It was time for the second Mitzvah celebration for the Imberman family from Chappaqua, New York. Mom is event planner Melisa Imberman owner of The Event Of A Lifetime, Inc. and we have previously written about her son Alex’s celebration, as well as several others that she’s planned for her clients.
For Morgan’s Bat Mitzvah, Melisa combined her daughter’s love of monkeys with her gymnastics to create a “wild” night at Temple Beth El in Chappaqua.
Peter Obrec was the photographer and the rest of the vendor information is at the end of the spotlight.
Pictured L-R: Mom Melisa, Brother Alex, Bat Mitzvah girl Morgan and Dad Marc.
Morgan’s service and celebration took place at Temple Beth El.
Bat Mitzvah girl Morgan holding the torah
The zebra print yarmulkes, a hint of the party theme to come, were placed on a table alongside Morgan’s invitation created by Small Fry Press
The entire Imberman family got into Morgan’s theme!
Bat Mitzvah girl Morgan wore a neon pink high low gown that was lined with zebra print fabric
Mom Melisa’s dress is from Designing Dreams and the men’s black suits and hot pink ties are from Nordstrom
Their feet even got into the animal theme! Check out Melisa’s zebra print shoes and the zebra print socks on Marc and brother Alex!
Morgan’s nails were neon pink with two nails zebra print
Melisa has planned many Bar and Bat Mitzvahs in the New York area. With the help of Diane Amante, co-owner of Xquisite Flowers and Events, they “went wild” in planning her daughter Morgan’s celebration by converting their temple ballroom into a jungle of neon pink with monkeys everywhere!
The ballroom is ready for guests to arrive
For their seating cards, each guest found their name and table number written in neon pink on a silk leaf that could easily be plucked off of a vine
The place card leaves against the bark
The kids lounge area was a fantasy jungle of neon pink and zebra print with a giant decal of Morgan’s logo on the wall
The dance floor featured a jungle canopy with monkeys hanging down
Beautiful tropical arrangements surrounded the table numbers
The adult tables were wrapped in neon pink spandex with zebra chair coverings and the centerpieces were trees with monkeys and exotic flowers
The plate chargers were actually slices of a tree trunk
The menus designed by Small Fry Press were printed on paper that looked like wood and were wrapped in zebra print napkins
Mom Melisa really incorporated special details into her daughter’s party.
The bathroom basket was chic and had just the right touch of animal accents
A Pinot Noir called Morgan was served to the adult guests
Plastic monkeys swinging from the wine glasses reinforced the theme
Printed on a wood grain paper, the bar menu described specialty drinks such as Jungle Juice and Monkeytini, while a lovable gorilla held the zebra framed menu. The kids dinner selections were displayed the same way.
Morgan’s young guests had many different animal patterned socks to choose from
A giant decal of Morgan’s logo on the dance floor
Morgan’s sign-in pink beanbag chair featured her logo.
Guests wrote Morgan special messages using Sharpies wrapped in zebra duct tape which were attached to the oversized beanbag chair
Video Solutions of NY created a jungle themed entrance video which set the tone for Morgan’s celebration. She is a competitive gymnast who loves monkeys and this video cleverly combined both and showed their similarities.
Some of the video was shot at the Bronx Zoo and some at her gym. The video ends with the song Welcome to the Jungle, as Morgan makes her entrance. Watch here
Morgan was carried into the room by her DJ dancers. The “Queen of the Jungle” was on a raft that was adorned with zebra print fabric, neon pink ruffles, leaves, and flowers
MC Ali and the Starlight Express crew kept the energy high and everyone on the dance floor all night.
Morgan and her friends having fun
Dance floor giveaways included animal print hats, glasses, and little stuffed monkeys with shirts featuring Morgan’s logo
From social media to magic and even custom nails, there was lots of fun entertaining the guests.
The kids lounge had cards encouraging guests to use Instagram with a special #hashtag. Cards read: “If u take a pic, we want to c, plz post them on Instagram #3213”
Magic Dave entertaining Morgan’s guests
Guests were able to take photos or download images onto a set of nails that could be applied at the party or taken home
Morgan’s cake was created by Lulu Cake Boutique in a zebra print and some edible monkeys too!
A little bit of bling for the jungle queen’s cake
Morgan blowing out some candles
The girls’ sweatshirts were white with one logo in the back and another on the front. The front of the sweatshirt was hand cut into a v-neck and studded.
Favors were presented in cool zebra print bags
The inside of the hood was lined with zebra print fabric
As guests left, they could grab a cake pop off of the hot pink and zebra print dessert table.
Additionally, there was a cupcake dispenser that looked like a giant gumball machine. Each guest was given a token and when they put it in the dispenser, a mini cupcake in a pod came out!
Mom and event planner Melisa gives us some advice:
“Stay organized, rely on your vendors’ expertise & enjoy yourself…it will be over before you know it.”
Morgan organized a Cartwheel-A-Thon where she practices gymnastics. The money that was raised will be used to send a less fortunate kid to the The International Gymnastics Camp. She also collected old cell phone batteries to help save gorillas from extinction. Recycling the batteries help save the gorillas because the trees in the African Rain forests contain something called, colton which is used to make cell phone batteries. Now that more and more people have cell phones they have to cut down many trees. When they cut down trees, they are cutting down gorillas’ homes. By recycling old cell phones, we are saving gorillas and trees.
The following vendors helped to make Morgan’s celebration special. If you give any of them a call, please let them know you read about their services on MitzvahMarket.com.
Venue: Temple Beth El of Northern Westchester, 914-238-3928
Party Planner: Melisa Imberman, The Event Of A Lifetime, Inc, 914-762-5770
Caterer:Karen Epstein, Encore Catering 973-515-8000 www.encorecateringnj.com
Music Entertainment: MC Ali, Starlight Express, 516-742-1100
Décor/florist: Diane Amante co-owner, X-quisite Flowers and Events, 914-632-8700
Photographer: Peter Oberc, 914-835-3440
Videographer/Montage/Entrance Video Video Solutions of NY, 516-752-2020
Favors:Do Me A Favour, caridigirls@aol.com
Party entertainment: Jim Cohn, Photo Clings, Coco Events: 631-274-4929
Nail pics: Peter Ziffer, 201-424-5154
Superbooth: Julie Radino, Video Solutions of NY
Magician: Magic Dave, 917-886-6364
Invitations/Menus: Small Fry Press, 914-747-6668
Cake: Lulu Cake Boutique, 914-722-8300
Sign-In board: Yogibo Bean Bags, 877-964-4266
Dresses for family members: Designing Dreams, 516-248-1988
Suits for family members: Nordstrom
Hair/makeup: Rhona Kraus, Susan Esposito, rhonakrauss@aol.com,
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