Party Planning 2021

What to keep in mind during this year’s simcha season

By Becky Raspe

Though 2020 brought about the COVID-19 pandemic, many families still had happy lifecycle events to celebrate, from engagements and weddings to anniversaries and b’nai mitzvah. And as the pandemic continues – and hopefully recedes – families, party planners, event venues and vendors alike are getting creative in order to celebrate safely.

With health, fun and creating a personalized event in mind, Gene Natale, Jr., owner and founder of Burning River Entertainment Group in Cleveland; Karen Troyer, director of sales, and Tammy Bloebaum, director of catering, at Cleveland Marriott East in Warrensville Heights; and Elizabeth Coughlin, director of catering sales at the Cleveland Museum of Art in Cleveland, share their predictions for aspects of the planning process ahead of another unique year of parties.

CATERING

Pandemic safeguards caused event food service to go through a complete overhaul to keep guests and servers safe. To make sure attendees still leave events satisfi ed, many events are going with single-serve and smaller portions, the professionals explain. • Coughlin: “We’re seeing individual food displays, as well as grab-and-go items. It is kind of like food and wine pairings, but with the drinks and food immediately in the same vicinity. It has been interesting and fun to look at what people are doing in those perspectives. A lot of parties have been utilizing grab-and-go and cute bite-sized foods, too.” • Troyer: “People have a vision for food items, but we do have to make some adjustments there in off ering packaged and single-serve items. So, it’s about working with your vendors on the packaging to meet the guidelines, but to also make sure the packaging fi ts into the overall feel of the event.” • Bloebaum: “One of the words we use for 2021 in events is ‘individualized,’ and I fi nd myself using that word a lot when it comes to food practices and serving. With cocktail receptions, (before) you’d see big mountains of food where people would reach over each other. But now, we’re doing individual crudite cups served by a server in gloves and a mask, so you’re not touching other people’s foods. It’s about individual care.”

DECOR AND DESIGN

Since events are much smaller, you see more customization in ceremonies and events, all the way down to party favors. But some of the bigger changes in party planning and hosting come from how events are structured using decor and each venue’s available space. And when in doubt, get creative with your visuals when utilizing the extra space made necessary due to social distancing. • Coughlin: “We’ve seen larger venues (like the Cleveland Museum of Art) thrive because of extra space that can be provided for smaller groups. Sometimes, that discouraged smaller groups in the past A January 2021 bar mitzvah where entertainment included 6 foot dancing squares on the oor, marked by glow in-the-dark tape in a black lit room.

Burning River Entertainment Group

because of all of the excess space. But this encourages social distancing and allows guests to feel safe in the space.” • Bloebaum: “We are used to traditional seating of eight and 10 at events, but now we’re seeing creative ways to seat people. Like doing a hollow space, where (the table) creates a space in the middle, giving the distance needed to sit with other people. Individual cocktail tables have been great, too.” • Natale: “With lighting, we have seen a lot of requests for custom lights and monograms and things like that to project on the walls or fl oors.”

ENTERTAINMENT

Every party still needs something to engage guests, or you’ll just have a group of people sitting around in a room fi lled with silence or chatter. While entertainment methods like dancing might be out the window in the traditional sense, fi nding ways to keep the energy going can lead to unique party aspects, many of which that rely on visual engagement. • Natale: “We did a bar mitzvah in October 2020 where we did virtual reality video games, airbrush apparel and had a DJ playing songs, with only a little bit of actual dancing. The party mostly centered around the VR stuff . Another mitzvah in January called for more visuals, like a room set up with black lights, focusing on games and activities that encouraged social distancing.” • Coughlin: “We’re seeing a lot of people rethink the entertainment piece, incorporating entertainment that is

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more concert-style instead of getting people dancing. Or doing something more unique like trivia games centered around the celebrant, or maybe incorporating more toasts.”

MILESTONE EVENTS

While many families postponed their large events for a future beyond the pandemic, that future remains to be seen. So as to not miss out on familial milestones, parties got smaller. In 2021, think anniversary events of the original date. • Troyer: “We’re seeing a lot of families that had their ceremonies as planned, which were much smaller with (only) immediate family, and they are scheduling their bigger reception or celebration for 2021. We’re seeing people say though their event has passed, they want to celebrate it now, too. It gives people the opportunity to think outside of the box.” • Natale: “More people now are confi dent in planning their event. We’re seeing more families come to us and plan their events that should’ve happened last year. People are still getting engaged. Birthdays still happen. So, we’re determined to be ready for all the parties when they do fi nally want them to happen.”

VIRTUAL

The biggest thing to come out of 2020 events were virtual and hybrid components. With strict private gathering rules to follow, many families took the plunge with fully virtual celebrations where the only people attending in-person were the wedding couple or the b’nai mitzvah child and family living in the same home. As time went on, families got creative, fi nding ways to have a small group of people attend in-person and have the rest of the guests tune in live via video from across the world. • Natale: “With wedding ceremonies and any videography clients, we have been doing a lot of broadcasts – free of charge with any couple that gets married during the pandemic. So, if there are any guests that couldn’t make it, they can watch it live. And with Zoom, they can still hear the music because we can play that through the broadcast.” • Bloebaum: “For hybrid events, we’ve seen people get married off property and then they livestream it to the hotel’s event space because we have a safe environment where guests can view and still Mariana Edelman Photography / Cleveland Marriott East

New Image Photography / Cleveland Museum of Art

be part of the ceremony, but not physically contained in a smaller space. Hybrid is another word we’re using for 2021 – it’s about doing anything you can virtually.”

NEW GUIDE OFFERS TIPS FOR ‘ZOOM MITZVAHS’

Moving Traditions, an organization to inspire Jewish youth toward self-discovery and learning, early this year released a guide to creatively celebrating a bar or bat mitzvah during the pandemic.

“Zoom-Mitzvah 101: A Moving Traditions Guide to Thinking Creatively About Pandemic B’nai Mitzvahs” aims to address the question, “How do we celebrate a b’nai mitzvah online and still make it joyous, authentic and meaningful?”

The guide is geared toward those planning b’nai mitzvah in the fi rst part of 2021, off ering refl ections, ideas and best practices compiled from parents who already celebrated a child’s bar or bat mitzvah during the COVID-19 era, and Jewish educators and clergy who work with families across North America. It highlights celebrations that are either broadcast from inside a synagogue or temple, or held at home or outdoors, taking readers from the pre-planning phases to the special day to after the simcha. The guide also off ers a family worksheet for planning, and tips for talking to celebrants about their upcoming ceremony.

Moving Tradition, based in Elkins Park, Pa., aims to help Jewish pre-teens and teens thrive as healthy, ethical and Jewishly connected people, according to its website. It works to prevent youth from disconnecting with Jewish life after b’nai mitzvah, and aims to challenge sexism and foster positive peer-to-peer relationships.

-Amanda Koehn

To view the “Zoom-Mitzvah 101” guide, visit bit.ly/3slD2Fi. To read more about Moving Traditions and its programming for teen boys in the Spring 2019 issue of Bar•Bat Mitzvah, visit bit.ly/movingtraditions

Publish Date Publication Ad Space Deadline April 30 Canvas Spring/Summer April 16 June 11 Jstyle Summer May 28 August 13 Canvas Fall July 30 August 27 Jstyle Weddings Fall August 13 September 24 Jstyle Fall September 14 October 22 Bar•Bat Mitzvah Fall October 8 November 12 Canvas Winter October 29 December 17 Jstyle Winter December 3 December 24 Source December 10

Specialty Publications

Reach the diverse, engaged readers of the Cleveland Jewish Publication Company’s specialty magazines! In 2021, we plan to publish fi ve magazines targeted toward the community of Northeast Ohio – Jstyle, Source, Bar•Bat Mitzvah, Jstyle Weddings and Celebrations. Additionally, our readers and local newsstands will receive Canvas – a secular publication focusing on the Cleveland arts and entertainment community.

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