Oscar Night Boston, on Sunday, February 26, offers an exclusive opportunity to walk the red carpet and experience Oscar Night like an A-list star, including live and silent auctions and a photo with actor Chris Cooper’s authentic Oscar statuette before viewing the 8 p.m. Academy Awards telecast live from Hollywood on oversized screens.

This year’s black-tie event, which begins at 6:30 p.m. at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Boston, will be emceed by WCVB-TV5′s Susan Wornick, Bianca de la Garza, JC Monahan and David Brown, and features delicious tastings from the Francis Ford Coppola Winery, Double Cross Vodka, Harpoon Brewery, and Asana, with chef stations and desserts by BiNA Osteria, Cakeology, Grafton Street, Island Creek Oysters, Morton’s The Steakhouse Back Bay, Pain D’Avignon, Russell House Tavern and Temple Bar.

Thanks to sponsor support, 100% of event proceeds will help the Needham-based Ellie Fund fight breast cancer and ease its effects on hundreds of local patients and family members across the Bay State.

For more information, visit www.elliefund.org/Oscars2012.

On Monday, March 26 the Joslin Diabetes Center hosts “Spoonful of Ginger” at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts from 6:30 p.m. – 9:30 p.m. The 8th annual event benefits Joslin’s Asian American Diabetes Initiative (AADI).

The soiree will once again feature Boston’s finest chefs for a food tasting like none other in the new Art of the Americas Wing.

Guests will enjoy an evening of gourmet dishes inspired by the delectable taste of ginger and prepared by some of Boston’s most renowned chefs, including Joanne Chang, Jose Duarte, Gordon Hamersley, Jacky Robert, and Jasper White.

Proceeds benefit Joslin Diabetes Center’s AADI, which strives to enhance the quality of life and health outcomes for the rising number of Asian Americans living with diabetes, as well as working with Joslin in their commitment to finding a cure.

At this year’s event, Joslin Diabetes Center will honor Chef Wesley Chen of Lotus Blossom Cuisine and local architect Been Wong for their contributions to the AADI’s mission and the Asian American community.

For tickets and more information, call 617-732-2512 or e-mail Kevin.Hudson@joslin.havard.edu.

The Friends of Copley Square, a non-profit organization that provides funding to assist the City of Boston with the preservation, maintenance, and beautification of the Copley Square, will host its second annual “Mardi Gras Celebration” on Friday, February 17 at 7:30 p.m. The event will be held at The Fairmont Copley Plaza.

The evening will bring the feeling of the French Quarter into the heart of Boston’s Back Bay. The event will include a New Orleans dinner buffet, live music and dancing, and auction prizes. Guests are encouraged to come in festive Mardi Gras attire, including masks if desired.

All of the proceeds from the event benefit The Friends of Copley Square. To purchase tickets, or for more information, visit www.friendsofcopleysquare.org.

Children and their families are invited to “Celebrate China!,” a complimentary afternoon of celebration and exploration of Chinese culture, at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Boston on Saturday, March 10, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

As a continuation of the partnership that formed between Mandarin Oriental and the Peabody Essex Museum, the prestigious museum will bring its shared Oriental heritage to the hotel for a day full of festivities and celebration that will be free to the public.

The Oriental Ballroom will be transformed to showcase China’s history and cultural marvels. Adults and children alike can immerse themselves in the nation’s culture with a variety of educational activities and exciting experiences, including:

• Creating a whimsical folding fan or a colorful paper lantern.
• Listening as storyteller Li Min Mo shares special stories about Chinese culture.
• Learning the significance of Tai Chi.
• Experiencing a lion dance performance.
• Experimenting with the technique of Chinese brush painting after viewing a demonstration by artist Yahong Shenthen.
• Discovering the flavors of China by tasting an assortment of hot and iced teas (for adults and children), as well as Mandarin oranges.
• Exploring Chinese culture further with a selection of Chinese-themed books available for purchase from Barefoot Books.

“While Boston is our home, we are immensely proud of our Oriental heritage,” said Mandarin Oriental, Boston’s General Manager, Susanne Hatje. “We are grateful for our longstanding relationship with the Peabody Essex Museum and its shared vision of bringing the historic and artistic traditions of the Orient to Boston.”

“As an educational institution with one of the nation’s most comprehensive Asian art collections, it is our responsibility to shine a light on this extraordinarily vibrant culture,” added Dan Monroe, Executive Director and CEO of the museum. “We look forward to sharing our extensive resources with children, parents and the Boston community.”

“Celebrate China!” is free and open to the public. To learn more, call 617-535 8888 or visit www.mandarinoriental.com/boston.

The national tour of the new musical comedy The Addams Family, based on the bizarre and beloved family of characters created by legendary cartoonist Charles Addams, will make its Boston premiere February 7-19, at the Shubert Theatre.

The Addams Family, which began performances in March 2010 at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre and ran through December 2011, immediately became one of Broadway’s biggest hits, described as a “classic, full-tilt, fast paced, old-fashioned musical comedy!” and “A glitzy-gloomy musical entirely worthy of the macabre drawings by Charles Addams.”

Tony Award nominee Douglas Sills and Sara Gettelfinger star as Gomez and Morticia. The principal cast also includes Tony Award nominee Martin Vidnovic as Mal Beineke, two-time Tony Award nominee Crista Moore as Alice Beineke, Blake Hammond as Uncle Fester, Pippa Pearthree as Grandma, Tom Corbeil as Lurch, Patrick D. Kennedy as Pugsley, Brian Justin Crum as Lucas Beineke and Cortney Wolfson as Wednesday.

The Addams Family features an original story and it’s every father’s nightmare. Wednesday Addams, the ultimate princess of darkness, has grown up and fallen in love with a sweet, smart young man from a respectable family, a man her parents have never met. And if that weren’t upsetting enough, she confides in her father and begs him not to tell her mother. Now, Gomez Addams must do something he’s never done before: keep a secret from his beloved wife, Morticia. Everything will change for the whole family on the fateful night they host a dinner for Wednesday’s “normal” boyfriend and his parents.

For tickets and more information, call 866-348-9738 or visit www.citicenter.org.