Ideas for family to do for bar mitzvah day

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Forum -> Parenting our children -> Teenagers and Older children

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amother

Sun, Oct 18 2020, 11:03 pm

My sons bar mitzvah is coming up and I so much want to make it a special day for him even though we can’t do a bar mitzvah party or have any family and friends.... We live in Brooklyn area , is there any activity or place to go or something to do for him to where we can make it special . Any ideas would be so much appreciated !

amother

Cyan

Sun, Oct 18 2020, 11:34 pm

Same problem here. I feel so bad for him. Sad

The plan as of now is a weekday morning minyan of 10 men and inviting all of our friends and family to watch him lein over Zoom. We still have two months before the big day, so hopefully things will improve and we will be able to do more.

amother

Sapphire

Sun, Oct 18 2020, 11:38 pm

My son's bar mitzvah was right after pesach and we also had to cancel his seudah. We took him to his grandparents porch where he said his pshetl for them. He also said it over the phone so all his uncles and cousins were able to listen. His grandfather also said a few words. And everyone was able to sing for him and give him brochos. We shared some refreshments there. Then we went home and had a special restaurant takeout supper in his honor after which he was able to lead mezuman for the first time.
During the summer when we felt it was safer we made a seudah for him at which he made a siyum.

amother

Seagreen

Sun, Oct 18 2020, 11:56 pm

If u want to go big, depending where you live, you can take him with a helicopter to a park where your family would be waiting with a nice prepared party..

Or give him a ride with a horse and buggy around your neighborhood.. have everyone shout their wishes when he passes by. Perhaps the buggy can have a mazel tov sign with your son's name and music accompanying..

amother

Mon, Oct 19 2020, 2:15 am

Thank you everyone I appreciate all your responses , keep them coming please

amother

cornflower

Mon, Oct 19 2020, 8:34 am

Deliver kiddush in a box to family and friends. Can include bencher.

amother

Blonde

Mon, Oct 19 2020, 10:53 am

We asked all the relatives to send videos of their mazel tov wishes. Some just videoed themselves or their kids saying mazel tovs, others recited poems, sang songs, or danced. It was really touching. We had a backyard bo bayom with just a few local relatives, socially distanced, with a zoom hookup for other relatives where we showed the (live and distant) speeches, a poem presented by my other kids, a slide show with pictures of the Bar Mitzvah boy since birth, and the relatives' mazel tov wishes.

We were also able to have a backyard socially distanced (and masked) kumzits for his classmates.

After our small backyard minyan where he got an aliya and leined, we had a walk-by kiddush for the neighborhood with simple prepackaged bags. Everyone wore masks and socially distanced.

It was truly a beautiful Bar Mitzvah, and DS was very happy with it. The main thing is that he should feel good about becoming a Bar Mitzvah.

Mazel Tov and lots of nachas!

amother

Mon, Oct 19 2020, 11:42 am

Thank you everyone sounds so beautiful! . Any other ideas .

amother

Mon, Oct 19 2020, 5:51 pm

Bump

amother

Turquoise

Mon, Oct 19 2020, 6:20 pm

Videos by classmates. By me, each kid's mother has asked the rest of us to send her a short video of each boy saying or doing something, and then made a video her son watched that day and could keep.

Walk by kiddushes are popular here too.

A family seudah is nice, with Zoomed in grandparents and other relatives as appropriate. If possible, put a tablet or laptop or phone for each represented household at an empty place, pointed toward ds. If realistic, send these relatives a nice meal to eat (through a local eatery that does delivery.) Also an option is scheduling special time slots for each set of grandparents etc to Zoom with him, so he is nice and busy and they feel good.

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