When planning for your child’s Bar Bat Mitzvah, you will have many different decisions to make. Most are based on numbers. For example: How many invitations? How much food to serve? How long should the celebration be? How many photos will be taken? How many pictures in a montage? How many candles on the cake? And on and on and on!
We checked with a few Bar Bat Mitzvah experts to get the lowdown on exactly what is needed:
15 extra invitations should be ordered in case your mother-in-law decides to invite a few more friends or your child makes some new pals at camp!
Cocktail Hour: Figure you will need 3 cocktail napkins and 3 pieces of sushi per person.
Plus: 2 pigs in the blanket per person.
The number of dancers perfect for a party of 150-175 people is 3. More than 75 kids? Consider adding a fourth.
How many hours should your celebration be? 4-5 hours is the average Bar Bat Mitzvah party. If it’s a kids’ only party it’s usually 3-4 hours.
How many candles on the cake? Usually 13 with an extra for good luck! Some families choose to do a shortened candle lighting with only 3-5 that can include a memory candle, one for the Bar Bat Mitzvah’s parents, one for siblings, one for extended family and one for friends.
Increments of $18 are considered lucky, so if you want to give money as a gift think $18, $36, $54, $108, $180 etc.
1/2 lb. of candy per guest for a candy bar buffet. If you are ordering for 100, you’ll need about 50-60 pounds of goodies. Rule of thumb: you can never have enough sweets!
What’s the optimal number of minutes for a montage before your guests start checking their cell phone? 8-10 minutes
What is the number of photos in an 8-10 minute montage? 150
What is the number of songs you need for an 8-10 minute montage? 5
800-1,000 is the number of digital photos your photographer will take for you.
100 are how many photos are in the average Bar Bat Mitzvah photo album.
Resources: Salutations (salutationsnj@aol.com), Party King Entertainment, Digital Video Designs, Sarah Merians Photography & Videography Company, Parties! Rare to Well Done, Carlyle Catering
This story is from our 2014 Mitzvah Market Magazine. If you would like to request a free copy, click here.
