The Friends of New Yorkers for Children held a spring soiree at the Mandarin Oriental last weekend. The “Fools’ Fete” raised funds for the group’s work with poor children and families who are served by the city’s Administration for Children’s Services. The party also celebrated the arrival of April and happened to fall on one of the year’s first warm days.

Everyone was dressed in seasonal best. Jill Feinstein wore a brand new Mari stole, Carol Harting was in orange Carolina Herrera, Tenley Black arrived in Louis Vuitton, and Elizabeth Loomis wore J. Mendel. The sisters Lara and Lisa Meiland wore gowns from their new design enterprise, Lara Helene Bridal Atelier. Geoffrey Scott Carroll wore a tuxedo shirt and jacket with a black kilt and impressive badger sporran, or pouch. Mr. Carroll was a chairman of an April 6 gala with a Scottish theme that was called Dressed to Kilt and was also held in the Time Warner Center.

The Friends of NYFC is made up of the organization’s young supporters. Several of the young couples in attendance were flush with romance. The actress Anne Hathaway (“The Princess Diaries”) teasingly called her boyfriend, Raffaello Follieri, “my husband.” Lara Meiland managed to sneak off with her date, Claude Shaw, to check out the spectacular view of the city from the ballroom’s large windows.

Others in attendance included Lucy Sykes and Euan Rellie; Heather and Steven Mnuchin; Minnie Mortimer; the models Karolina Kurkova and Gemma Ward; the Administration for Children’s Services’ Jaja Johnson; an event chairwoman, Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, and the junior chairwomen, Lauren Davis, Lydia Fenet, Zani Gugelmann, and Tinsley Mortimer.

During the cocktail hour, guests were invited to bid on a variety of items at a silent auction. Offerings included a gown designed by Naeem Khan, who was in attendance; a watch by Jacob & Company, whose founder, “Jacob the Jeweler,” arrived with his wife, Angela Arabo; and a dress by Luca Luca, whose founder, Luca Orandi, hovered nearby.

Then it was time for an evening of dinner and dancing. The long rows of tables were decked out as decadently as the revelers who sat at them.

The invitation provided a bit of April Fool’s Day lore, recounting the holiday’s 16th-century origins. When Pope Gregory XIII introduced the Christian calendar in 1582, New Year’s Day moved to January 1 from April 1.Since not everyone had received the news, many continued to celebrate in April, while those in the know played tricks on them and dubbed them “April fools.”