Colors + Candy + Creativity = #FeliciTimes Bat Mitzvah Celebration!

Dylan's Candy Inspired Bat Mitzvah

We were thrilled to have produced a 2nd celebration for our clients' youngest daughter's Bat Mitzvah this year (Ava celebrated her Graffiti Grunge Celebration in 2012) at Fess Parker Doubletree Resort, the Reagan Room.  The thing about producing kids events, is….well, I get to be a child again!  The vision, creativity and audience allows for more creativity, color and out of the box ideas.

My theory is that the theme starts the minute (BEFORE) you step into the room.  For this reason we had adult height decor greeting guests prior to entering the party room, in order to create anticipation and fluidity.

balloon decor ideas candy bar theme kid party

Once inside  the room, we set up an open air photo booth, a perfect occasion for the host(s) to stand and greet guests and step in for a photo op...

open air booth entertainment candy theme balloon decor

Cocktail hour on the patio was an adult-only zone with bar and lounge for those guests who wanted to step away from the activities. Magnificent Pacific Ocean view included.

Candy Bar Theme Bat Mitzvah pink decor

kids table candy decor theme Felici Events

To decorate the kids tables in a playful and tasteful way, we purchased floral sheeting which we found at our January conference in Anaheim.  The elegant La Tavola napkins were made into silverware rolls and held together by candy bracelets.

kid part entertainment idea slomo booth Felici Events

A slo-mo photo booth entertained both guests and adults alike. In fact, it was so much fun we have another blog post dedicated to it!

candy bar theme Felici Events Bat Mitzvah pink

A view of the room in its completion below.  The lounge areas gave a little separation between the adult and kids tables.  The topiaries you see on the kids tables were a crafting project made by mom + daughters and friends.  I always think personalizing your event somehow is a great idea!

The adult tables were elegantly presented using Dupionique La Tavola Linen and napkins wrapped in dots for a playful twist.

dots decor idea candy theme Felici Events

Family of the Bat Mitzvah Client

The floral sheeting was a great backdrop for the room, which created a WOW factor and added joviality to the hotel's banquet room.  Here is the whole client family together striking a pose.

The vibrant kids buffet turned into a dessert buffet to be enjoyed by all.

decor ideas dylan's candy bar Felici Events

Felici Events candy bar kid party

Candy Bar for Kids Party Candy Theme Felici Events

Bat Mitzvah guest of honor dancing for her event

How else to burn off the calories taken in at this delectable affair?  Why dancing of course!  Here is the guest of honor  starting a dance set with her BFF.

A HUGE Grazie Mille to our team of vendors who helped turned our clients' dream into a reality!

Photography - All Images by Kelsey Crews Photography

Flowers - Juniper Designs

Decor - Cathy Olson - Balloon Artist

Lighting - SPARK Creative Events

DJ - H2H The Perfect Element

Rentals - Town and Country Event Rentals

Linen - La Tavola Linens

Photobooth - Open Air Photo Booth

Slow Motion Booth - The Slow Motion Booth

Venue - Fess Parker Doubletree Resort 

Planning and Design - Zohe Felici, Felici Events

Tented Birthday Celebration Dinner Party

Felici Events Presents: Event & Wedding Planning 101:

Weather: Plan A, B and C

Today we are relishing a bit of (very welcome) rain at Felici Headquarters.  A wet and rainy day like today reminds me of a Felici Event we produced, exactly nine months ago (plus one day), where an uninvited guest showed up - DOWNPOUR!

Last March, I had the honor of working with a Felici Client on her 50th birthday celebration.  The guest of honor wanted to host thirty close friends to a special (not your traditional Saturday night potluck) dinner party at her home.  The lovely clients' home is amidst Mission Canyon, Santa Barbara.  The first time I drove up to her home, I found myself in a gorgeous cul-de-sac type driveway that led to her front door.  There is lush landscaping and a working fountain encompassing it.  "What a magical spot!" I thought to myself.

The client's vision of design was a blend of romance and Mediterranean.  Hanging candle votives, fruits, herbs and vegetables inclusive in the centerpieces, candlelight and an elegantly neutral palate of linens, chairs and table top set up.

Felici Events Wedding Planner place setting

During our meeting, and walk thru of the potential spaces for dinner, I shared with the client that the house was not conducive to accommodate all guests seated together for a plated dinner.  I reminded the client that she hired me to make this night special, and it needed to set other (informal) dinner parties apart.  I suggested the use of the driveway as the dinner space.  Once I proposed to her the vision and schematics of a 'reveal' to the tented dinner area, the client fell in love with the idea!

The planning of the dinner event took place the months of January and February.  Santa Barbara provided beautiful weather and sunny skies every day leading up to the March 1st weekend.  Regardless of our gorgeous weather (common along the American Riviera) my experience as a seasoned event and wedding planner is to produce three plans. This time it had to do with rain:

Plan A - a tented event, in case of rain (the first week of March usually produces precipitation)

Plan B - great weather with no tent (al fresco)

Plan C - an indoor and less formal dinner in case of a torrential downpour.

Instantly I brought on the talents of Coco Rose Design and The Tent Merchant as the team to help me create Ann's dream into a reality.  The Tent Merchant's octagonal tent would fit perfectly in the driveway and easily accommodate 30 guests.  We brainstormed a couple of different layout options, and settled on having votives hanging from the center of the tent and the tables parallel to the tent walls, in an octagonal shape (single sided facing in) so all could see each other.  PERFECT!

The caterer, Chef Robin Goldstein, was a gem to work with!  She created an out of this world menu consisting of farm-to-table fresh foods, with authentic mediterranean preparation.  All the key vendors were in place and so the party begins!

Felici Events Birthday inside tent

Felici Events Birthday mediterranean Centerpieces

You guessed it.  The week-end of the birthday party, there is a torrential downpour!  We experienced heavy rains all morning (there is even a YouTube video of the Santa Barbara Harbor being overcome by large waves) throughout the Southern California area.  I had not seen flash floods since my days in Dallas, Texas

The morning of the party, I drove to the house and found the tent (which was set up the day before) to have rivers running thru it!  The client, understandably stressed, expressed disappointment with the turn of events.*   I reassured her that the dinner would be perfect, and I would do everything in my power to ensure vision of the event.  I urged her to go her hair and make up appointments, and enjoy a day of pampering.  It took some time to console and comfort her, but reluctantly on her way she went escorted with a gal pal.

Mid afternoon, when the florist arrived, we looked at the weather radar which showed patterns of the rain dissipating around 4 p.m.  Guests would not be invited into the dinner tent until 6:30 p.m.  Could we pull it off?  The florist and caterer both confirmed that if by 5:45 p.m. there was no chance of holding the dinner outside, we would be able to move to plan C - placing design items and set a buffet in the living and dining areas for an indoor affair.

I was in the pouring rain for hours, successfully producing make-shift gutters (my alter ego is MacGyver) to deter rain around rain and not thru the tent.  Once complete I swept, mopped and dry vacuumed the inside of the tent.  The threatening red marks on the weather radar, eventually turned to light green specs.  The rain turned to sprinkles, and by 5:15 p.m. all was dry inside the canopy.  With all hands on deck and teamwork, we were ready to go by 6:00 p.m. The heaters in the tent warmed up the space, and combined with the candle light, gorgeous table decor and background music created the most romantic and cozy dinner setting I have produced outdoors after a downpour.

My favorite part is this unique and personalized touch of a play of MadLibs.  We called it "AnnLib" and it substituted a guest book.  The Felici Events graphics team created a cartoon of the client using her picture and added it to a customized MadLib for guests to fill out.

Felici Events creative guest book Mad Libs Cartoon

Felici Events unique party idea madlibs at each place setting

Felici Events wedding planning outside tent looking in

The birthday gal came to take a sneak peek before we invited guests to the 'grand reveal' of dinner, and tears of joy came to her eyes.  She was beyond ecstatic!  This party was not only #anotherfelicievent but one of the most rewarding moments in my career.  We really do turn dreams into a reality (thank you mother nature for keeping me on my toes).  Needles to say hostess and guests had a wonderful time and we created memories for all.  #anotherfelicievent

Felici Events decor table setting details Collage

*Felici Fact: tenting will keep rain from falling on your head, but not water from coming up below.

Mr. Towbes Birthday Celebration at Bacara Resort and Spa

Felici Events Produces an Entertaining Brunch Celebration

Felici Events was honored to have been part of another grand celebration for the accomplishments, love and birthday celebration of Mr. Towbes, Santa Barbara's own "It's a Wonderful Life" (Zohe produced Mr. Towbes 80th at Fess Parker Doubletree)

This time, we had a double whammy with putting this event together at Bacara Resort and Spa.  Everything is grand at Bacara, event the entrance, impressive!

Michael Towbes Birthday 85th Bacara Entry

The gracious and gorgeous Anne, Mr. Towbes wife, was instrumental in creating this event and guiding Felici Events to a personalized affair!  Here is the happy couple just minutes before guests arrived.

Michael Towbes Birthday 85th Anne and Michael

We created life-size cutouts of the guest of honor and placed them around the resort for guests to take pictures with.

Michael Towbes Birthday 85th standing with lifesize

Being Mr. Santa Barbara created a receiving line which showed exactly that!  Everyone who is everyone came to wish him a happy birthday!

Michael Towbes Birthday 85th greeting guests

The guest of honor is an avid tennis player, so the talents of Louloudi Design incorporated this hobby into the centerpieces.  They looked lovely on La Tavola Linens with linear definitions.

Michael Towbes Birthday 85th table set up floral orange linen

Michael Towbes Birthday 85th Rotunda Room Bacara

Michael Towbes Birthday 85th tennis racket signage

Michael Towbes Birthday 85th floral centerpiece with tennis ball

Michael Towbes Birthday 85th wide lens orange table decor

Michael Towbes Birthday 85th Rotunda Terrace Orange Decor

After brunch, we moved the 275 person event to the ballroom, where we had four performances or acts celebrating Mr. Towbes and his love and support of the arts and music as well as other surprises and personalizations celebrating his interests and  accomplishments.

Michael Towbes Birthday 85th ladies kissing cheeks lifesize

The Towbes Group Inc. is an award-winning and respected construction, development and asset management company.  We had a life-size cutout of the honoree supporting the Cottage Hospital Project.

Michael Towbes Birthday 85th Lifesize Architect

The honoree is also known as the owner and Chairman of the Board of Montecito Bank and Trust.  Here we produced a 'money tree' with oversized ficus and a Towbes Bucks garland.  Did you know people have been known to try to use the Towbes Bucks in town?!

Michael Towbes Birthday 85th Money Tree

We set the ballroom into dinner theatre style small tables so all guests could see the performances.  At each table were programs, popcorn bowls and a low cylinder of floating candles wrapped in blueprints of the Cottage Hospital Project.  The red pens, personalized with Mr. Towbes Still Swingin' at 85' were party favors representative of Mr. Towbes use of them for using in his editing and return correspondence.

Michael Towbes Birthday 85th ballroom table set up

The State Street Ballet danced while guests arrived into the ballroom.  Mr. Towbes is a longtime support and passionate of this local professional ballet company.

Michael Towbes Birthday 85th state street ballet

During the brunch and performances, the Felici Events Team gathered all the 'momentos of Mr. Towbes' (the invitation asked guests to bring those in lieu of gifts), and produced two scrap books.  Carrie, Mr. Towbes daughter and Anne presented this surprise gift to the man of the hour.

Michael Towbes Birthday 85th presenting album

Let there be cake!  We replicated the invitation cover picture of the the man of the hour playing tennis onto a sheet cake.

Michael Towbes Birthday 85th birthday cake

Hope you made a wish!  Happy Birthday Mr. Towbes.  You are truly a genuine, altruistic, generous and kind man, and Santa Barbara is lucky to have you as a leader and philanthropist in our community!

Michael Towbes Birthday 85th blowing out candles

Party Interactive Entertainment Idea - #Madlibs

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and this past week-end, Felici Events has had the honor of experiencing just that! One of our clients hired us to produce her milestone 50th birthday celebration.  She came to Zohe's Godfather themed birthday, which took place in October at the Santa Barbara Club, and absolutely loved the party, especially Zohe's take on Mad Libs.  Zohe is a fan of having something unique and getting guests to interact rather than filling out a boring old guest book.

We made some mob-libs and had guests fill out cards rather than signing a guest book.  We don't know who had more fun that night, Zohe's friends and loved ones who wrote in the mad lib cards, or Zohe hooting and hollering in laugher reading them after the party.  

This idea is perfect for any party, a mitzvah, birthday, baby shower, bridal shower, corporate mixer or event a rehearsal dinner or wedding.

Here is the inspiration for Zohe's Godfather Theme Birthday  - Mad Libs

Madlib for Zohe Felici's birthday party celebration @felicievents

We called them Ann Libs (Ann is the client's name), and asked our graphics guru (Mitra from foreverbird.com) create a cartoon from Ann's picture

@foreverbird

Felici Events Headquarters typed up and edited  the formatting and grammar.

Ann Libs in progress

We found some fancy schmancy paper from our local Paper-Source, and were able to print the Ann Libs at Felici Headquarters.

printing Ann Libs in house

TADA!!!

Here is the end result!

We bundled it up nice and neat at each place setting, and attached a card to it, based on a pinterest inspiration.

Ann Libs packaged nicely

They look great on the tables, each guest got one at their place settings, rolled up nice and neat with pens nearby.  It made for a talking point and incorporated interactive entertainment for the evening.

Ann Libs at each place setting