EXPERT ADVICE
Best practices, tips and unique ideas for the BEST. PARTY. EVER.
Event Spotlight: Josh’s At-Home Virtual Bar Mitzvah
To celebrate Josh’s bar mitzvah, his family threw an at-home virtual mitzvah celebration with the help of Xtreme Event Group.
For every Jewish family, a child’s mitzvah celebration is a momentous milestone in their young lives. It’s an opportunity to celebrate their child’s hard work, dedication to their faith, and maturity, surrounded by their loving family and friends.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to put large in-person gatherings on hold, families like Josh’s have found ways to plan this once-in-a-lifetime event from the comfort of their own home.
Image credit: Matt Petit
With the help of Xtreme Event Group, Josh and his family were able to host a virtual mitzvah celebration (“Josh’s Nosh”) and have all of their family, friends, and loved ones attend over Zoom. Josh, his parents, and his sisters stayed on-theme by donning matching shirts, with “Josh’s Nosh” embroidered on the front.
Xtreme Event Group provided the entertainment for the evening, including a virtual scavenger hunt that Zoom attendees could participate in from home. Laughs ensued as guests raced all throughout their houses to be the first to present an item that matched hilarious prompts like “Expired Food” and “Whipped Cream.”.
Josh got the chance to see a new side of his family and friends, who committed to the challenge by doing wild tasks like putting on lipstick for the camera and smashing whipped cream on their faces (though he'd probably have preferred not to know who in his life had expired food around the house!).
Image credit: Mitch Messinger
Josh loved his special day, and the at-home virtual format provided the opportunity to create a truly unique and special event. Josh's parents were overjoyed, too, saying what they loved the most about working with Xtreme Event Group was "the level of customer care.”
“Maggie understood our needs for ensuring this family milestone was properly celebrated, no matter how many times we reached out,” said Mitch, who hosted Josh’s at-home celebration. “They were seamless and made the planning process easy. The scavenger hunt made all our guests feel connected despite being on Zoom."
As we pivot to virtual mitzvahs and events, Xtreme Event Group, has made it a priority to give our clients the same level of joy that our events had before the pandemic. With our limitless creativity and the ability to stream celebrations across the world, we can create a personalized bar or bat mitzvah that will help you and your family create memories that will last a lifetime.
Contact Xtreme Event Group today to schedule a consultation with one of our mitzvah planning experts.
Why Your Child's Bar/Bat Mitzvah Theme Matters
Your child’s mitzvah is a big day, and it’s important to plan a celebration that reflects who they are. Here’s why a bar or bat mitzvah theme matters and how to choose the right one.
Whether you're planning an in-person, virtual, or hybrid celebration for your child's bar or bat mitzvah, it's important to choose a theme that reflects who your child is. This day celebrates your child and their journey toward maturity and adulthood, and choosing the right mitzvah theme is an important part of that process.
Image credit: Jen Davis Photography
Why your child's mitzvah theme matters
A bar or bat mitzvah is a time to acknowledge all the effort your child has put into learning about their faith and to celebrate the person they're growing into. They deserve a party that lets them express their individuality to their family and friends while providing a truly memorable experience for all who attend.
Once a mitzvah theme is chosen, it sets the tone and aesthetic for everything else about that day. Your child’s theme can influence details like the entertainment and activities, how you decorate the venue, what the cake looks like, and what you give out as favors. A unique and well-executed theme will really stand out, and your family and friends will talk about it for years to come.
Remember, the more excited your child is about their mitzvah theme, the more involved they’ll likely want to be in the planning, which makes it easier for everyone else involved.
At Carson’s basketball-inspired bar mitzvah, our staff dressed in striped referee shirts to showcase the theme.
How to choose a bar/bat mitzvah theme idea
A theme can stem from any part of your child's imagination. If they can articulate it, there's some way to make it tangible and real at their celebration. The more specific you can be, the more personalized and special the theme will ultimately be.
The first step in determining your child's theme is to sit down and talk to them about it. Don't just assume what theme they'll choose based on their interests. You never know what they have in mind or how their hobbies and interests are changing.
When Xtreme Event Group helps clients plan the perfect mitzvah for their child, we ask them to share their child’s passions, interests, and hobbies as a way to identify a possible theme. Here are some types of ideas that usually start flowing from those conversations, as well as some ways to individualize them.
Entertainment
TV or film series (Marvel, Star Wars, Harry Potter)
Your child’s favorite actors and actresses
Broadway musicals
Sports
A specific sport or league (NBA, NFL)
Teams from one area or location (New York, Philadelphia, Detroit)
Music
Your child’s favorite artist
Your child’s favorite genre
Locations
Your child’s favorite city
A place they’d like to visit
“Around the World”/travel theme
Art and Culture
Fashion or designer brands
Art museum pieces
Other mitzvah theme ideas
Use your child or family’s name as word play
Your child’s extracurricular interests
Decades
Candy/sweets
Colors
Sammy’s travel-themed mitzvah cake
As we work with clients to determine a bar or bat mitzvah theme for their child, we’ll ask questions to get a better idea of what they like and what they'd like to see. To help, your child may wish to curate images that inspire them on Instagram or Pinterest, so we can get an idea for the aesthetic.
No matter what theme you ultimately choose for your child’s mitzvah celebration, make sure they're happy with it so you can go all-in on an unforgettable celebration!
Need help planning your child’s themed virtual or in-person mitzvah? Get in touch with the entertainment experts at Xtreme Event Group today!
Our Pivot to Virtual Mitzvah Celebrations: Q&A With Xtreme Event Group
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Xtreme Event Group made a smart and strategic pivot to virtual mitzvah celebrations. Here’s how we made the shift and expanded our client base.
This time last year, most families never would have fathomed throwing a Zoom mitzvah celebration for their child.
Many professionals within the live events industry thought the worst of the pandemic would be over in a few weeks or months and people would be back to having large gatherings by the summer of 2020. Of course, that’s not how things played out.
Based on the needs of our clients, Xtreme Event Group made a quick, strategic pivot to virtual mitzvah celebrations. That shift paid off in a big way: Our business not only survived, but grew in 2020, and the virtual format has allowed us to expand our reach beyond our home state of New Jersey to serve clients around the world.
In this Q&A, our founders Scott Present and MJ Navara discuss the changes we made to become a premiere global entertainment company and where we plan to go from here.
MJ Navara and Scott Present, founders of Xtreme Event Group
In the first few months of the pandemic, you made a quick and successful pivot to virtual events. What kind of growth have you experienced to date?
MJ: Being entertainers with a tremendous amount of experience in audio and visual production in a pre-pandemic world, the transition to virtual events was pretty seamless. As word started to spread about the unique virtual mitzvah experience we were providing, we saw a dramatic increase in clients looking for creative ways to still celebrate their child during this pandemic.
Scott: We’ve now surpassed 150 virtual mitzvahs attracting clients all over the globe, spanning four different continents. With minimal live events happening in NJ, our first quarter of 2021 is projected to be the company’s best Q1 in its history.
What was the transition like, going from a hyperlocal entertainment company to working virtual events all over the world?
MJ: We spent much of the month of April 2020 speaking to our clients, truly brainstorming and trying to understand what families were looking for. Our passion and desire to deliver remarkable mitzvah entertainment never changed, and we quickly realized that clients all over the world really just wanted the same thing during this time.
Scott: We are so incredibly thankful to be able to help families all over their world celebrate their child becoming a mitzvah. Over the last 10 months, we’ve learned so much. I'm extraordinarily proud that we figured out how to successfully create an organic and engaging experience that truly allows guests to feel a part of the celebration (as close to “in real life” as possible) and creates a true sense of community.
The Virtual Simcha™ by Xtreme Event Group is an all-inclusive, interactive and engaging experience for your family and friends that gets as close to live and in-person as possible.
What has been the biggest advantage of doing mostly virtual events?
Scott: It’s been incredible to be able to witness the impact we had had on so many families. We’ve seen many families at first saddened and disappointed by their need to cancel or rethink a live, in-person celebration for their child.
A virtual event can be more remarkable than one can ever even imagine. Families can invite family and friends all over the world to participate (when it may normally be unrealistic for them to attend in person). We bring joy, positivity, celebration to each and every event allowing the love to truly radiate through the screen!
MJ: As a company, we can now easily take our passion to other markets outside of New Jersey. In a relatively short amount of time, we built a solid reputation in major markets throughout the United States and Canada and have forged strong relationships with temples, event planners, vendors, venues, and clients alike.
What has your biggest challenge been?
Scott: With virtual events, you rely on so many independent factors that are beyond anyone’s control. We’ve helped our clients navigate through all of the bumps, hurdles, and obstacles that this pandemic has thrown in their way.
MJ: As you can imagine, life throws curveballs (well beyond anyone’s control), and we’ve seen it all during this pandemic. From severe weather causing widespread power and internet outages to family members get sick or contracting COVID-19, we’ve put in place systems, processes, and best practices to ensure a remarkable and seamless experience for all of the amazing families we work with.
Virtual events like Zoom mitzvahs are here to stay for now, but what do you envision for your business as the world returns to in-person events post-COVID?
Scott: Hybrid events are the future. There is really no reason why family and friends halfway around the world can't feel engaged or part of a virtual experience happening in tandem with a live event.
MJ: We constantly talk about what the mitzvah entertainment industry will look like over the next five years. One thing that we know won't change is society’s desire to connect.
As human beings, it’s our innate nature to want to hug, hold and embrace, so I don’t think virtual will ever truly replace a live and in-person experience. However, I think everyone now is much more comfortable with technology. Future live events will absolutely incorporate some form of a virtual component that didn’t exist pre-pandemic.
Ready to plan your child’s Zoom bar or bat mitzvah? Get in touch with us to learn more about The Virtual Simcha™ package we offer.
8 Essential Vendors to Help You Plan the Perfect Mitzvah
If you’re starting to plan your child’s bar or bat mitzvah, here are the essential mitzvah vendors you need to look into.
When you're planning a bar or bat mitzvah, you'll work with multiple vendors to ensure your child's celebration goes off without a hitch.
Here are eight types of mitzvah vendors you'll want to research as you begin the planning process, when to book, and what to look for in each.
Image credit: Jen Davis
Mitzvah vendors you'll need to plan your celebration
Venue
Before planning any other aspect of your child’s bar and bat mitzvah celebration, you'll need to know where you're having it. Research local venues such as banquet halls or hotel ballrooms if your mitzvah will be a more traditional affair. If the mitzvah has a specific theme, look for venues that could enhance it. For instance, you can host a sports-themed party in a premium gym or have your party in an art gallery for more creative themes.
When to book: As soon as you decide on a date / 12-24 months before the event
Entertainment
A world-class entertainment team can help bring energy and excitement to any bat or bar mitzvah. Their staff of DJs, party motivators, and emcees can liven up the dance floor or play games that get everyone involved. A great entertainment team means there’s never a dull moment at your child’s mitzvah.
When to book: At least 10-18 months before the event
Caterer
Many venues include catering options within their packages. However, if they don’t or if you want to use a specialized Kosher vendor, you can look into alternative options. Talk with your child about the type of food they want at their party and assess the guest list to choose meals that will please everyone. You should also ensure that the caterer you choose can accommodate any dietary restrictions or food allergies you or your guests may have.
When to book: 10-12 months before the event
Photography and videography
Such an exciting and special day in your child’s life should be captured professionally. Hire a photographer to ensure that every moment gets remembered. You can also hire videographers to record the event and edit the footage into a special cinematic keepsake video your child can enjoy for years to come.
When to book: 10-12 months before the event
Party planner or event planner
Much like any special celebration, you want to enjoy your child’s day and not worry about time management and curating all the details. A bat and bar mitzvah party event planner can provide all of the décor and coordinate with all your vendors, making sure no details are forgotten. On the day of the event, they can work with the vendors to make sure everything is set up and prepared, as well as move the event along so nothing is rushed or forgotten.
When to book: 10-12 months before the event
Photo booth
What better way to help your child and their friends document their bat or bar mitzvah memories than by renting a photo booth? Kids (and adults!) love capturing fun photos together, especially when there are props involved. The print-outs from your photo booth can double as an additional party favor with your child’s name, party date, and logo, too.
When to book: 6-10 months before the event
Stationery and invitations
Even in the digital age, nothing compares to a beautiful and elegant paper invitation. Your invitation suite serves as the “first impression” of your child’s bar or bat mitzvah, and it’s a great opportunity to showcase the theme and get guests excited. Choose a stationery company that allows for complete customization of your invitation, from the colors and fonts to the type of paper and included inserts.
When to book: 6-8 months before the event
Party favors and Swag
Every great party leaves their guests with a little reminder of the fun time they had. Countless companies can create specialized SWAG items like t-shirts, rally towels, and more with your child’s name, date of their bat or bar mitzvah, and a custom logo to match the branding and color schemes for your child’s celebration. Favors can be handed out on the dance floor by your entertainment team for a fun and interactive experience.
When to book: 3-5 months before the event
What to look for in a mitzvah company
Here are some key components to help you select which bat and bar mitzvah vendors to work with.
Investment. As with most things in life, you get what you pay for when you’re planning a mitzvah celebration—and as a parent, you want the very best for your child’s special day. Price and quality are often closely correlated, so you don’t want to skimp on the vendors that matter most. For your child’s mitzvah venue, entertainment team, and media team, make sure you choose a company that offers premium services and inspire confidence that they’ll make your event truly unforgettable.
Quality. All of your vendors should offer high-quality service and performance. Look at online reviews if available (and they should be!), interview your prospective mitzvah vendors, and ask if they can connect you with past clients for a clear picture of the experience you’ll have with them.
Referrals. When you're starting this process, you should first go to people who have planned similar events. Maybe your child raved about the DJ at their friend’s mitzvah, or a fellow parent was impressed with the photographer at their child’s celebration. Talk to friends and family who have hosted a mitzvah recently to see who they recommend.
If you're looking to host an in-person or virtual bar or bat mitzvah, contact Xtreme Event Group today. We’ll help you plan a one-of-a-kind event that you and your family will never forget.
