Wine and Design- Syosset, NY, Rockville Centre

In a way, Wine and Design sells personalized home decor—the trick being that its clients make everything themselves. The studio creates a festive environment for painters (especially first-timers) to create picturesque works of art that, after a two-hour session, will be ready to take home and hang on the wall. Depending on the day, you might get to create a moody landscape or a bright holiday scene, but no matter what, a local artist will provide step-by-step instruction to make sure it's as close to the model painting as you want it to be.

Wine and Design specializes in painting nights for adults, who can bring or order (depending on location) wine and beer to enhance the party atmosphere. But kids get their own occasional classes, and specialty sessions offer crafts such as wine-glass decoration. Groups also descend on the studio to celebrate birthdays, baby showers, and being let out of their cubicles on corporate retreats.