I wanted to start this page with this picture not only to say that it’s beautiful to have a large havdallah candle for a Motzei Shabbos Melave Malka but because if you look at my husband and son’s face you can see that it’s the journey that shines. As Shluchos who run our many worlds, planning for a simcha can be so overwhelming! This one was our first and I honestly had to work on myself every day to ‘let go’. Not everything was as detailed as I’d like but I wanted more than any decoration, any flower arrangement, any ribbon…the days and weeks preceding to be a good memory for the whole family! Not easy… but well worth letting go! An easy touch that can be done months before is to make your Menu and make little tags that say what each dish is. This was easy to do and made me feel ‘on top’ of things…in a small way:) We had a lot of family and out of town guests so we made Shabbos dinner in our backyard in a heated tent. This served as our ‘social hall and shul (which is wonderful addition of space to our regular dining room shul!). We had 165 people for daving on Shabbos and a Mincha aliyah and a huge kiddush lunch which took place in the tent as well as every corner of our house! (always make note to see how many people your tent can hold:)! The little pouches are actually shimmery gold tissue paper that is gently wrapped around a delicious chocolate truffle from Le Chcolate from Monsey. (The best chocolate ever!…and probably most expensive:). Paired with a matching napkin, it looked soft and welcoming. I love these vases from crate and barrel! I bought about 50 of them about 10 years ago and use them all the time! First of all they are CUTE! and secondly, you don’t need to purchase tons of flowers! Just line these up and feel free to add other vases in between, like the tall ones (from CB2).
It’s not a gala banquet…always keep this in mind. You can focus on the tables and draw attention to detail when working with a simple plain space.
A nice simple program to explain the various parts of a Bar Mitzvah.
Wrapped pushkas to match decor and a touch of green to bring nature in during the cold month of Kislev.
Use a favor as your table seat card. Here we ordered bulk Havdallah spice and re-packaged it and stuck labels on. Each label had the guest’s name and table number. Then when we made Havdallah, everyone had besomim to smell.
Not quite what I had in mind…but it looks pretty none the less. I had tried so hard to be organized and not leave center pieces until the day before but I did…(surprisingly) although, there were so many other details throughout this 3 part event that I had to let go somewhere. Whenever this bothers me…I go back to the first picture of my husband and son smiling and know I made the right choice.
Simple yet cost effective. Cream roses from costco. Just take off all leaves to make a clean arrangement! I ordered a stamp from www.expressionary.com that added that little touch!A welcome basket was placed in every hotel room customized to each person. It included various pampering items and some things that are naturally found in California, in our area. (Local Honey, Napa Valley Spice rub, Harney and sons Teas). I included hand sanitizers, shower gels and some extra special things for the bubbys! I also included an envelope with all the local places that they may need (like a pharmacy, whole food market, numbers for taxi’s etc.) In addition, there was a itemized program which included times and places so everyone knew where to go and when…this helped avoid using my energy to repeat instructions:)
Where did you get your table cloths and plates?
just let me know what event you are referring to….thanks
What was the menu?
I’m not sure which event you are referring to…. please let me know…
T he bar mitzvah