Bat Mitzvah Update
I have "You Don't Send Me Flowers" by Barbra Streisand and Neil Diamond on a loop in my head. Aaaargh! Just shoot me now.
I'm making progress on The Girl's bat mitzvah planning. The whole thing has been such a balancing act between financial controls, The Girl's wants and needs, my wants and needs, Geoff's aggressive anti-religiosity, and my overall desire not to be sucked into the Evil Machine of Conspicuous Consumption. Yesterday was a good day, though, as we settled on invitations, tallit (prayer shawl), and tzedakah project.
Here's the tallit we settled on. It's simple enough that The Girl will be willing to wear it not just for the bat mitzvah service but for future services as well. It's elegant, chic and "Girl"-ish. I notice that a lot of kids don't wear their special tallit at subsequent services, because they're too fancy, and I didn't want it be like a wedding dress that gets packed into storage after one use. I ordered it direct from Israel, free postage. Even at $180, it's significantly cheaper than the going rate. Most of the kids are having theirs hand-made by a member of the congregation who's very talented, but charges $350 and the results are, what's the word, loud. The Girl is many things, but loud is not one of them.
We went for something really different for the invitations. I'm ordering a glossy 4x8 photo card from Vista Print. It's still a bat mitzvah card, but it has a place for a photo. I uploaded a photo of The Girl jumping her horse, and the invitation reads, "Mr. and Mrs. Iolanthe Rosa invite you to watch our daughter take another leap! Beatrice Charlotte will be called to the Torah as a bat mitzvah on date, time, location etc., luncheon to follow, etc." It's much more casual and light-hearted than the typical invitation. I've been receiving a lot of them this year, as each of her classmates goes through the process, and even though the embossed, printed ones with Hebrew lettering and ribbons and everything are very beautiful, after a while I find them to be much of a sameness and not representative of the child in any way. This one reflects The Girl and her interests and personality and our pride in her as a whole person. I showed the mock-up to The Girl and she liked it! THAT was a miracle. I'm going to put Mrs. Grossman's horse stickers on the envelopes. 100 invitations for $30.00. You can't beat that.
Next up, her tzedakah (charity) project. As part of the whole rigamarole, the kids have to do some sort of community service. I don't know when they expect them to do this, since she's in school 5 days a week, riding lessons 3 times a week, works at the stables all day on Saturday, AND is in Hebrew school twice a week 3 hours a pop prepping for her bat mitzvah. Not only that, but she's now tutoring other bar/bat mitzvah kids.
So I have settled on buying our way out of this situation. There is a Therapeutic Riding Center nearby, and they have a wish list. I'm going to go down there with The Girl and she is going to take a bunch of pictures and interview the director about their programs. We're going to put the photos and a brief essay that she will write herself based on her research onto a poster board presentation which we will display on an easel in the social hall where the post-bat mitzvah luncheon is going to be held. (You sentence diagrammers out there, I challenge you to diagram that last sentence). I am going to buy a big basket from Cost Plus and the The Girl and I are going to fill it up with stuff from the Wish List, up to, say, $100 or so, and we're going to wrap it up nice and put that at the base of the easel. After the bat mitzvah, we'll bring the basket down to Giant Steps and donate it to them. Et Voila! Tzedakah!
Heh. In between the time I sat down to write this and now, "You Don't Send Me Flowers" has has morphed into Twisted Sister's "We're Not Going to Take It." Interesting.
I'm making progress on The Girl's bat mitzvah planning. The whole thing has been such a balancing act between financial controls, The Girl's wants and needs, my wants and needs, Geoff's aggressive anti-religiosity, and my overall desire not to be sucked into the Evil Machine of Conspicuous Consumption. Yesterday was a good day, though, as we settled on invitations, tallit (prayer shawl), and tzedakah project.
Here's the tallit we settled on. It's simple enough that The Girl will be willing to wear it not just for the bat mitzvah service but for future services as well. It's elegant, chic and "Girl"-ish. I notice that a lot of kids don't wear their special tallit at subsequent services, because they're too fancy, and I didn't want it be like a wedding dress that gets packed into storage after one use. I ordered it direct from Israel, free postage. Even at $180, it's significantly cheaper than the going rate. Most of the kids are having theirs hand-made by a member of the congregation who's very talented, but charges $350 and the results are, what's the word, loud. The Girl is many things, but loud is not one of them.
We went for something really different for the invitations. I'm ordering a glossy 4x8 photo card from Vista Print. It's still a bat mitzvah card, but it has a place for a photo. I uploaded a photo of The Girl jumping her horse, and the invitation reads, "Mr. and Mrs. Iolanthe Rosa invite you to watch our daughter take another leap! Beatrice Charlotte will be called to the Torah as a bat mitzvah on date, time, location etc., luncheon to follow, etc." It's much more casual and light-hearted than the typical invitation. I've been receiving a lot of them this year, as each of her classmates goes through the process, and even though the embossed, printed ones with Hebrew lettering and ribbons and everything are very beautiful, after a while I find them to be much of a sameness and not representative of the child in any way. This one reflects The Girl and her interests and personality and our pride in her as a whole person. I showed the mock-up to The Girl and she liked it! THAT was a miracle. I'm going to put Mrs. Grossman's horse stickers on the envelopes. 100 invitations for $30.00. You can't beat that.
Next up, her tzedakah (charity) project. As part of the whole rigamarole, the kids have to do some sort of community service. I don't know when they expect them to do this, since she's in school 5 days a week, riding lessons 3 times a week, works at the stables all day on Saturday, AND is in Hebrew school twice a week 3 hours a pop prepping for her bat mitzvah. Not only that, but she's now tutoring other bar/bat mitzvah kids.
So I have settled on buying our way out of this situation. There is a Therapeutic Riding Center nearby, and they have a wish list. I'm going to go down there with The Girl and she is going to take a bunch of pictures and interview the director about their programs. We're going to put the photos and a brief essay that she will write herself based on her research onto a poster board presentation which we will display on an easel in the social hall where the post-bat mitzvah luncheon is going to be held. (You sentence diagrammers out there, I challenge you to diagram that last sentence). I am going to buy a big basket from Cost Plus and the The Girl and I are going to fill it up with stuff from the Wish List, up to, say, $100 or so, and we're going to wrap it up nice and put that at the base of the easel. After the bat mitzvah, we'll bring the basket down to Giant Steps and donate it to them. Et Voila! Tzedakah!
Heh. In between the time I sat down to write this and now, "You Don't Send Me Flowers" has has morphed into Twisted Sister's "We're Not Going to Take It." Interesting.