Bar mitzva decoration costs

amother

Tue, Nov 05 2019, 9:42 pm

We live out of town. We're making a pretty simple melava malka for my son's classmates and our friends. I work full-time and don't have the resources to handle organizing and decorating, so I hired someone to help out. I need to give her a reasonable budget for setting up the space. I have no clue. She asked for a $1000 budget, which sounds crazy to me, but again, I have no clue.

Can someone help me?

amother

Tue, Nov 05 2019, 10:06 pm

Totally agree that it's crazy. I need to give her a price range, though. What's a reasonable budget?

In the budget would be included nice-ish dishes, plasticware, cups, tablecloths, centerpieces, a candy table, and other decoration type things. She wants to get, for example, covers for the chairs

amother

Emerald

Tue, Nov 05 2019, 10:48 pm

Maybe you need to work out a plan together. Discuss what is necessary and budget for that.

Nice Paper goods will be expensive oot. Flowers are expensive. Fancy cakes for a sweet table. Table clothes. I guess you have to figure out what is important to you. Not her.

Tzippy323

Tue, Nov 05 2019, 11:17 pm

I made five bar mitzvahs and I never spent anything remotely close to that. Here are some ideas.

Buy some inexpensive glass bowls that you will be able to use again. Buy floating candles that work with your color scheme. Put a few drops of food coloring in the bowl, fill with water, and put in a candle. Freeze the candles first because they will burn for a longer period of time.

On the dais where the boys will be sitting, place some bowls of assorted candies. They will appreciate the nosh when speeches are being made.

Go to a fabric store (if you are in Brooklyn, try sav-a-thon) and buy fabric that is printed in good contrasting colors and have the pieces cut to length. Place two, at diagonals across the tables. (Safety pin them to the underside of the tablecloth so they don’t slip around)

Get balloons that spell out his name (one letter per balloon). Take a large oak tag, punch as many holes as you need, one per balloon, and string them through. Then hang the sign. You can have mazel tov balloons on the side, and/or balloons tied to the back of each chair at the dais.

Mazel tov on your simcha!

GetReal

Tue, Nov 05 2019, 11:17 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

Oh you wrote decoration! I thought you meant 1k for centerpieces! With all paper goods and the desserts it sounds more realistic.

Why don’t you ask her for an idea of what she’s planning and approximate prices? Even if she doesn’t have exact prices yet, if she says x is around $400 you can say okay that makes sense for a nice sweet table. Or no, $400 for chair covers is not what I want to spend on.