Looking for an event venue on Long Island? You’ve got wonderful options, from waterfront halls to Gold Coast estates. In this blog, we’ll go over 15 venues grouped by the occasion they suit best, from milestone birthdays and team events to reunions and showers.
We’ll also cover what each one includes and what you’ll still need to rent after you book the room. With the right room and a clear rental list, you’ll be ready to plan a fantastic Long Island celebration!
- Choosing the Right Long Island Venue for Your Celebration
- Milestone Birthdays and Family Celebrations
- Corporate Mixers and Team Events
- Reunions and Larger Gatherings
- Showers, Retirement Parties, and Smaller Celebrations
- Gold Coast Estates for Milestone Celebrations
- What You’ll Still Need to Rent on Long Island
- Need Party Rentals on Long Island?
Choosing the Right Long Island Venue for Your Celebration
The biggest difference between Long Island venues is how much comes with the room, and that shapes your whole rental order:
- All-inclusive: At OHEKA Castle or the Garden City Hotel, food, service and nearly everything else come from the house. Your list is mostly personal touches.
- Partly furnished: Greenport Harbor Brewing includes tables and chairs, so you’re adding linens and the look.
- An empty site: Planting Fields states that catering, rentals and other event services aren’t included, and Hallockville Museum Farm has you bring your own caterer. You’re building the event from the ground up.
The other thing to settle early is which end of the island your guests are coming from. A venue in Montauk asks a lot more of guests driving from Nassau than one in Garden City does, so look at where most of your guests live before you fall for a venue at the far end.
Related: Not sure if you’ll need a permit for your event in Long Island? Check out our local permitting guide!
Milestone Birthdays and Family Celebrations
A milestone birthday or a family party usually brings every age into one room, from toddlers to grandparents. The useful question is how much of the party the venue runs for you. Some venues come themed and catered, letting you focus on the personal touches.
1. Atlantis Banquets and Events
The event venue at the Long Island Aquarium in Riverhead builds its rooms around the aquarium itself, with an indoor waterfall, walls of tropical tanks, and an outdoor pavilion on the river. It hosts sweet sixteens, christenings and showers, and yours is the only event in the building at that time. Menus are in-house, and the rooms already carry the look, so your list is short: personal decor, favors, and a call on the indoor room or the pavilion.
2. Bridgeview Yacht Club
Planning a bar or bat mitzvah? Bridgeview Yacht Club in Island Park sits on Reynolds Channel, with a glass-walled ballroom, a separate cocktail room, gardens and a pier, and it hosts one event at a time. Both main rooms have built-in bars and dance floors, so this is a decor and entertainment booking more than a furniture one. The courtyard pergola is built to be dressed with flowers and drapery, so that’s where to put your decor budget.
3. Long Island Children’s Museum
The Long Island Children’s Museum in Garden City rents the full museum, a theater, a studio, an outdoor backyard with a sensory garden, and the glass-enclosed Nunley’s Carousel on its own. Adult birthdays and reunions book here as well as family events. Rentals come with a limited number of portable tables and chairs, and the backyard has only a couple of picnic tables. For a bigger seated group, plan on bringing extra seating and table linens.
Corporate Mixers and Team Events
A work event goes better when there’s something to do besides stand and talk, and when the format suits people arriving straight from the office. A brewery with golf simulators or a resort with its own team-building program gives people something to do, and a venue that brings its own tables and sound system leaves you less to arrange.
4. Greenport Harbor Brewing Company
Tables and chairs are already covered at Greenport Harbor Brewing. Every event at its two North Fork locations comes with a coordinator, staff, tables, event chairs, high-tops and a sound system with a microphone. The Peconic brewhouse adds a stage for a presentation, and its barrel room opens onto a beer garden, so weather is the main call. What’s left for you is linens and decor.
5. Great South Bay Brewery
Great South Bay Brewery in Bay Shore has three private party rooms, and the Massive IPA Hall offers golf simulators, which gives a team event something to do. Drink packages only come with a party room, and there’s an in-house catering package. Their FAQ says outside food isn’t allowed, so if you’re planning a cake or dessert from somewhere else, get the brewery’s answer in writing before you order it.
6. Gurney’s Montauk
For a company retreat or a holiday party by the ocean, Gurney’s Montauk has meeting rooms, a seaside banquet room, decks, and a Beach Club it describes as the only on-the-beach dining in the Hamptons. It also runs team-building activities. Catering is full-service and in-house, so your main decision is the beach or deck versus an indoor room. The Top Deck can be enclosed with a tent to stretch the outdoor season, so find out how that works for your date before promising guests an outdoor event.
Reunions and Larger Gatherings
A reunion guest list can keep changing right up to the RSVP deadline. If yours is heading outdoors, settle the lawn and the tent early, since both get harder to change once the RSVPs come in. Estates and farms give you room to spread out, and some leave the tent, tables and permits entirely to you.
7. Sands Point Preserve
Sands Point Preserve is the former Guggenheim estate on the Long Island Sound, with a Tudor-style mansion, a castle whose Great Hall has a configurable stage and sound system, gardens and a Great Lawn. Birthdays, anniversaries, communions and holiday parties all book here. Hempstead House’s Rose Garden and terrace overlook the Sound and are set up for open-air or tented receptions, so an outdoor plan there comes with a tent decision. They also set a guest minimum, which makes it a better fit for a bigger group.
8. Hallockville Museum Farm
At Hallockville Museum Farm in Riverhead, a restored barn sits among preserved North Fork farmland, with room for caterers and a band and an open floor that takes any table layout. Larger events add a tent beside the barn. You hire your own caterer, and both of you provide proof of insurance. Alcohol has to come from a licensed caterer or beverage vendor and be poured by certified bartenders. Tent permits are yours too, filed with Riverhead Town’s Fire Marshal. Plan on bringing in furniture unless the farm tells you the barn has its own.
9. The Long Island Museum
Stony Brook’s Long Island Museum rents a room inside its Carriage Museum, a larger space it calls a blank canvas, and a Fountain Garden. The larger space suits engagement parties and birthdays, and blank canvas means the look arrives with you. For an outdoor event, permits and rentals are yours to arrange, tents included, and the museum recommends hiring a valet for larger parties.
Showers, Retirement Parties, and Smaller Celebrations
At a smaller party, a venue might do almost everything for you, or almost nothing. Knowing which one you’ve booked tells you whether your list is favors and games or a full rental order.
10. The Garden City Hotel
For a bridal shower or a tea, The Garden City Hotel offers the private dining room inside its Red Salt Room restaurant, along with Kosher options and preferred Kosher caterers. Their page says the hotel takes care of everything except favors and shower games. That’s close to your whole list, plus anything that makes the room feel personal. The hotel has its own pastry chefs, so ask whether a celebration cake can be part of your shower menu.
11. Wölffer Estate Vineyard
Wölffer Estate Vineyard on the South Fork offers a private pergola among the vines for small seated meals and cocktail parties, with food arranged through the vineyard’s catering partner. The pergola is open-air. In the colder months, the Cellar inside the tasting room becomes a cozy spot for private gatherings. Settle which of the two you’re booking before the invitations go out.
12. Old Westbury Gardens
Two booking paths run through Old Westbury Gardens, a Gold Coast estate with formal gardens. Showers and smaller private events book directly with the Gardens. Large milestone celebrations are tented events handled by the Gardens’ exclusive event partner. Whichever path fits your guest list, get a list of what’s included from the people you’re booking with.
Gold Coast Estates for Milestone Celebrations
For an anniversary, a milestone birthday or a gala, a Gold Coast estate can be the reason for the party. What comes with the room varies a lot between estates. Some handle food and service themselves, while others provide the setting and nothing else. Find out which kind you’re booking before you build the budget. That’s how you’ll know whether you’re personalizing a finished room or renting everything from the tables up.
13. OHEKA Castle
OHEKA Castle in Huntington is a French chateau-style estate, now a historic hotel, that hosts galas, anniversaries, sweet sixteens and corporate events. It holds one event a day. Food and service come from the house, so the rental gap is narrow: personal decor, entertainment, and the details that make the party feel like yours.
14. Planting Fields
At Planting Fields in Oyster Bay, the Main House and gardens host rehearsal dinners and other private celebrations, with settings that include the Great Hall, the Cloister Garden and the Blue Pool Garden. Ceremonies there start after the site closes to the public, so ask when your rental and catering crews can begin setting up. Their page states that catering, rentals, entertainment and other event services are not included, so everything from the tables and chairs to the food and music is yours to arrange.
15. Nassau County Museum of Art
The Nassau County Museum of Art in Roslyn Harbor sits in a Georgian-style mansion with formal gardens, a sculpture park and an arboretum. Its glass-walled Pavilion opens straight into the galleries, and guests are encouraged to see the exhibits and walk the grounds during the event. Spaces range from the Library and a covered Gazebo to the Pavilion, and you can combine them, so your guest list can pick the room. The terraces and Gazebo need a weather plan.
What You’ll Still Need to Rent on Long Island
Once the room is booked, your rental order is whatever the room doesn’t include. On Long Island, that ranges widely:
- Hotels, catering halls and estates with in-house service: OHEKA, the Garden City Hotel and Bridgeview bring nearly everything. You’re adding personal decor and entertainment.
- Some breweries and museums: These can bring part of the furniture, like Greenport Harbor’s tables and chairs or the Children’s Museum’s portable tables. You’re adding linens, extra seating and the look.
- Estates, farms and gardens: Planting Fields, Hallockville and the Long Island Museum’s outdoor space are close to empty. Plan on tables, chairs and linens, and where the venue allows one, a tent with sidewalls and heaters for cooler evenings.
Ask every venue for a written list of what’s included, then rent what’s missing.
If you’re pricing out that order, our Long Island rental pricing guide covers what tables, chairs, linens and bar rentals cost. If a tent or a park is part of the plan, our Long Island permits guide covers which office to call.
Need Party Rentals on Long Island?
The right venue depends on the occasion, and the right rental order depends on what the venue doesn’t include. Match the room to your guest list first, then fill in whatever it doesn’t bring.
Reventals makes that second part easy. You can browse tents, tables, chairs, linens and more for your Long Island event and request everything in one place, with our team working behind the scenes to keep the process smooth.
