever there.

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In our group (10 couples), we go with a shared family-style dining approach.  Each couple brings 1-2 dishes to share amongst the entire group.  Plus each couple usually brings a bottle of Champagne (or wine)…or two bottles depending on the after party situation. Can never have too much Champagne.

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Shortly after setup, there’s the ceremonial napkin twirl.  Our group was in the middle of resolving a land dispute with an uninvited palm tree, so I had to settle for a cell-phone photo here.

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Then it’s onto enjoying the food.  Luckily our group is full of foodies, that includes chefs/bakers, and other foodie type folks.  I mean, just look at these dishes!

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Don’t worry, this was just one-half of the cheese selection for our table:

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And of course The Girl brought a cake from The Cake Studio:

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All of which ended up on my plate:

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A couple of notes on attire and such.  Everyone is required to wear white everything.  Ideally upscale/semi-formal white something.  As noted, the specifics for bringing your own table and chairs are very detailed – down to the allowed sizes (so that everyone fits).  Plus things like cutlery (not plastic), plates (not plastic), and even trash bags (must have) are dictated.  For The Girl and I, we find everything in this world seems to be becoming increasingly more and more casual, we enjoy having some fanciness every once in a while. So we ask each year for our group to make their best efforts on the fancy front, and once again our friends came through dressed to impress.

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Going over the top is welcomed here.  Our table brings fresh cut flowers (we actually cut them down to size with butter knives at the table in fact), as well as candles.

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Other tables will bring entire candle holder center pieces.  Or elaborate lighting systems.  As long as it looks nice and adds to the night – all is welcome!

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Oh – and since everything had to be in white…don’t worry – I brought out a white watch for the occasion.  The Suunto Spartan Ultra:

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And if you need water refills?  Don’t worry – the city has you covered.  Parisian municipal water is some of the best in the world, and it’s available from these taps across the city. In both still and sparkling varieties.  This one happened to be in the middle of the rows of tables:

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One minor sports tidbit is all of the Paris 2024 Olympic bid related goods were on display, seen here in giant banners on town hall:

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Mid-way through the evening just after dark (around 11PM) it was time to light the sparklers, which are provided by the event.  It’s the only thing provided by the event (which cost $3 per couple, much of which benefits charity).

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This year was unique in that we managed to get ourselves atop a gigantic crane that was being used for photos of the event.

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While we had to wait in line a little bit – it was definitely worth it for the 30 seconds we got up top!

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For anyone trying to do a headcount here, this year there were 6,800 people at Dîner en Blanc, slightly up from 6,400 people last yearTwo years ago there were 10,000 people and then 13,000 people the year before.  While you see the majority of the people in the photo below, there were also folks across one of the bridges crossing the Seine leading out to the right (click to expand).

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After getting back from our crane-based aerial adventure (as drones would be illegal in Paris proper), it was time to cut the cake and dig into dessert:

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In addition to cake, Sudeep brought some of his pralines – which are awesome sauce.  Like others in our group, he’s been spinning up a boutique – À la Louisiane – making high-end pralines, all from a bit of Louisiana heritage (where he’s from).

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Like any high-end food item, these are best eaten same day.  It’s never a disappointing day when he swings by the Cake Studio/DCR Cave with treats!

After that, there was more picture taking…

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As well as a bit more music and dancing…

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And some more drinking.  Lots more drinking.

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Then as the clock strikes midnight everyone starts to pack back up again.

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And by pack-up, I mean do justice to any remaining bottles.  Don’t worry, a certain someone took care of that here with gusto.

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Before you knew it, it was empty in the square – left just as it was a few hours prior.  Folks are great at respecting the location and being sure to clean things up and ensuring all trash is ported out of the area.

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Luckily for us this year we only had a short few hundred meter walk home.  Remember, we’re trucking our tables and chairs, as well as glassware and plates.  Phew!

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With that – thanks again to Roger and crew for hosting an amazing event.  And of course, to everyone in our group for making yet another incredibly memorable night.  See ya next year!

P.S. – Here’s the previous Dîner en Blanc goodness: 2016 (complete with video!), 2015 (near the Louvre!), and 2014 (on the bridges)!

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18 Comments

  1. @ressler

    Love all of your day to day posts but this has become one of my favorite DCR posts to ready these last few years.

    • Thounee

      +1 to this, especially for two outstandingly cool facts:
      – Be respectful for the venue and city -> everything is left clean which cannot be said for 99.9% of any event.
      – No disposable tableware -> this will also keep the amount of thrash down

    • Thomas

      I’m fantasizing of 2018, when all the millions of Parisians put tables on their streets and turn the entire city in a white dinner place.

  2. Paul in Kirkland

    Yea, this is always one of my favorite posts of yours, and the fact that I always forget about it until you post a new year’s event make it a pleasant surprise.

    Someday…

  3. Scott E

    Always good to see The Girl all dolled up and everyone having fun. Would be kind of cool to go global with this kind of event.

  4. Swim n Bike Ken

    Ray,

    Thanks again for Sharing!

    Thanks to you I and my ex-wife and friends were part of the DEB last year….

    en chante, enjoy your fabulous adventures in Paris and sometimes upscale and formal events..

    Cheers,

    Ken

  5. Gee

    Thanks for the photo feature of me and Rog! It was a pleasure meeting you and the Girl in person :)

  6. fraser

    Nice as always. Oh and by the way: You managed to get a shot of the corespondent for france of the public german television ZDF (the blond guy next to the two older gentleman). :D

  7. Markus

    Great event indeed. I lived in Paris for three years but never got wind of this.

    Do you know if the city is involved and gives permission or is it a true flashmob that the city kind of lets pass because it has proven to work out well for everyone? Thinking about doing a similar thing in my current home town.

  8. Tracye Beatty

    Diner En Blanc is an awesome ? event. I was preveledged to attend Philadelphia 2017 DEB! Now on my bucket list is to attend in Paris. I sure I can get word out and get Joseph and Tracye Beatty on the invite list.
    ?

  9. Kyle

    Diner end blanc DC was last night, but it appeared to be a catered event.

  10. Aidan

    Went last night to the London version of this event, ended up sitting next to a couple who also had heard of the event through your blog, its a small world. Great Night

  11. Lesley Hughes

    Just finished reading Danielle Steels Magic which features the White Dinner and really hoped it was real – delighted it is – sounds magical!

  12. Daniel

    Ray,

    We received the invite for this year. Any tips on where we can get the table and chairs locally for the event locally? We are over in italy.

    Daniel

    • Eeks, that’s tough, I’m not sure.

      Years ago for our first one we bought this little table (link to amzn.to) – it’s a fold-up table with tables inside. It’s highly overpriced, but we figured we’d get a lot of use out of it (2-person edition).

      It’s on Amazon France, so it could be delivered to any Euro address (including a hotel/friend in Paris). And to be fair, it’s an awesome little travel table. Not super comfortable compared to a huge table, but it’ll be the same height as everyone elses table, and the perfect width. Plus…it comes with chairs. :)

      Else, you could probably hit up Conforama right in town (a few locations), and find something that mike work…and probably cheaper. Though, not as easy to transport on Metro/etc when you’re also trying to lug food, glass ware, and so on.

      Enjoy – and see ya there!

  13. daniel

    Awesome! After posting, I saw that they will be doing dinner kits with the table and chair included. Not sure on the pricing yet but might be an option. I was thinking that maybe decathlon might have an inexpensive option.Appreciate the response!