Even throwing a simple birthday party for a ten year old requires organization and planning. Particularly if the party is going to be at home (that was us yesterday), you need to decide on activities (crafts, games, movie night), food (pizza, snacks, just cake), agenda (the flow of the party) and then assess what you have at home, what you can borrow and what you need to buy. Pretty simple. However, without upfront planning you will end up without candles, camera with no battery charge and/or a host of other minor set backs including not enough age appropriate stuff to keep the busiest group of kids, well, busy for the duration of the party.
So, multiply this out by 100 — or better yet a 1000 — and you start to understand the magnitude of planning a Bar/Bat Mitzvah party regardless of your budget, locale or theme. A friend who had already been through this process the year prior, recommended the “binder method.” Basically, empty out an old 3-ring binder or make a trip to your local office supply store and invest in a new binder and a packet or two of tabbed dividers. For under $10 you’ll feel organized just walking out of the store. Now, go straight home (or that feeling will quickly dissipate). You’ll want to label the dividers and begin to keep all of your notes organized in its own section. Trust me on this. It seems so simple. You might ask, “why not just put it all in a file folder?” First of all, stuff falls out. Secondly, there is no organization to all the papers, notes and quotes. Thirdly, OK — you get the point. Some of the categories that you’ll want to create in your Binder:
- Synagogue
- Venue
- Food
- Entertainment
- Photography
- Giveaways
- Invitations
- Address list/gifts/thank you’s
- Decor
- Budget
- Timetable
I also recommend buying a package of plastic sleeves that can easily slip into the 3-rings. You can save business cards, brochures, etc by slipping them into the sleeves within the appropriate section.
Another tip that I discovered by chance was to use a small plastic storage bin (bigger than a shoe box, smaller than a trash can) for magazines, invitations, binder, etc. This way, as your stuff multiplies, you have it somewhat contained and easy to access.
By the way, that party for my ten year old — piece of cake. We had more games than time, tons of fun prizes and a gorgeous day so they could run around in the yard and get as crazy as they desired. Oh, one more thing — I let them make goody bags with the leftover Bat Mitzvah candy.
