A Beach Themed Bat Mitzvah Celebration

The DelAngelo family celebrated daughter Melanie’s Bat Mitzvah at Congregation B’nai Israel in Bridgeport, Connecticut, with a Kiddush luncheon following the service. Later in the evening there was a party at the Stepping Stones Museum For Children in Norwalk, Connecticut.

The theme, Life’s a Beach, was done with a great logo, decor, fun food and an amazing dance party.

We featured Sister Caroline’s Bat Mitzvah a few years back.

Pictured L-R: Brother Andrew, Dad Henry, Bat Mitzvah girl Melanie, Sister Caroline and Mom Jennifer.

The photographer was Cari Miller Photography and the rest of the vendor information is listed at the bottom of this feature.

Mitzvah Invitations & Style

The family worked with Leslie Goldberg of Out of the Box on this beautiful invitation suite which hinted at the theme with the beautiful color.

Their invitation ensemble even included a camp sleepover information card!

Melanie as a baby at the beach on her custom stamp

Bat Mitzvah girl Melanie looked stunning in a beautiful custom turquoise gown accented with crystals

They also worked with clothing designer Jennifer Butler on the service and party clothes, highlighting the beautiful blues in all of their clothing

Décor & Details

Graphic artist Stacy Rosenthal created the logo similar to the popular “Life is good” logo incorporating the theme Life’s a Beach. Party coordinator Arlene Rosenthal of Party Ideas helped bring the beach theme to life creating a cool hip beachy vibe.

For Melanie Del Angelo's Bat Mitzvah, they incorporated a girl with red hair into the logo which looked just like Melanie!

Melanie's sign-in was her bedroom door with a logo painted right in the center. It looks so good!

Place cards were beach pails with chocolate rock candy and a shovel

Each shovel told guests which beach (table) to go to

Enhancing the beach theme was Melanie’s name projected onto the screen for all to see

Beautiful beach centerpieces filled with shells and a rose. A painted rock with the name of the beach sat on each table

The floor was interactive and had Melanie’s logo

The logo was wrapped around clear vases

The ceiling treatments had hanging shells and turquoise lanterns

Melanie holding the lemonade sign

Custom lemonade cups that read “Mel’s lemonade stand”

Custom t-shirts worn by party servers and wait staff

Bat Mitzvah Video

Mom Jenn owns Caramel Studios which creates montages and videos for special events. Jennifer worked her magic for Melanie!

For her entrance video, guests watched Melanie go from birth to 13 years old in just 2 minutes!
Watch here

Check out more of Mom Jenn’s work with Melanie’s Bat Mitzvah video
Watch here

Music & Entertainment

Starlight Express and MC Kayo played great music and had Melanie and her guests on the dance floor the whole night.

Melanie up in the chair for the Horah!

Here she is with MC Kayo belting out a tune

Melanie surrounded by her friends in front of the interactive dance floor

At the end of the party beach balls were tossed around

There were many interactive activities for the guests, like a green screen from Capitol Photo Booths, as well as tattoo/hair braiding stations from Artemix Entertainment

Candle Lighting

Melanie during her candle lighting service

There was also a puzzle photo of Melanie which started as a baby picture and turned into a current picture of her on the beach as pieces were added to create the new photo

For her candle lighting ceremony, mini Adirondack chairs held the candles and fit in perfectly with her theme

The happy DelAngelo family

Mitzvah Favor & Idea

The long-sleeve shirt favors from Arlene Rosenthal featured Melanie’s logo, “Life’s a Beach” on the front.  There was a note attached to the water bottles, which reinforced Melanie’s Mitzvah project – encouraging her friends to use a reusable water bottle instead of buying water when possible.  

For the girls, their shirts included a blue rhinestone and name in blue. The boys' shirts had their name in black and no rhinestone

At the end of the night, reusable water bottles with Melanie's logo were given out at the candy bar

Mitzvah Project

Melanie chose to do 26 Mitzvahs, although she had one as her main focus. Since her Torah portion was Noah’s Ark, Melanie decided to double her Temple’s 13 Mitzvot program to make the connection with Noah’s Ark and the animals traveling in twos. She also chose 26 Mitzvahs to honor the 26 lives lost in Sandy Hook. Melanie baked and sold cookies for the Sandy Hook Promise.  Another mitzvot included Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk, organizing a team in memory of her Grandma Carol. She also baked cookies for people who could use a smile. She raised money for Relay for Life as well. Her big project was collecting water bottles, recycling and redeeming them. She took the money from redeeming the bottles and donated it to Nourish the Children, which feeds malnourished children around the world. She worked on this for 18 months and still continues with it today. She wanted to involve her family and friends in her projects, so she asked if they could drop off water bottles, which helped her to recycle and donate even more. By her Bat Mitzvah, Melanie was able to donate 3,600 meals, which was her goal. These meals all went to Malawi, Africa and her hope is to one day visit and meet some of the children she is helping to feed. Melanie created a website, www.recycle4meals.com, so she can continue her Mitzvah project.

The creative way Melanie got the message out about her Mitzvah Project

Some advice from Mom Jenn:

“My advice is to enjoy the year leading up to this special day. As we all know, the day will come and go way too quickly. Each part of the process is so special. Spend time with your child and listen to him/her practice – you will be amazed at the progress they make. Talk with your child about the Mitzvah project and help him/her choose something he/she can be passionate about. Melanie’s project was very meaningful and it’s still going strong, 2 years later.

As far as planning for the big day – be organized and plan ahead. Involve your kids in the decisions – but do the leg work ahead of time- so you only present them with options you will be ok with! My goal was to have everything 100% complete a week before Melanie’s Bat Mitzvah. I wanted the final days to be calm so I could focus on my daughter without feeling distracted. Even if you plan to get it all done, no doubt that something will come up last minute, so do as much as you can, and then you won’t get frazzled if an issue comes up in the final week!”

Vendor Directory

The following vendors helped to make Melanie’s Bat Mitzvah special. If you give any of them a call, let them know you read about their services on MitzvahMarket.com

Venue: Stepping Stones Museum For Children, 203-899-0606
Party Planner: Arlene Rosenthal, Party Ideas, 203-984-0610
Photographer: Cari Miller Photography, 203-722-4509
Music Entertainment/Videographer: MC Kayo, Starlight Express, 516-742-1100
Caterer: Marc Weber, On the Marc Events, 203-274-6808
Invitation: Leslie Goldberg, Out of the Box, 914-934-2323
Custom stamp: Stamps.com
Candle lighting/T-shirt favors: Arlene Rosenthal, Party Ideas, 203-984-0610
Montage & Entrance Video: Jenn DelAngelo, Caramel Studios, 203-610-0015
Party Entertainment: Green Screen Photos, Capitol Photo Booths, 203-635-0017
Hairbraiding/tattoos, Artemix Entertainment, 718-886-2253
Sign-In board: Melanie’s bedroom door
Service and Party Dresses: Jennifer Butler, 203-256-5768
Custom Ties: Jennifer Butler, 203-256-5768
Hair/makeup: Leslie Atiles, ESPN Make Up Artist, 203-257-0591