5 Great Bat Mitzvah Themes and Bar Mitzvah Themes

Throwing a bat mitzvah or bar mitzvah for your child is no easy task these days. It’s an important spiritual landmark in their life, and they want to have a celebration with their friends that they’ll remember forever.

One way to make the process easier is to choose a fun theme that the guest of honor and their friends will love.

Your theme will guide your decision-making when it comes to food, decor, location, activities, and other aspects of the party. How do you pick the perfect theme? We’ve got you covered with the best themes for bat mitzvahs and bar mitzvahs below!

Video Game Theme

Does your kid love video games? Throw a party based on their favorite gaming universe! For example, with the new Mario Bros movie coming out, why not throw a Super Mario Party?

Everyone can dress up as characters from the franchise, and you can set up real-life versions of the video game. If you want to go all out, you can create a real-life obstacle course with mushrooms and gold coins.

To keep this idea simpler, host a Mario Kart tournament and theme up the decor and food. Who wouldn’t love a Yoshi cake? Another approach is to easily create real-life Mario Kart by having all the kids dress up and go to a Go Kart track. Mamma Mia!

Old Hollywood Party

Roll out the red carpet for your teen! They’ll love posing in a red carpet-themed photo booth with all of their friends. You can even have the attendants act like paparazzi! 

Style their bat or bar mitzvah after the Oscars and ask everyone to dress up like their favorite Hollywood star. The guest of honor can roll up in a stretch limo just like the stars. From the decor to the food, every aspect of this party should be glammed up to be worthy of the stars.

Halloween Theme

If your bat or bar mitzvah falls in October, why not take advantage of the season and throw a massive Halloween party for your teen? Everyone can dress up in devilish and witchy costumes and you can deck out the venue with skulls, cobwebs, and skeletons. A historical venue with medieval candle chandeliers can even double as a haunted house!

You can also serve spooky drinks in goblets and cover the venue in lanterns and pumpkins. The guest of honor and their friends will love it!

Music Festival Party

If your teen is entering their music festival phase, why not throw one just for them? Hire a great band that can play all of their favorite songs so you can keep the dance party going all night long! Turn your child’s favorite lyric into a neon sign and attach it to the photo booth. 

You can decorate the venue with boho details like giant pillows to sit on and tapestries. Don’t forget the feather earrings and hair extensions! 

Summer Tropical Theme

Let’s be real, we live in Texas, so it’s almost always warm enough for a summer tropical-themed party! Go all out with fun tropical drinks served out of coconuts (virgin, of course), tiki lanterns, and bold beachy colors. 

You can also deck out the venue with palm fronds and bamboo and serve a chocolate fondue bar with tons of tropical fruit for dipping! There are also great games you can play at Tropical parties, like limbo. You can also string up some hammocks for the guests that want to chill out!
For more tropical theme ideas, check out this amazing party we got to be part of with our sister brand, Pop & Drop, for TikTok Austin!

The Perfect Photo Booth for Bat Mitzvahs and Bar Mitzvahs 

No matter what theme you choose for your child’s big bat or bar mitzvah bash, no party is complete without a photo booth! Our luxury photo booth backdrops can match any party theme, and you can customize them with themed-up props! 

Tech-savvy kids love the Selfie Booth because they can take the photos themselves and immediately send them to their phones for social media sharing. 

You can also add on a balloon garland, streamers, and custom signage to make the booth your own. Your kids and their friends will love posing in the booth, and the photos make the perfect party keepsakes!

Final Thoughts on the Best Bat Mitzvah Themes and Bar Mitzvah Themes

 At the end of the day, the best bat mitzvah or bar mitzvah theme for your child is the one that makes them feel celebrated and honors the momentous occasion. Whether you go all out or keep it simple, they’ll love partying with their friends and celebrating their rite of passage! 

We’d love to be part of the big day! To book a custom photo booth for your child’s bar mitzvah or bat mitzvah, contact us here.

Our response to covid-19 in the world of photo booths

PHOTO BY SMS PHOTOGRAPHY

Updated on 9/21/2021

A note from our owner, Kelsey Harrison:

As the impact of COVID-19 continues, I wanted you to hear directly from me about the mitigation efforts that Oh Happy Day Booth has enacted to reduce the risk of infection of our team members, our clients, and their guests. My focus remains on supporting our Oh Happy Day Booth team, while at the same time doing my part to preserve the health, safety, and well-being of all those with whom we come in contact.

I think it is extremely safe to assume that everyone has been significantly impacted by COVID-19 in one way or another. The entire photo booth industry relies on a healthy events industry, and the events industry relies on the ability for us to be able to come together as a community and celebrate special days. As we look toward the future and anticipate what it holds for us, we at Oh Happy Day Booth work every day to ensure the level of customer service our clients are accustomed to is not diminished.

We continue to closely monitor and assess this evolving situation, and any changes in company policies and procedures regarding COVID-19 precautions will be based on scientific studies and official reports, and any changes we make will be updated here. I can’t emphasize just how much I am itching to get back to celebrating in full swing, and I am making sure that we are able to get to that point as safely as possible by expanding and refining our safety policies. If you have any personal questions requirements or preferences, please email me at hello@ohhappydaybooth.com and we will do our best to accommodate within reason.

1. Masks // In addition to their usual all-black and white attire, our staff will be required to wear masks at all times while on the property for an event.

2. Portrait Booth and Glam Booth activations // For the foreseeable future, our team members will monitor the photo booth from afar, keeping an eye on the booth at all times, but limiting direct interactions with guests. Your point of contact will always know where our team member is located, and the team member will be there in a flash if something happens like the printer paper and ink need replenishing! We love our clients, and care about their guests, and want to be there to support them on their big day and by physically distancing our team members from the booth itself, we are able to make sure they are healthy for our couples the following weekend as well. To accommodate this distancing, we have changed and optimized our start screen graphics for these services so the photo booth process is seamless and straightforward to ensure guests are able to use the booths without the hands-on assistance of a team member.

3. Sanitized Selfie Stations // Our Selfie Station rentals will operate as usual, but our staff will sanitize everything before the event begins and at the end of the rental.

4. No props // We know this is a significant bummer, but there is no feasible way to properly sanitize every prop between guests, so we will be foregoing props for the foreseeable future. Clients who have this upgrade as part of their package are encouraged to choose another upgrade as an alternative!

5. Photo guest books // For clients who would like to stick with their photo guest book, guests can pick up a clean pen from one bin and put it into one labeled ‘used’ when they are done. Pens will be sanitized between events.

6. Sanitizing all equipment before and after events // All our equipment will be sanitized before and after events, and all our boxes and equipment will be sanitized inside our storage facility as well.

7. Increased pay // All of our team members providing services at events are doing so with the utmost caution to ensure your guests have a great time. During this season and for the foreseeable future, Oh Happy Day Booth has increased their hourly rate without raising client costs. If you feel so compelled, any and all tips given to the booth attendants during events will be retained by the team member working the event, and would be greatly appreciated.

What we are requesting from our clients:

1. Masks // Please encourage your guests to wear masks. This has been proven by the CDC to protect other people from getting sick if you are sick, even when asymptomatic. This is a really wonderful way to respect your hardworking vendors whose lives depend on being able to work events every weekend.

2. Set up location // If it is possible to put us away from the dance floor and other major foot traffic spots, that is ideal.

3. Following the CDC’s minimum standard health protocols // We know rules are no fun, but they’re here to protect us all. Please encourage your guests, planner, vendors, and venue to follow appropriate guidelines regarding large events.

six reasons why roaming photography is the new go-to Event photography service

Photo booths will always have a special place in our heart. They’re the bread and butter of our business, but if you’ve been reading our blogs for awhile you’ve seen a huge recent trend in roaming photography for our clients. We’re huge fans of this service! If you’re stuck between renting one of our photo booths or booking roaming photography, check out these reasons why roaming could work for your event:

1. Mobility – Roaming photography allows our photographer to move around your event space and capture it all versus being stationary like with a typical photo booth! This is an ideal concept if you have a large guest list so we can maximize and take photos of the whole party like we did at this fundraising event. This is also ideal if you have several stations or rooms your guests will be visiting during the event! You’ll get photos of guests enjoying all elements of your event versus waiting for them to hop in front of the photo booth.

2. Time efficient - With a traditional photo booth, it’s easy for a line to form, taking your guests away from your event! Roaming photography is the perfect way to alleviate this challenge because it only takes our team 20-30 seconds to take a photo versus 45-60 seconds with a photo booth. This way your guests can get the same photos they would with a photo booth then back to having fun at your event! We did this for an event here, and they absolutely loved our efficiency!

3. Minimal space – Because only a photographer is needed, roaming photography takes up no space! If anything, our photographer is just another person at your event like at this Bumble event we did this summer! If you decide to add printing to your service but still don’t have much space, no worries! With the table and printer added, we only take up 2x4’ of space!

4. Increased interaction – The beauty of our roaming photography is having a positive and professional photographer with a DSLR camera take candid and posed shots of your guests at your event! Our photographer will even let you know when to smile if you need the heads up as well, so you truly are picture perfect with every shot!

5. Facial recognition – Yep, you read that right (Cue Mission Impossible theme song). Our software uses facial recognition so your guest only has to put in their information once and every time they are spotted in a photo, it automatically gets sent to them! Which gives the guests the power of printing their own photo in seconds! Gone are the days where a guest needs to type their phone number or email in each time they want a photo, wait until their friend uploads the photo, or it’s finally sent to them days later.

6. Budget friendly – Roaming photography can work with any budget. It’s perfect for any type of event you wouldn’t normally pay for a full time photographer but still want great memories! Some popular events we’ve done with roaming photography are: rehearsal dinners, wedding receptions, corporate and social parties, grand openings, pet friendly events, boat cruises, and sorority events! Roaming photography can be used to supplement what your photographer may otherwise miss or you have a smaller budget.

As far as upgrades with roaming photography, we can easily add any of our luxury backdrops or installations, extra time for detail shots of your event and anything that you would normally get with a photo booth! Still not convinced or have questions? Check out the video below and shoot an email to our team today to learn about how roaming photography can be used at your next event! kati@ohhappydaybooth.com

Roaming photography + retirement party

We had an incredible time with our roaming photography at a surprise retirement party! 

Emma DeCaro (the brains of the operation) wrote a wonderful recap of the event and we wanted to share it on this blog post:

“On Saturday, August 3rd, Mr. Vise thought he was going to lunch with a former student, but instead unsuspectingly walked in a ballroom filled with 300 former students, band parents, and colleagues. 

 A student from each of his six schools gave a short speech about what their time in Mr. Vise’s band meant to them. Afterward, we presented him with a plaque a show-shirt collage and signed copy of the score to An American Elegy by Frank Ticheli. 

 One of his students baked three incredibly special cakes, cake balls, and her famous fudge marble cookies (everything tasted as good as it looked). One of the cakes had 35 stars on it— each star corresponded to the school colors and number of years he served at each school.

 To conclude the afternoon, the band Sometimes a Legend, featuring Lake Travis graduates, played amazing music while everyone greeted and took pictures with Mr. Vise.”

 To commemorate the special occasion, we had our roaming photographer take pictures of Mr. Vise with his past colleagues and students in front of our navy sequin backdrop! We wanted the attendees to have time to socialize with each other and the guest of honor, so roaming photography was the perfect option! Abbie Hillis from Abbie Cole Hillis Events planned and organized the party and it went off without a hitch! We had such a great time at the event and we want to wish a huge congratulations to Mr. Vise on his retirement!

If you have an event coming up and you’d like to learn more about roaming photography, reaching out to our sales team today! Kati@ohhappydaybooth.com

Roaming photography + boat party

We get it, you probably can’t think of being on a boat without singing The Lonely Island’s “I’m on a boat” at the top of your lungs. Don’t worry, us either.

Our team brought roaming photography to Lake Austin for an acquisition boat party! The celebration was for the merger of Bulldog Solutions B2B marketing company and Hero Digital, an independent customer experience company. The party was organized for networking, getting to know teammates, and build camaraderie between each other. Food, drinks, and dog tags were provided by the company and the attendees were able to mix and mingle while catching one of Austin’s Summer sunsets!

Our client wanted to keep the shared images organic, so we opted out of any watermark or printed border on the photos. We had our photographer take photos of the party of the guests interacting and enjoying themselves, while celebrating new business opportunities! Roaming photography is the perfect addition to any event, especially where you want to photograph guests socializing and having fun naturally and a photo booth isn’t reasonable but you still want instant sharing! If you want to learn how to roaming photography can enhance your event (on or off water) contact our team today! kati@ohhappydaybooth.com

Austin Under 40 Awards

A black tie affair made for Austin’s best!

We had the pleasure to be part of Austin’s Under 40 Awards ceremony this month! This is the 22nd year that the gala was organized to celebrate emerging Austinites and to celebrate their success. There were 17 winners that stood out from their colleagues, ranging from from architecture and culinary art to legal work and education.

For the 750 guests in attendance, we knew having two photo booths were a no-brainer. We organized our portrait booth in the entryway of the gala and our selfie station at the VIP after party so we could have guests maximize their experience! The attendees were crazy about the portrait booth the entire event! From the second we set up the booth to when we were tearing down and packing it up, we had a line of guests eager to take their photo! The garden party themed allowed us be creative with the floral overlay of our selfie station images, paired with our streamer and balloon installation. We partnered with Austin Flower Walls for their backdrop with our portrait booth and had everyone asking if the flowers were real or not the entire night!

We had such a blast at this years gala and we’re looking forward to the next event! Congratulations to all the winners!

Vendor team:

Venue: JW Marriott Austin

Host: Young Women’s Alliance

Planner: Hosts Global

Lighting Design: ILIOS

Sound: Nomad

Dancers: Dance Austin Studio

Photo booth: Oh Happy Day Booth

Linens: Marquee

Furniture: Panacea Collectives

Liquor and wine: Twin Liquors

Decor and Floral: Capers

A Night to inspire | The Settlement Home

There is little we love more than an opportunity to give back to the community. But honoring those that give back is definitely up there!

A Night to Inspire is an evening to honor the Community Youth Council (CYC), which consists of Austin high school students who are committed to giving back to the community as volunteers with The Settlement Home, as stated on their website. These student philanthropists dedicate their time in helping the Austin nonprofit which focuses on serving children in foster care through housing programs.

The event took place at The UT Alumni Center, right in the heart of the University of Texas campus. We wanted our focus to be on the students and attendees, so we chose a backdrop with The Settlement Home logo and a mosaic tile overlay with the word “Inspire” in larger print.

We’re so proud to be part of the same community as these students and we were happy to be part of an event that focused on the difference they’re making!