If you are a bar mitzvah veteran like me, then you’ve probably seen it all. From bands to DJ’s, photo booths to game rooms, and all those sweatshirts, it can be incredibly tough to be ahead of the curve and break new ground on your child’s special day, but trust me, it can be done.
Check out how these trendsetting parents discovered new ways for their guests to have a great time.
The Silent Disco
When I first saw a few kids put on headphones on the dance floor during my friend’s son’s bar mitzvah, I couldn’t quite understand why they’d want everyone to be dancing without anyone else hearing the music. That is, until I slipped on a pair and couldn’t stop dancing.
With a silent disco, all you need is to rent headsets, sync them to wifi and then you can play different music on two channels – one for the kids and a retro channel for adults.
New Rochelle mom Debbie Zimmerman and her husband Matt first heard about the Silent Disco from one of Matt’s friends in London. After searching online, they found a company called Silent Storm. A few days before the party, Silent Storm (silentdis.co/silent-disco) sent them specialized headsets, which the Zimmermans sent back a few days after the party. Zimmerman says she created the playlists on Spotify and then had her iPad and phone running the entire time. There were two channels with two playlists which meant there was music that appealed to everyone.
“We ordered 75 headsets, thinking that the kids would use them while the adults ate dinner but in retrospect I would have gotten more because the adults loved them,” says Zimmerman. “The kids pretty much stuck a pair on their head and walked around and weren’t dancing. The adults were dancing and had the best time,” she adds.
Digital Photo Booths
Long gone are the days when only two people could squeeze into a photo booth and sport goofy grins for the camera. Today, the photo booth has been redesigned for the new millennium.
Scarsdale mom Shari Schneider worked with the DJ production company EK Productions (ekproductions.com) who provided her family with the photo booth (ekproductions.com/#!photo-booths/c1rqd) for her son Riley’s big day. “Kids and adults love a photo booth and keepsake pictures so I knew I wanted to have that but I was looking for something new and different,” she says. Schneider’s DJ told her about a brand new option that’s open air yet compact in size and fits plenty of people into a picture. The photo booth was also high tech. It allows you to upload photos to social media immediately or send them to your own email. The machine also utilized a touch screen and was super easy to use, so there was never a long line of guests waiting to take photos. The photo booth produced 4 by 6 pictures, 2 by 6 photo strips, plus video messages and you could customize your picture with fun words and embellishments.
After the bar mitzvah, Schneider and her family received a copy of all the pictures that people took in the booth. “Our guests liked that they could take photographs with them but also send them to their email and social media sites so that they had the pictures no matter what,” she says. “It was really fun looking at the candid shots after the party. People are very creative.”
Color War Bar Mitzvah
Whenever my kids got invited to a bar or bat mitzvah, I have to admit I got a bit envious of the swag they brought home. From cozy hooded sweatshirts to pajama pants, once they completed their year on the bar mitzvah circuit, they were outfitted with an entire season’s worth of comfy clothes.
For Dina Shuster’s son Jeremy, the swag set the tone for the party. “Jeremy loves camp so we knew we had to incorporate it into his special day,” says his mom. The Shusters decided to throw Jeremy a Color War bar mitzvah, complete with games, competition and challenges that typically take place at sleepaway camp.
Prior to the bar mitzvah, all the guests, adults included, were sent a red or grey sweatshirt. In advance of the party, guests were given the dress code: wear your color war shirt and sneakers. As instructed, all the guests were wearing Jeremy’s signature color war shirts. The personalized logo even matched that of his favorite camp, Camp Equinunk. They were then split into groups, the red and the gray, and got ready to compete.
The DJ played an active role in motivating the guests and even broke color war the same way Jeremy’s camp does, by recreating the sound of a ball being shot out of a cannon!
What Shuster loved most about her son’s party was that everyone participated. “Whether they were 8 or 80, everyone had the best time,” she says.
While you typically would need a sports venue or open loft space to pull off a Color War bar mitzvah, to get you started, visit Westchester’s MazelTovGear.com — where you can work with graphic designers on custom logos and then order any promo item you need for the big day.
Shuster says everybody who attended the Color War bar mitzvah still talks about it. “It was laid back and really fun. It was just really awesome – it worked out perfectly,” she says.
Beth Feldman is a freelance writer, mom, and a frequent bar/bat mitzvah guest.
