bar mitzvah on a budget

aimhabanim

Sun, Sep 06 2015, 12:46 am

I would love suggestions. I will be catering my son's bo bayom seudas mitzva as well as the kiddush. Any ideas for things I can do to make it special and nice without spending a lot of money. I live oot so please keep that in mind. thanks

aimhabanim

Wed, Sep 09 2015, 3:27 pm

bump. I know everyone has yom tov on their minds but I would love some suggestions.

amother

Seafoam

Wed, Sep 09 2015, 3:41 pm

Things we did:

printed our own invitations
bought blank benchers from a printer and printed a label on a see through labels and stuck them on
make a slide show of pictures from your sons life
food - one of my siblings always caters her sons bar mitzvos. She serves meat roast (cheapest cut) - its easy to make in bulk and reheats well, rice and some type of veggie stir fry. On the table when everyone came in was salmon, sesame noodles and a few salads in bowls. Dessert was ice cream and some type of cake or bar. She hired wait staff to serve.

amother

Apricot

Wed, Sep 09 2015, 3:41 pm

I will be following this thread, as I also live oot and will be planning a bar mitzvah. I am not sure if I will be catering it myself yet but would love to hear any great ideas.

Maybe consider personalizing some things to make it special.

doctorima

Wed, Sep 09 2015, 4:10 pm

Make sure to have good pictures (and video if you want), whether you pay someone or just get a close friend with a good camera to do it. He'll relish these memories. Also make sure you have good music for dancing, a one-man band if you can afford it, or else some leibidike recorded music and a good sound system.

amother

Orchid

Wed, Sep 09 2015, 5:54 pm

Meat is good for a Bar mitzvah because it can be made in advance and its easily sliced this when its cold. Cook for 1.5 hours, cool off, slice and then reheat in its sauce day of

2-3 thin slices a person for a main should come out to 6 adults per pound. If you can get meat when its on sale...so about the same to a bit more than chicken.

Or schnitzel. You can fry it ahead of time and then bake in a sauce the day of. A lot of really simple, no mess sauces.

Chicken is probably the hardest of all because its not so great cooked in advance.

Overnight potato kugel works as a side for the same reason. You can make the kugels way in advance and just put them in an oven/warmer the night before.

Some people do salad with shredded salmon as a starter because the salmon goes far that way, so cheaper.

Options are endless,

goodmorning

Wed, Sep 09 2015, 10:42 pm

amother wrote:

Chicken is probably the hardest of all because its not so great cooked in advance.

Depending on how much time you'll have the day of, you can clean chicken in advance and freeze raw. Prepare sauce in advance and refrigerate or freeze. Day of the bar mitzvah, defrost chicken, dump in pans, pour sauce on and place in the oven. Fresh chicken with minimal hassle.

Nice sides are rice (to be fancy, you can do wild rice, with craisins and/or nuts as a special touch), some sort of sweet kugelette (apple/carrot), and vegetables.

aimhabanim

Thu, Oct 08 2015, 11:04 pm

Thanks for the replies. I am looking for ideas more for decorating and favors etc. I already have my menu planned.

happy to be me

Fri, Oct 09 2015, 1:12 am

aimhabanim wrote:

Thanks for the replies. I am looking for ideas more for decorating and favors etc. I already have my menu planned.

Can you be it bit more specific? What's your style? What type of ambiance are you hoping to create? What do you mean by decor? Do you mean tablecloths and centerpieces or do you have more in mind? Are you trying to make it look high end or just done nicely with a pleasant presentation? Elegant or young and fun?

For tablecloths - if you have family that lives in Brooklyn, Lakewood, Monsey, or I am sure there are other places as well, you can get beautiful tablecloths from a gemach.
You can also go to a cheap fabric store and see if they have very wide fabric (sorry, I forgot the width)
What kind of tables are you having ? One big one or a few of smaller ones?

Sweet Table - if you plan on having one. There are also gemachs for glass serving pieces for your sweet table.
or you can buy large flat mirror pieces in the local dollar store and use that as the base for miniatures...

When you say favors, what do you have in mind?

Are you planning on doing centerpieces?
If you'd like flowers, then try to find out where the fresh market is and buy direct or try to contact a wholesaler and see if he will see to you. You will definitely save significantly that way.
For the men's tables you can get hold of crystal candle sticks and long tapered candles. probably also form a dollar store.

Can you post around where you live so that maybe people can help you with names of gemachs, stores, or contacts.

I am sorry this is coming out so choppy, I am just in a huge rush, but wanted to respond now lest I forget to come back later to respond.

notshanarishona

Fri, Oct 09 2015, 4:40 am

You don't have to invite the whole world.
Cholent is very easy to make in bulk for a kiddush.
You can probably borrow some nice table clothes and simcha decorations so you don't have to lay out the $.
If you live near a bigger community, you can probably go to gemachs.

amother

Coral

Fri, Oct 09 2015, 8:17 am

Do you have dollar tree and big lots near you.
Dollar Tree also has a web site.
They have many vases in different shapes and colors that can be filled with candy.
Oriental Trading may have something.
I went to a bar mitzvah once they had a spiral rainbow candelabra and then attached a helium balloon of that color to each stem forming a spiral design.

You can buy pedestal cake platters and put candy platters on top.

Another bar mitzvah had on adult tables chocolate kiddish cups ( you can order on line) with a bottle of wine, something that goes with chocolate, it was also on tall cake platters

Also anything on a mirror looks fancy

cbg

Fri, Oct 09 2015, 8:33 am

I love this idea for favors

http://craftsbyesthero.myshopi.....favor

sky

Fri, Oct 09 2015, 9:41 am

For linen\napkins a friend of mine recommended ordering from http://www.asaplinen.com/index.html.
I never used them but she said it is a pleasure because it is delivered to your home and you ship it back dirty. And they have lots of colors to choose from.

aimhabanim

Sat, Oct 10 2015, 11:49 pm

Thanks for the ideas. I love the tefilin bag party favor idea! I am looking into chair covers. I am not sure if it makes sense to buy them because we do have a number of bar mitzvas coming up iyh.