Creating Mitzvah Magic With Party Perfect

lacohnetsy

Story by lacohnetsy

Published on June 14, 2010

Photo by Jennifer Werneth

PP_bio.jpgLaura Cohn and Debbie Mintzer are the creative force behind Party Perfect, an event planning company in Central Florida. Started in 2008 after Debbie and Laura planned their children’s mitzvahs together, Party Perfect has become a specialized planner for themed Bar/Bat Mitzvahs and sweet sixteen parties. Laura is also the creator of the blog, Mitzvahlicious, which has been providing mitzvah planning tips and ideas since 2007, and runs the Etsy shop lacohnetsy.

Bar/Bat Mitzvahs have traditionally been small family affairs, where youths reach adulthood in their synagogue by reading from the Torah for the first time. In recent years, many communities have translated the event to be both a religious rite of passage, as well as a social coming-of-age bash. Planning a Bar/Bat Mitzvah presents its own unique set of challenges: incorporating age-old rituals, the enthusiastic desires of a group of 13-year-olds, and the need for an elegant but fun party atmosphere for adults.

Picking a theme is often a daunting task. For this particular event, the very creative and talented Bat Mitzvah girl made it easy for us. Phoebe loved the beautiful watercolor woodland fairyland illustrations in the book Fairyopolis by Cicely Mary Barker. Our task was to convey the whimsical and vintage feel of these illustrations through this memorable event.

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Save the Dates: When you send out invitations to an event the last thing you want to hear is that guests already have something planned. So why not let everyone know well in advance that the day is coming?

For us, Bar/Bat Mitzvah save-the-date announcements tend to be sent out 6 to 8 months before to the event. To announce our theme from the outset we decided to create individually hand-crafted fairies captured in glass jars. These ”captured fairies,” along with ribbon-tied tags and a mini-booklet with event information, were placed into little cardboard boxes adorned with theme-related mailing labels. Opening this, one would know they had been invited to a unique and exciting event. Search Etsy for vintage tags to get ideas.

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Service programs: The synagogue service is very important and represents the culmination of years learning Hebrew and memorizing prayers. The Bar/Bat Mitzvah is a coming-of-age ceremony, after which the child assumes the responsibilities of being a contributing member of the Jewish community.

We wanted a program for the synagogue service that was both personalized for Phoebe and in keeping with our fairy theme. Coordinating with GE Designs we produced custom ribbon-knotted service programs featuring a specially commissioned hand-cut fairy silhouette of Phoebe. This same graphic became a recurring motif for the party.

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Wishing Tree: We were inspired by our “fairy woodland” theme to create this unique alternative to the traditional guestbook. The ribbon-bedecked wishing tree invited guests to make the tree bloom with good wishes on beautiful watercolor paper leaves created by jenAitchison. Hand-crafted flower pens arranged in terra cotta pots completed the look.

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Card box: This vintage wire bird cage was a lovely way to collect the cards for the Bat Mitzvah girl. We trimmed it out with striped ribbon and a custom tag. To get this look yourself, check out the mossy birdcage card box sold by Etsy seller RomancingJuliet.

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Place Cards: These are often simple folded pre-printed cards that would certainly not be fitting for our beautiful “fairy woodlands.” Using colorful wildflower seed packets (doubling as an eco-friendly party favor) we created labels with guest and table information and displayed them in a tray of wheat grass trimmed out with moss and butterflies. Search Etsy for vintage seed packets to create this look.

Ivory paper butterfly place cards created by TimelessPaper alighted on every guest’s wine glass at the dining room’s royal table. 

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Candy Apple Bar: Finally… dessert! What’s more fun for both youngsters and adults than old-fashioned candy apples? These hand-dipped candy apples covered in any of your favorite toppings are yummy and can be boxed as a take-home party favor. Custom labels for the toppings jars and apple boxes add a personalized touch.

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Credit for photography goes to Jennifer Werneth and decor to Stephen Cole of JM Events.

Thanks to Party Perfect for sharing their handmade party-throwing tips.
What theme would you choose for your next bash?

Handmade Weddings Series | Bar/Bat Mitzvah Items on Etsy

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