Bar mitzvah prep 101

amother

Sat, Apr 24 2021, 10:50 pm

My son's bar mitzvah is in little over a year !!!
(In Flatbush )
I have some questions for you experienced moms out there:
1) how early do I book things?
2) anyone have a list of things that need to be done/booked?
3) His bo bayom is in the summer and most people are away , so we want to do it a few weeks before - how do I know if another classmate isn't planning on making a party same day?
4) please recommend nice halls that are reasonably priced ...

TIA!!

amother

Pewter

Sat, Apr 24 2021, 11:27 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

3) His bo bayom is in the summer and most people are away , so we want to do it a few weeks before - how do I know if another classmate isn't planning on making a party same day?

TIA!!

Surely the point of Bo BaYom is that it is on the day of his birthday/Bar Mitzvah, not a few weeks earlier or later?

Or is this local code word for a specific type of party?

amother

Sat, Apr 24 2021, 11:39 pm

amother [ Pewter ] wrote:

Surely the point of Bo BaYom is that it is on the day of his birthday/Bar Mitzvah, not a few weeks earlier or later?

Or is this local code word for a specific type of party?

What I meant was that the main bar mitzvah party won't be on his actual hebrew birthday (we'll do A small seuda bo bayom), if it was his actual hebrew birthday, I wouldnt worry as much about another classmates bar mitzvah same day...

DVOM

Sun, Apr 25 2021, 5:24 am

Mazal tov!

My son's bar mitzvah party will be in 4 short weeks. We're also making the party way in advance of the actual bo bayom, in our case because I'm due the same week as his bo bayom. We're so excited, so so so so busy! (If you're in the mood, read the surprisingly dramatic bar mitzvah thread I started last week.)

Some things we did a year to six months in advance:

-hired a sofer to write his tefillin.
-started laining lessons, if your son plans on laining his parsha.
-needlepointing tefilin bag
-handpainting invitations

Regarding your questions:

1) I booked DJ, photographer, about 5 months in advance, and I saw that I could have booked even sooner. The photographer I wanted was already booked for my dates. I see no reason not to start making phone calls now. Worst comes to worst they'll tell you to call back in a few months.

2) My list looked something like this: tefillin, hats, suits, dress shoes makeup hair for me, DJ, photographer, party location (at home for us) , decor, flowers, menu, waiters, tent, lighting, writing son's speech,

3)For scheduling within his class, we posted dates on the class chat. This worked really well, prevented anyone from booking parties on the same day.

4)Can't help you with halls, sorry. No idea what venues cost in brooklyn!

Enjoy planning this very special milestone!