Wondering how to make your child’s Bar/ Bat Mitzvah stand out from the crowd? JLife offers a selection of themed party ideas your guests will love.
Battle Mitzvah Royale
If you have teenagers, the chances are you’ll have heard of Fortnite. With more than 250 million players worldwide, the videogame franchise has successfully kept kids glued to their screens since its release over two years ago.
When it comes to a party, there’s huge scope for bringing its candy-coloured universe into the real world. Rather than ship in a boatload of PlayStations, get the kids dressed up as their favourite characters and get them outdoors. Hire a laser tag system or an arsenal of Nerf guns, provide some inflatable fortifications and let the kids battle it out for prizes.
Costumes, known as skins, are available to buy in-game with the virtual currency V-Bucks. (If you’ve wondered where their pocket money is going: mystery solved.) Here, you can let guests earn fun-money to accessorise with a range of homemade props – think gingerbread masks, raven wings and steampunk goggles.
Assign your tables different locations from the island map like Lucky Landing and Junk Junction and theme the decor accordingly. When it comes to the food and drink, there are plenty of virtual delicacies to replicate, from cakes decorated as boogie bombs, to drinks bottles dressed up as health-giving “chug jugs”.
As the game that helped the floss rise to fame, it wouldn’t be a Fortnite party without a dance-off, with judges handing out prizes for the best moves.
Dance the Night Away
Give guests the chance to unleash their inner party animal with a chic disco-themed event. Set up a bar with trained mixologists serving up a bespoke menu of sophisticated mocktails customised to taste. Mock up a menu in keeping with your motif and name the drinks after something personal to the star of the show. Treat them to the full VIP package with a lounge decked out in mood lighting and cool LED furniture. Hire a light-up dancefloor with smoke machines and disco lighting, customised with your unique motif.
Pick a playlist of their favourite music or establish democracy by encouraging guests to download a jukebox app like Jukestar to submit requests. If you feel three hours of non-stop chart cheese might drive you and the other parents to distraction, opt for a bit of peace and quiet by renting a silent disco. Guests heading onto the dancefloor are given their own wireless headphones to enjoy the music, leaving those who aren’t fans of Taylor Swift to breathe a sigh of relief.
Hand out goody bags filled with glow sticks and UV face paint for getting glammed-up for the dancefloor, and send your guests home with a personalised CD, or a link to a Spotify playlist with a snapshot of the biggest songs from the night.
Have a Ball
If they love the beautiful game, make sure you give them a day that’s top of the league. If they’re Leeds United fans, deck out the venue in club colours. (If they’re not, see it as a chance to give them a nudge in the right direction.) Think artificial grass table runners, football-patterned balloons and plenty of stripes. You can even serve the kids drinks in specially designed sports bottles they can take home.
Provide guests with football kippahs and personalised scarfs on arrival and get a custom kit printed for the kids with the Bar Mitzvah boy or Bat Mitzvah girl’s name and their own bespoke badge. Give the kids markers and let them sign each other’s shirts, ensuring they leave with a great memento of the day.
Set up a mini penalty area, with keepie-uppie games or a beat the goalie competition, where kids can try their luck against each other and compete for the trophy. Don’t forget to hand out whistles and let some giant inflatable balls loose on the dancefloor!
LS17’s Got Talent
Propel your child to superstardom for the day. Encourage guests to come dressed as their favourite pop stars, whether it’s in the style of fierce fashionista Lady Gaga or pop-genius Ed Sheeran. Make sure they get the full celebrity treatment from red carpets and velvet ropes to mobs of snapping parent paparazzi.
Set up makeup stations designed to look like a backstage dressing room with lightbulb mirrors and luxurious salon chairs where your little stars are invited to get a makeover from real beauticians. Let them choose from a hired range of elegant costumes and accessories before stepping on stage to show the crowds what they’ve got. You could even rent a karaoke system with all the latest hits, so they can sing the night away together.
After the event, you can mock-up a front page of a glossy celebrity magazine with all the exclusive photos and juicy gossip from the night, ensuring the celebrations will be the talk of the town.