Date Set Now What?

This is where I am.  Date is set, now what? I secured the venue for the party upon securing the date.  I assume if you are in a big city with multiple congregations and even multiple events on the same day this is much more complicated than I can handle right now.  Plan ahead - get your venue the minute you get your date.  Next question...How do you pick the right venue? Venue and budget obviously must go hand in hand.  From Science Museum to back yard - every event I've ever attended has been delightful.  Our venue will be the JCC.  It fits the budget, it's beautiful, my husband, the B'nai Mitvah and my parents are on board and it's where I want to spend my money.  Some things to think about beyond the budget, availability and theme...

• Parking
• Bathrooms
• Catering/Alcohol Restrictions
• Green
• Hours of Operation (I have planned 2 events in the recent past where this has been an issue)
• Decor
• Distance from hotel
• Help
• Janitor 
• Security

I have learned to ask a lot of questions.  Nothing like planning a party to find out you must be out by 10pm or alcohol can only be served until 9 OR God forbid no alcohol allowed on property.  Think about convenience for guests with every little detail in mind.  It has been suggested we stay at the hotel with the guests, I like that idea. I love my in-laws and awe and my sister-in-laws finesse with guests.  A talent I don't possess and am likely not to obtain in a few months. 

Here are some experts on the venue subject:

• http://www.luxuryandstyle.co.uk/how-to-deal-with-event-and-party-venues/ 
• http://www.eventeducation.com/venue-selection.php
• http://eventplanning.about.com/od/venueselection/ht/sitevisit.htm
• http://welearnsomething.blogspot.com/2009/07/venue-checklist-what-you-want-to-know.html

Getting Started

I've been getting started for awhile now.  Did I begin planning the day my daughter was born? I don't think so.  My daughter went to the JCC for Kindergarten and to religious school weekly since 1st grade so in a sense we've been preparing for as long as she has been in school.  I blew off a lot of Sundays in years past and there are some pretty big gaps in my daughter's grasp of Hebrew as a result (deep breath). Without realizing the direct effect of a high number of absences over the years we are now really really getting started with the actual learning of THE Haftorah.

The learning has been taking place on multitple levels for several years:

• Hebrew
• Jewish Identity
• Specific Blessings
• Trope
• Haftorah
• Maftir

Who am I kidding, we're Jews- we learn constantly!  Our synagogue is small so picking a date wasn't so terribly complicated.  A date was given 2 years in advance but then I began to pay attention to the secular weekend involved and the weather and that's when I think the REAL planning for me began.   Then there was the meaning of the parshah to deal with.  Parshah is the weekly portion. The Torah is divided into weekly portions called a Parshah and the commentary of those portions written in the prophets is called the Haftorah. At our synagogue, the B'nai Mitvah usually reads both a section of the Torah portion called the Maftir and the entire Haftorah.  Some portions have subject matter that is as I've liked how the Rabbi refers to as Rated R.  Another hurdle to overcome for getting started, the right portion.  The portion and corresponding date HUGE hurdles.

With 18 months out - I reminded my (non-Jewish) sister-in-law about the big event and she made a comment that was striking to me, "Oh, in the Fall - can't you do it over the summer, that would be more convenient for everyone?" hmmm I had been concerned about convenience for travel etc. but I had never looked at this from the outside in. Of course it would much more convenient to do this in the Summer but because my daughter's birthday is in the Fall it never even occurred to me to think outside the time of year of her birthday.

I have noticed I am kind of alone here on this thinking.  My friends have had B'nai Mitvot over Thanksgiving for convenience, a winter birthday postponed Bat Mtizvah until June for convenience and a Sunday Ski-Team member conveniently have the portion all of the students learned in preparation.  Convenience for me in getting started meant good chances for decent weather and not having to compete with Halloween.

So here we are 10 months out and I am feeling like I am a little late at getting started.  My daughter needs to put in more practice time as instructed by the Cantor, consequently I need to put in more planning time. Evidently, I am just getting started.

Mommy Bloggers

I AM NOT: I am not a writer as readers will soon find out. I am not a party planner. I am not a mommy blogger. I am not planning a big East Coast affair. I don't have a large budget and I don't stay at home.

I AM: I am the  mother of a 12 year old daughter planning a Bat Mitzvah. I have a career that I love and a non-Jewish but and very supportive husband of the endeavor, yet another layer in the planning that must be addressed. I searched the internet recently to find some help with my task from some of those mommy bloggers.  I thought surely there are busy moms out there looking for some ideas and great resources for this undertaking. The mommy bloggers I came across, however, tended to be well-to-do stay-at-home mothers concerned with potty training, what to make for dinner, and cute craft projects.   None of these topics are relevant to my life.  My life is dedicated to my children but there is a whole lot of LIFE that happens around raising my kids.  So...I hope there will be some readers along the way as I journey into B'logging this B'nai Mitzvah Adventure.