Tips for Planning a Bar or Bat Mitzvah! Interview with Julie, Planner with Julbilation, Events by Julie
I interviewed Julie Begani of Julbilation Events by Julie, an event planning company in Orlando, FL, that specializes in Jewish events. We talked all about the Mitzvah planning process. Julie discussed how important it can be to hire a professional planner (who can then lead you to the vendors that she trusts!), ways to still celebrate even during a pandemic and a great tip for how to begin the planning process altogether.
I’ve summarized some of our discussion but you can check out the full video interview below! You can find Julie through her website linked above or on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Julbilation/ and on Instagram @julbilationevents
Why do you think it’s important to hire a mitzvah party planner?
The entire reason behind planning a mitzvah party is to celebrate this really important milestone in your son or daughter’s Jewish life. But there’s a lot of work on your child’s part in learning the Torah and prayers and attending classes, on top of all of the other things going on in a 13-year old’s life! So it can be really overwhelming to focus on small details like RSVP card designs and deadlines or linen choices. The amount of money you’ll spend on a planner will be made back in not making mistakes and getting the best rates possible on all of your other vendors and items. It’s like you’re having a personal concierge and you should think of it as a mitzvah present to yourself.
What’s something your clients struggle the most with during the mitzvah planning process and how do you help them?
People have a really hard time visualizing what the event will look like so that’s a lot of what Julie helps people with. Once they can understand what the room will look and feel like, it makes the decision-making process much easier. Plus Julie has an incredible eye for detail and can help you bring the continuity throughout their event. Another thing Julie helps with tremendously is offering a list of recommended vendors that she trusts and knows will provide an amazing experience for your family.
What’s the difference between a mitzvah planner and a day-of-coordinator? Which families need which type of service?
Julbilation provides a range of services. If you hire them as a day-of-coordinator, that essential means you have done all of the planning and about two weeks before the event they will start working with you to understand your shared vision and timeline for the day. Then on the actual day of the event, they will be sure the vendors have arrived and set up on time, that the linens were delivered and set up properly, that the centerpieces are in place, etc, and then they will run the show! This option is really great for people with a strong creative eye, with event planning experience or with families who have older children that already had their Mitzvah celebration. On the other hand, if you are an extremely busy family or if event planning is just not within your strength set, or maybe if you weren’t even involved in planning your own wedding, you might benefit from hiring a full-service planner who will be with you every single step of the way. And if there’s one part of the process that you really want to do yourself, like create the centerpieces, that’s absolutely ok! But you’ll have Julie and her team to help you source the supplies you might need to make the process even smoother.
How can families still celebrate in times of a pandemci?
Julie had some GREAT examples for us of ways families can still celebrate a Mitzvah even in times of a pandemic. She really believes it’s important to keep your service as scheduled and livestream it if need be. Remember how much work your child has put into this day and how devastating it would be to keep postponing it. As far as the celebration portion, there are lots of options. Julie has done a few fully virtual celebrations over Zoom where they send candles and packages to all of the party-goers so that they can do a virtual candle lighting. She even helped a family coordinate the Horah over zoom with some fancy camera tricks to make it look like you’re going up and down in the chair! A lot of celebrations that are still happening right now are moving to outdoor locations with tents and fans to make sure it can still move forward regardless of Florida weather. And some have even opted for silent parties with sanitized headphones to work around noise ordinances. The other nice thing about the silent parties is that then the dance floor can be spaced out and you don’t have to worry about speaker placement to reach the whole group. Also, instead of having tables of 10 people, each family unit has their own table so that everyone feels safe at the event. I was blown away with the creativity of these ideas!
What is one tip you would give a family planning a Bar or Bat Mitzvah right now?
Julie said to really consider what your child and guests like when you start thinking about what the event will look like. If your group is expecting to dance the night away and really party, then focus more of your money and attention on the DJ and entertainment. If the keepsake book and photos are most important, than really work to find the right photographer and make sure they have the shared vision of what you want to end up with at the end of the event. If your group really isn’t into dancing and partying, maybe think about shifting the focus to games instead. You can have any type of party on any type of budget, but really think about what’s most important and what your specific group will enjoy the most before you really dive in on the planning process.
Thank you so much to Julie for joining me! You can watch our full video interview below!