THE BIG ZERO:
Planning a Milestone Celebration
JON MARKS | JE STAFF
50th birthday party
done up to look like
the Breakers in
Palm Beach.

PHOTOS PROVIDED
V ALORI ZASLOW likes planning parties with a big zero.

“Th e bigger the zero, the more fun people want to have
with the event,” said Zaslow, who’s run ReEvent for 20 years. “Peo-
ple oft en come to me looking for something unique and creative.”
For a party planner, those are the magic words.

While a wedding or a Bar Mitzvah may be
more signifi cant, celebrating a milestone
— like a big birthday or an anniversary
— takes on a diff erent charm.

Th at’s because it’s focused spe-
cifi cally on the man, woman or
couple they’re celebrating.

“Th e thing about birthdays is
you can really enhance and en-
joy the uniqueness of that indi-
vidual,” said Sandra Steinfeld of
Philadelphia Party Planners, a
relative novice with three years
in the business aft er 20 years as
an attorney. “When you’re do-
ing birthdays, it’s about someone
who’s already established them-
selves. It’s about what makes that
person who they are. I really like that.”
And the stress level is nowhere near
as high as when you have to deal not only
with the bride and groom, but their parents and
who knows what else.

“Th ere’s much less anxiety doing a birthday party for someone
of multiple years,” agreed Lynne Brownstein of Arrangements Un-
limited in King of Prussia. “But I’m probably not a good person
to ask, because almost every event
I do becomes so personal. I’ve been
in business so long, there’s hardly a
person in the community who hasn’t
done something with us. Every-
body’s looking for something
to celebrate.”
Th ey just all do it a
little bit diff erently.

One anniversary
couple might love to
dance, so the party will
have a dancing theme.

Someone else might’ve
been into art and culture, so
the party will refl ect that. Maybe
they were into comedy or mysteries, so
that will be the focus.

Whatever the customer wants, the par-
ty planner will try to make it happen.

“We can do a murder mystery or a char-
acter impersonator,” said Sharon Lee Dan-
iels of Mae & Co., who’s played her Marilyn
Monroe character so well that an older man once
thought she was the real Marilyn. “Whatever they
need from us.

“We can either do the whole production or just pieces.

We’re doing a party soon for someone who’s turning 60 and having
a ’50s theme. We’re making it seem like it’s in a diner and having
the person’s name put on a record. Th is family loves to dance, so
we’re also bringing in a Michael Jackson lookalike to do Th riller,
“THE BIGGER
THE ZERO,
THE MORE FUN
PEOPLE WANT
TO HAVE WITH
THE EVENT.”
22 OCTOBER 26, 2017
SIMCHAS JEWISHEXPONENT.COM




Goldstein’s Men’s & Boy’s Apparel
Your Mitzvah suit for that special day
DKNY Above:
Mary Beth and
Mark Russo.

Left: Sharon
Lee Daniels as
Lady Gaga
PHOTOS PROVIDED
even though he wasn’t even born in the
’50s. We take dramatic license.”
The clients don’t seem to mind as long
as they’re entertained. Sometimes, the star
of the night has no idea what’s coming.

“Doing surprise parties are a fun en-
deavor,” Zaslow said, “because you’re
often creating another whole event to
detain the person being surprised. The
person being honored thinks they’re go-
ing somewhere else, so we’ll usually have
Family owned and operated for 115 years
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2537 S Broad Street
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www.goldsteinsclothing.com See ZERO, page 24
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OCTOBER 26, 2017
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