March / April 2006:

Super size me
With blinged out superstars and $800 cakes, step right up to the new bar and bat mitzvah.

Story by Tina Barry | Photo by Jim Cooper


I dropped my daughter off at a bat mitzvah held recently in a New Jersey hotel. In the center of the entranceway was a wide set of marble stairs covered in red carpeting. On each side of the steps, tuxedoed musicians played violins as the girls were led into the affair on the arms of gorgeous ushers. I assumed that was about as lavish as these events got.

Not so. According to Lynn Silverman of Creative Event Planning in New York City, “The right budget can make anything happen.” And “anything” can begin with the perfect setting like the famed Rainbow Room atop Rockefeller Plaza or Radio City Music Hall; the ideal entertainer — fork over a couple hundred thousand and rapper 50 Cent will get down with the kids; and a couture dress for the bat mitzvah girl can cost as much as a small car.

Silverman says a tab for the fete can range from approximately $40,000 to $70,000 with some reaching as much as $250,000; there are party planners who have handled affairs that came close to the million dollar mark. The only difference between some of the lavish bar and bat mitzvahs and a high-ticket wedding is: “After the party you get your kid back for another ten years,” Silverman says.

The buzz-word for any successful party, the planners say, is “theme.” Focusing on the child’s interest and carrying it through to the table settings, music, and menu add up to a memorable event.

Charlie Krause, the owner of Charles, Sally and Charles, an event and catering company for the Palm House at the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens, remembers one bat mitzvah where the honored guest was a ballerina to be. The 13-year-old Cinderella arrived in a glass carriage and emerged wearing an ephemeral tutu and sparkling tiara. Later in the evening, she performed a ballet with members of a well-known dance company.

When it comes to food, Krause says, “Kids are much more sophisticated than they once were. You’ll see them cruising the Tuscan grilled vegetable station and gobbling up sushi. For dinner, filet mignon with steak “frites” is popular with Chilean sea bass edging out chicken. Where kids remain kids is at the do-it-yourself ice cream sundae bars. “Kids still love those and so do their parents,” Krause says.

End an elaborate party with a cake that isn’t spectacular, and you’ll watch the attendees mood deflate like a leaking helium balloon. Ruth Seidler who owns the Jollybe Bakery in New York, known for exquisite themed creations, recently completed “Jeremy’s Cake.” The double-chocolate, two-tiered affair was painted with Picasso influenced guitars and musical scores. Seidler spent a week baking and decorating, and charged $800. A multi-tiered extravaganza from cake maven Sylvia Weinstock can run in the thousands.

The question, of course, is, what about the religious meaning of the day? Is that forgotten once the hoopla begins? One event planner who asked not to be named, says, “Sometimes I wonder if, after all the worrying that goes into pulling off a great bar mitzvah, anyone remembers what it’s all about.”



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