May 17th, 2010
Spot On Pictures is a full service video production company ready to help you create a high impact entrance video or innovative multimedia montage that will be the highlight of your celebration. We have been in the video business for over 20 years and have been developing creative and entertaining montages for well over 10 years. Our head of production, Gemma Tummolo used to cut movie trailers, network commercials and PBS Documentaries – so your montage will be produced and edited by one of the very best in the business.
We got the chance to speak with Wanda Weber, President, Sales & Marketing to learn more about the creative work at Spot On Pictures:
MM: Please describe your business.
WW: Spot On Pictures has an excellent reputation in the industry for creating custom HD entrance videos and custom HD multimedia montages that will be the absolute hit of your party. Whether you want a sentimental documentary style montage that reflects the warmth of your family or a humorous montage with TV or movie clips, we’re the experts!
Click here to see our most popular multimedia montage…
MM: How is your business unique?
WW: Nobody produces montages with the high quality production value like we do. It’s so obvious; you just have to look at our work. Anyone can instantly see that we don’t produce the cookie cutter, run of the mill montages that you see at most parties. We take it to a whole new level because we apply TV broadcast standards to your productions. We make sure your entrance video sets the tone for the celebration and then the montage takes the party up a few notches. We get overwhelming feedback from our clients who tell us their montage was the hit of the evening.
Click here to watch our FANTASTIC Bnai Mitzvah Multimedia Montage…
MM: What can people expect when they hire you for their Mitzvah?
WW: You can expect a superior broadcast quality montage produced by real professionals who will handle your montage from beginning to end. You can expect meticulous research and attention to detail. We’re extremely organized and will help YOU organize with our custom prep kit. We’ll work with you to find out your son or daughter’s favorite TV shows, movies and music so that we can incorporate as much as of your family’s personalities into your custom montage as possible. We pride ourselves with being on time and on budget – EXCEEDING EXPECTATIONS and STRESS FREE!
Click here to watch our recent B’nai Mitzvah Entrance Video…
Receive $350 off your entrance video and montage package when you mention Mitzvah Market.
Click here to see a great example of a warm and touching family documentary style Bar Mitzvah montage.
May 16th, 2010
This Mitzvah Inspire is courtesy of Planning Factory International. They are a special events company that works together to design, refine, coordinate, install, manage and complete all phases of an event or meeting.
This creative Bat Mitzvah was for a young lady named Whitney and her themed was “Whitney Mall.” Planning Factory International created “Mall shops” for the various activities. They also had old-fashioned newspaper boys handing out custom Whitney Mall newspapers and an Ice Cream Shop for dessert and a make-up store with air-brush face painting. Sounds like lots of fun!
Take a look below at some of the pictures from Whitney’s Bat Mitzvah celebration:
Bling Bling was a Jewelry store where all the novelty items and giveaways were displayed
The “Sundries” Mall area was where the wearable items (scrubs and socks), shopping bags and a custom newspaper were available for guests
The centerpieces were upscale florals with an oversized Whitney Mall credit card whose numbers identified the table. Guests received real-sized gold “credit card” place cards with the matching number and their name(s)
The cake was a series of shopping bags and boxes as well as a purse that replicated purchases from the Whitney Mall
The tablescapes showed Whitney’s favorite colors enhanced by gold touches
To learn more about Planning Factory International, visit their Website.
May 12th, 2010
By Leslie Adler, www.thevuvclub.com
The countdown’s on!
Since January 2010, I’ve been bringing you the ups and down of planning for my daughter’s May Bat Mitzvah!
Well, my princess’ Bat Mitzvah is less than three weeks away and I have one wish at this time: I would like to place my entire family in a protective plastic bubble to ensure that nothing goes wrong between now and May 29th.
I would like to not answer the phone and have the school nurse tell me she thinks my son is experiencing appendicitis and I would like to not answer the phone and have my parents tell me they were in a car accident. I would like to just not answer the phone at all….because the former two things happened.
Max had an emergency appendectomy last week and Marge and Bob were hit by a car that ran a red light, causing the air bag to open and injure Marge’s ear. Now she is experiencing difficulty hearing…..which I suppose has a bright side. Maybe she won’t complain how loud the music is at Sydney’s party!
Thankfully, Max and the parents are now doing fine but the point is: These are trials and tribulations that are not in the “Bat Mitzvah planning manual,” if you know what I mean.
Neither was this one:
Sydney found her Bat Mitzvah shoes and ordered them from Zappos. When we failed to get the delivery in a reasonable time we discovered they were shipped to her sleepaway camp. Yes! Because last summer I sent her a pair of shoes that were sent there and Zappos saves your “ship to” addresses. Just our luck, someone was actually at the camp and signed for them. Though they probably would have looked “interesting” with soffe shorts and a tank this July, UPS and Zappos helped to have them sent to our home and I am happy to report Sydney’s beautiful shoes are well rested and have had a vacation in Wayne County. We are sure they will be ready for dancing on May 29th.
At least we are laughing…….
Laughing and scrambling to work on final details and arrangements so that on “our big day” we can enjoy our special occasion to the fullest extent! I can’t wait!
Read the Adler Bat Mitzvah Family Spotlight story here. Mitzvah Market sends their congratulations to the Adler family!
About Leslie Adler
Leslie Adler is a mother, lawyer and creator of www.thevuvclub.com and shares her witty thoughts on the many roles women play in their everyday lives. Leslie also combines her legal skills and friendship experience as presiding judge of Momlogic’s “The Friendship Court.”
We hope you will follow along as this Mitzvah Mom updates us on all the highs and lows leading up to her daughter’s May 2010 Bat Mitzvah. Everything from conflicts with other children’s dates to the dress, catering and other Vendor drama. Leslie will bring humor to this exciting yet stressful time for many families.
Read Part 1 here.
Read Part 2 here.
Read Part 3 here.
Read Part 4 here.
Read Part 5 here.
Read Part 6 here.
Read Part 7 here.
Read Part 8 here.
Read Part 9 here.
May 12th, 2010
Invitations4Less.com is telling Mitzvah Market that Turquoise has been unveiled as color of the year!
According to Pantone LLC, the world-wide authority of color and provider of professional color standards for the design industry, Turquoise is the color of the year for 2010. The calming and tranquil qualities of blue combined with stimulating and fresh characteristics of green produce a color that leaves us with a sense of well-being in these uncertain times.
Invitations4Less.com is seeing a lot of interest in Mitzvah invitations with touches of turquoise this year and manufacturers are doing their best to keep up with demand for invitations with this very “now” color.
May 12th, 2010
The Kratz family from Chappaqua, New York had a very snowy, yet memorable B’nei Mitzvah for their twins Michael and Jonathan in 2010.
A huge blizzard didn’t stop family and friends from coming from all over the country to help this family celebrate. The party was held during the afternoon at the Salem Golf Club in Westchester County. A reminder that all vendor information is at the bottom of this story.
Pictured L-R: Bar Mitzvah boy Michael, Mitzvah Mom Laurie, sister Jessica, Mitzvah Dad Eric and Bar Mitzvah boy Jonathan.
The Kratz B’nei Mitzvah almost didn’t happen. Mitzvah Mom Laurie vividly remembers and says, “School was canceled that Thursday and Friday before the Mitzvah because of the weather. We woke up at 5:00am Friday morning to no electricity – and had to check into the local Holiday Inn. We had tons of out-of-towners (Georgia, Florida, etc) who miraculously flew in on Friday in spite of the storm. Pictured above: The Salem Golf Club the day of the party…a day after the blizzard!
Small Fry Press created their invitation in a classic square shape in tan and navy
The theme was college football
Dual purpose football jersey cookie place cards were used featuring each guest’s last name and their table number
The room is ready for guests to arrive
Jonathan and Michael with their MC!
The boys being lifted..check out the football balloons on the ceiling
Mom Laurie and Michael having a nice moment
Michael and Jonathan like being the center of attention!
For their sign-in board, Mom Laurie bought real lockers. Their initials/names were added and they are now being used in their home
Artist John Steven’s caricature of the twins and their younger sister playing football for their favorite college football team was on display at the party
Jets and Giants football helmet cake was created by All Things Creative
Mitzvah Project
Michael and Jonathan volunteered their time and raised money for Lung Cancer Alliance – in memory of their grandfather, Gordon Loveland who passed away from the disease in 2005.
Mom To Mom Advice
Mitzvah Mom Laurie tells us her boys had their bris in the middle of a snow storm, so she wasn’t surprised with the timing of this winter storm! To spite the weather, she has this advice, “Enjoy every minute of it – it goes by so fast. And remember it’s your child’s day!!! Make the party one THEY will enjoy… and remember, they are 13!”
Mitzvah Vendors
Venue: Salem Golf Club: 914-669-5485
DJ/MC: KDW Entertainment/Kevin Williams 917-797-7062
Décor/florist: Brian William Event Decorators/Brian Serino 845-628-0614
Favors: Promowear/Andrea Bromwell 561-372-0505
Photographer: Mitzvah Gallery – By Peanut Portraits Phillip Callaci 914-232-4222
Party Entertainment: Photo booth/PhotoChe 917-698-1293
Caricturist: John Stevens 1-866-724-4425
Invitation: Small Fry Press/Andrea Kronthal 914-747-6668
Cake: All Things Creative/Jessica Manfro 845-264-1008
Gym Lockers: Global Industrial
Decor on Lockers/Direction Cards/Envelopes: Chives Creative
Dresses for family members: Saks Fifth Avenue/Nordstroms
Suits for family members: Lubins/Rothman’s, 914 -428-5725
Hair: Regina at Billy’s of Mount Kisco 914-666-9078
Makeup: Steven Lawrence 917-658-6059
Transportation: Chappaqua Transportation 914-238-4404
Party security: Provided by Salem Golf Club
May 8th, 2010
Cool-party-favors.com has a great interesting assortment of favors for Bar and Bat Mitzvahs. Here are a few fun ideas that are not only affordable but will make your event special.
Personalized Shopping Carts – If you are having a candy buffet at your Bar or Bat Mitzvah event, these personalized shopping carts make a fun container to hold all the goodies. Made of silver chrome metal in an incredibly accurate shape with a black handle and four movable wheels. On the front of each is a round molded black plastic plaque perfectly fit for the application of the personalized label of your choice.
Shopping Bag Cookies – Your cookie favors are baked to order and will arrive wonderfully fresh – their shelf life is a week to 10 days after you receive them. They ask for only 3 weeks notice so that they can plan their baking schedule around your needs. Just tell them the date of the event and they will schedule the baking and shipping so that your order arrives 3 to 5 days before your event. Each cookie comes wrapped in individual cellophane bagging with matching curling ribbon.
Purse Place card/ name holders – These purse party favors are so chic! Your guests will love them – and will be able to put them to good use as note or photo holders.
Light Up Cups – These 3 setting light up cups (20 oz size) make the coolest Bar Mitzvah favor – they’ll be a sensation at your party – and after! You can order them blank or personalize them by imprinting with the design of your choice and adding your name and date of your Bar or Bat Mitzvah.
Mitzvah Bracelet Favors – These are the latest fashion craze. But what makes these special is that you personalize them with your own message (or your name). Give your guests a meaningful, lasting gift with these bracelet party favors. They have a new metallic design! Metallic overlay on solid color bracelet. Imprint is laser engraved to show the color of the bracelet through the metallic overlay. They can also be used as napkins holders as seen in this Mitzvah Inspire.
Personalized Theme Playing Cards – Deal your guests a great hand with these fun personalized label playing card favors.
For more great ideas, visit their Website.
May 8th, 2010
If you are in Bar or Bat Mitzvah planning mode then you know your child definitely wants to be involved in the process of selecting the party favors or giveaways. There are so many choices. Do yourself a FAVOR and read on!
We went right to the source and asked Shira Younger of A Promos USA/Imagemaker for the 8 hot trends right now.
MM: What are you seeing right now as the “hottest favors” among Mitzvah kids and Mitzvah Moms?
SY: Today’s trends in Bar/Bat Mitzvah favors stem from the ever growing desire to stand out from the crowd. Kiss your old notions of what is and what’s not acceptable goodbye! Tweens today have a very strong opinion about what they want and don’t want; I suggest that you stop and listen to their opinions – they matter!
What you’ll notice at Bar/Bat Mitzvahs nowadays is that the giveaway is what is remembered from the entire affair. Typically, most tweens (if their school will allow it) will show up wearing their custom party favor the next day in school for all to see. Because of this, we suggest listening to your child in terms of their design creativity, as they are the one making the most use out of the party favors…wearing them to school, to the mall, to camp, to bed, and to their friends’ houses.
We find that when you consider your child’s input, you in turn are happier, knowing that your children had valuable input into their own custom creations…talk about great bragging rights!
Here are Shira’s 8 hot trends:
1. Think Zip-Up Hoodies!!! The ultimate in posh giveaways, just about every tween comes in asking for them.
2. Use your child’s initials or skip them all together, don’t use their full name in the artwork.
3. Use Metallic Inks! This goes for boys as well…today’s fashion is all about a little something extra.
4. Leave out the date. Yes, we know it’s important to you, but Tweens don’t want to wear “dated” apparel.
5. You don’t have to give the same party favor to the boys, as you give to the girls. Ex: if you’re doing a cute sports jersey for the boys, why not give the girls a stylish burnout t-shirt or fitted tank top instead (something that they’ll actually wear).
Something for the boys…
Something for the girls…
6. Want something different than wearables? Portable MP3 speakers and ringtone download cards are always a hit!
7. Don’t forget about the Adult Guests. Stainless steel tumblers make a great giveaway and are definitely practical. Tip: When your adult guests are ready to leave, have your catering hall setup a coffee/tea table at the valet stand – this is where your guests will be greeted with a hot cup of coffee in their new stainless steel tumblers…perfect for a thoughtful and alert drive home.
8. Follow the fashion trends. If you choose art and apparel that your tween would never buy at the mall, then they probably won’t wear that party favor at all.
We would like to thank Shira Younger from A Promos USA/ImageMaker for these trends. To learn more visit their extended profile page in our Vendor Directory.
May 8th, 2010
This Mitzvah Inspire is courtesy of Party411.com.
Party411.com is both a full service event company and an online party and event planning Website. They offer free party plans, advice, party decorations as well as a great variety of personalized party supplies and favors.
Golf season is here and we thought it would be nice to tee off with this great golf “themed” Bar Mitzvah celebration that Party 411 helped design. They filled the lobby with golf balloons, custom golf tee signs and a lifesize cutout of the Bar Mitzvah boy, which also served as a sign in board. Check out these photos below!
A personalized caricature of the Bar Mitzvah boy serves as the sign-in board
They used this signage over the DJ area
Large Josh golf signs were used in the cocktail area
A custom made golf hole was used on the place card table
How clever! Personalized golf squeeze toys are attached to each place card!
Golf ball banks with balloons attached to the top sat on astroturf and served as centerpieces. Money collected can be donated!
Guests received personalized golf water bottles
For more ideas from Party411.com, visit their extended profile page in our Vendor Directory.
May 5th, 2010
This Mitzvah Inspire is courtesy of Evantine Design based in Philadelphia. They are an event production company that provides full-scale professional event planning and design services for any size celebration including wedding, anniversary, birthday, corporate, non-profit, Bar or Bat Mitzvahs and Sweet 16s.
With summer right around the corner, we loved this Summer Camp themed “kids party” Bat Mitzvah. Although this party took place on a chilly November day, they provided plenty of lighting to warm things up! Take a peek:
The entrance to “Rachel’s Camp” was lined with Birch and Pine trees, rocks, logs, stumps, wild flowers and lanterns
Although it looks like this party took place outside, this is a country club ballroom that is draped in fiber optic curtains to create a magical, star-filled night. The kids were seated at wooden picnic tables, filled with pine trees, lanterns and summer flowers
This was a kids party, but the attending adults were seated at one long wooden table with ladder back chairs. The place settings included twig flatware, mason jars, tin plates, twig-wrapped napkins and grapevine candy baskets
How cool are these real roasted marshmellow placecards!
How creative is this company? Canoes were filled with soda, the Camp Canteen served burgers-n-fries and waiters served fresh veggies
Even the sign-in book had a “campy” feel. It was designed with illustrations, photos and birch paper. A moss-covered box held feather-tipped wooden pencils
This creative cake conveyed the Bat Mitzvah girl’s love of summer camp!
They even had a Hoola Hoop performer who dazzled the guests with an amazing show
Their were loads of activities for the kids including virtual reality rollercoasters, waterskiing and tennis, airbrush and tattoo artists, photo booths and digital photo screens, vintage t-shirt pillows and a wall of arcade games. As if that wasn’t enough, one of the most popular activities was the Etch-a-Sketch artist who created on-the-fly caricatures of the kids on mini take home etch-a-sketch boards
Thank you Evantine Design for an extremely creative Mitzvah Inspire!
May 5th, 2010
Thirteen-year-old Jacob Don knows first hand that the most important gift you can give anyone is the gift of life, so it was very easy for him to decide on his Mitzvah Project.
Russell Don, his father was given the gift of life two years ago, when Dr. Harry Ramras, an Orthodox dentist from Woodmere, Long Island was identified as a bone marrow match. Thankfully, Dr. Ramras had participated in his Synagogue’s bone marrow drive seven years earlier. Flash forward to 2007 when Russell was diagnosed with leukemia and in six months time he was matched with Dr. Harry Ramras through the Be The Match registry.
Jacob, a seventh-grader at Solon Middle School outside of Cleveland celebrated his Bar Mitzvah celebration on April 24th and is very grateful his entire family, including his Dad was there to enjoy this special occasion.
We spoke to Jacob about his Mitzvah Project and how he wanted to help others who might be in his Dad’s situation.
MM: Why did you decide to take on this particular project/charity?
JD: My Dad had a bone marrow transplant and I want people who need a donor to get a donor just like my Dad did!
MM: In your own words, what does it mean to you to do a Mitzvah Project for your Bar Mitzvah?
JD: It means to help other people and contribute to a good cause.
MM: Can you give us details of your Mitzvah Project?
JD: I held a bone marrow drive that had people signing up for the bone marrow registry so they can find out if they can become someone who can be a donor for someone who needs bone marrow. It’s very easy, you just need a cheek swab, there is no taking blood.
MM: How did you spread the word about the bone marrow drive?
JD: I had newspapers write articles on my project and contacted TV and radio stations. I also put up flyers and posters.
MM: You had the drive a few weeks ago, how did you do?
JD: The drive was a great success. We had 87 people come down to register and we just heard from our local tv station that another 6 registered too. Over 100 of our friends and people in the community drove in, biked and came by foot to offer support. We had expected 8 volunteers, over 20 showed up!
The local NBC station in Cleveland, WKYC-TV did a story on us “live” from the bone marrow drive. See that video here.
We also got publicity via the local paper, The Solon Times. Read that story here.
When Harry Met Lolly: The Story Of A Bone Marrow Hero!
Jacob’s Aunt works for the Jim Henson Company. They filmed Dr. Harry Ramras in their Long Island workshop for this video explaining how easy it is to be a bone marrow donor. Leslie Carrera, the Sesame Street Puppeteer, used her puppet, Lolly to interview Harry.
Donor Dr. Harry Ramras with Lolly. Watch the video here!
MM: For how long can people donate to this charity:
JD: My drive is now over but you can donate anytime to “Be The Match.”
We would like to congratulate Jacob on his recent Bar Mitzvah and thank him for sharing this great Mitzvah project story with Mitzvah Market.
