Speaker at celebration of life event in Las Vegas, Nevada
While the experience of losing a loved one can be extremely emotional and difficult, a celebration of life can be uplifting for family and friends of the deceased, and an upbeat alternative to the traditional funeral. An increasing number of families are choosing to plan ceremonies that celebrate the lives, personalities, and passions of their loved one, rather than mourn the loss. This type of celebration is mainly focused on sharing stories of the deceased and remembering the joys they brought into the lives of others, making it a personal and uplifting occasion where tears and laughter are equally welcome.
There are many factors that will go into the planning process of your loved one’s Celebration of Life, but one of the benefits of planning an event like this, rather than a traditional funeral, is the freedom you have to plan the celebration in whichever way you desire. Basically, you can include whatever you think is appropriate to represent and honor your loved one, as well as showcase their life story.
In many cases, celebrations of life are held after the body has already been cared for, which allows for more time to carefully plan a service that includes input from everyone and provides more notice and flexibility to guests who have to travel. It is not uncommon for families to hold a celebration of life weeks or even months after their loved one has passed away.
Different aspects of their life can be showcased in various ways. For example, the music playing during the event may be a playlist of their favorite tunes and the food can include their favorite dishes. It’s also a good idea to have a memory table with photographs of their life and personal items that represent them best. Memory tables can also help you display specific passions they had during their life. If he or she loved to paint, you can display their best work and a special paintbrush of theirs. As you begin planning the celebration of life, you’ll come to realize that nothing is really off limits when it comes to making the event as personal and special as possible.
Selecting the perfect venue is an important step of the planning process and can direct your decision-making in regards to various aspects of the celebration. These types of services can be intimate occasions with only close family and friends, or can extend to a larger group of people that includes business colleagues, old friends, and extended family members. When selecting a venue, size and functionality are both important factors to consider. The location can also set the tone for the event itself. Many funeral homes have celebration of life centers or reception spaces, but some families may want to avoid the funeral home altogether. There are plenty of locations that can be utilized for such an event, big or small. Occasions4.us can accommodate in some cases up to 250 people for dinners and cocktail style receptions, with plenty of functional space at each of our venues. Each venue is serene and tranquil, but unique in its own way.
Once you’ve selected your venue, the smaller details can become your priority. Here are some ideas that can help you in your planning:
If you’re looking for a venue for an upcoming Celebration of Life, let Occasions4.us be your guide. We’ve partnered with five venues in the Las Vegas area — including The Legacy Golf Club and Wildhorse Golf Club in Henderson, the Spanish Trail Country Club and Aliante Golf Club in Las Vegas, as well as Primm Valley at the California-Nevada border — and our relationships with caterers, event coordinators and photographers means that you won’t have to spend the day organizing and ensuring that everything goes off without a hitch. Our facilities include private meeting rooms and banquet space, equipment rentals (projectors, tv’s, screens, microphones), unobtrusive staff, catering and banquet menus, and packaging and pricing options available based on setup requirements.
Your wishes will be honored and respected as we seek to lighten your load at this delicate time. Remember, Par 4 Occasions event consultants are here to help make this celebration special in every way.
Banquet room decorated for Bar Mitzvah.
Make sure you pick a date and start the planning process with plenty of time. It’s never too early to determine details like venue and guest lists.
Organization and attention to every detail are going to be crucial for the smoothness of the process, as well as your overall enjoyment of your child’s bar/bat mitzvah. If you’re not confident in your organizational skills, it may be a good idea to hire a bar mitzvah planner to help take some of the stress off your shoulders. Many venues have their own planner or other people who can help with the process as well.
Setting a budget early is crucial to being upfront about what is possible for the gathering.
Budgeting early can ensure that you don’t spend too much on certain things while leaving no room for others. This may seem self-explanatory, but it can be easy to get carried away with one aspect and forget that you still need to spend on another. There will be a lot of costs involved, so make a list of them early on! Finding the venue early on–preferably before anything else– can be an extremely helpful part of this process, as it can play into the rest of the decisions you and your family will make regarding the event. The size of the guest list, decorations, and dates/times can all be affected, so get it out of the way! Budgeting is already stressful as it is, so get it done and find the vendors and planners who can help you stick with it.
This is your opportunity to have fun and be unique! Your theme can play into all of the details that go into the event, like decor, food, and even venue in some cases. If you can’t think of any on your own, the internet is crawling with ideas that your family will love! This is also where you and your child can collaborate to find an idea that they will love as much as you do. Themes can range from favorite movies, places, and even sports teams.
Once you decide on a theme, you can get creative with everything that goes into the celebration. The presentation of food and decor of the venue can all revolve around what main theme you want to go with. Theme can also influence decisions on entertainment, music, etc. Like those throwing any other type of large celebration, you may want to consider small gifts and goodie bags to give to your guests. Depending on your theme, you can give away themed hoodies or hats, or goodie bags full of different types of treats and candies.
Perhaps the most important part of your theme is making sure it is maintained from the start– from the invitation through the function.
While the function will be fun-filled and exciting for all in attendance (especially your child), try not to get too preoccupied with the party aspect and remain focused on the religious importance of the bar mitzvah or bat mitzvah. Make sure that you and your family are focusing and celebrating mainly the religious purpose of the bar mitzvah/bat mitzvah. This mindset can also keep you from being too stressed about the details of the function itself when the day comes.
Once the day arrives, enjoy the function! You have put in all the hard work and deserve to release the stress and have fun with your child and all of your loved ones. No matter what happens, this is a celebration– ENJOY!
Looking for the perfect bar mitzvah venue in Nevada is no small feat. Not only do you need a venue that can accommodate all your guests, but you’ll need the right decor, entertainment and catering to appease both kids and adults alike.
Here at Occasions4.us, we’ve partnered with five fabulous venues in the Las Vegas, Henderson, North Las Vegas and Primm Valley areas to help you throw the perfect bar mitzvah, and our all-in pricing means you don’t have to juggle a handful of vendors to make it all happen. Reserve your bar mitzvah venue at Aliante Golf Club, The Legacy Golf Club, Primm Valley Golf Club, Spanish Trails Country Club, or Wildhorse Golf Club, today!
A Filipino debut is a coming-of-age tradition for young Filipino women that happens just once in life. Similar to other debuts such as a sweet sixteen or a quinceañera, a Filipino debut marks a young woman’s ascendance into adulthood in front of all of her close friends and family. Like a wedding in pomp and circumstance, a Filipino debut typically takes months to plan and coordinate, especially for the guest of honor and her royal court — close friends and family that are expected to perform various dances and rituals during the event.
But a modern Filipino debut isn’t necessarily a by-the-book ceremony where tradition reigns supreme. That’s why it can be difficult to know how to plan a Filipino debut when there are so many things that are up for interpretation. What we do know, however, is that a debut is both a celebration of the debutante as well as of Filipino culture, which means there’s a lot to draw from.
There’s also a rich culture of traditions and conventions when it comes to Filipino debut party ideas, which can help even the most out-of-sorts debut party planner. But you’ll still need a team to help make it happen as well as the all-important venue unless you want to be working all evening and serving snacks and drinks from your own kitchen.
Even the simplest debut package needs a guest list. The guest list will determine both the number of people in attendance as well as what activities and traditions will be performed and followed. Make sure you have enough space for family and friends, but plan for about 100-200 people, which is the size of a typical debut.
When planning your guest list, make sure you account for travel, availability and other issues that may prevent someone from being able to attend. This is a crucial piece for anyone that will be asked to be a part of the festivities in the royal court, so don’t schedule anyone for this inner circle until you’ve had a chance to speak with them first.
How to plan a Filipino debut always comes back to the venue. Unlike a wedding which may have multiple venues, the debut party venue will be the backdrop to the entire night, as well as where all the activities will take place. This means that the venue is a crucial piece of any debut, and given the size of most parties, this is something you really don’t want to try to do at home.
Aside from the logistics of a large dance floor and keeping people entertained and engaged all evening, even simple things like parking can be a huge challenge at home. Property damage and being reported for disturbing the peace could also put a quick end to the party, so make sure you plan accordingly.
When selecting a venue for a debut, see if they rent out equipment and work with local vendors so you can avoid juggling a half-dozen contractors for the night. You might think that you can get by without a professional photographer or a DJ, but it also means that you’ll have to pick up the slack.
After deciding on a guest list and locking down a venue, it’s time to start working on those invitations. Remember that one invitation to a family could yield four or five attendees, so don’t think that you need to create hundreds of invitations. For many Filipino debuts, a few dozen invitations should do the trick.
If you want to splurge or have the time, custom invitations are a great way to drum up excitement for your upcoming event. But if you’re on a budget, you can pick up boxes of invitations at your local big-box retailer for a fraction of the cost. You can still customize the invitations with ribbons, calligraphy and stamps, but it’s a great way to do invitations without blowing your budget.
On the cards themselves, be sure that you include the name of the guest of honor, the date, the venue and theme. It sounds silly, but you’d be surprised how many invitations go out without one or more crucial bits of information. Directions can be included on a separate insert, but don’t forget RSVP cards with postage or an email or link with how to RSVP for the event.
About a month or two before your debut party, you’ll want to send out your invitations. This gives everyone enough time to plan accordingly, but for things like the grand cotillion waltz dance and other traditional proceedings that involve the royal court, you’ll need to get some practice in. While you may not be able to get everyone together for a full rehearsal in the lead-up to the big party, you won’t be able to plan a Filipino debut without some preparation.
For family and friends that live close by, you can hand them their invitations personally — or stick everything in the mail and wait for the RSVPs to start rolling in. It’s your call.
No instruction on how to plan a Filipino debut would be complete without a discussion of the royal court. Made up of 18 males and 18 females, the royal court is reserved for those closest to the guest of honor, such as family members, best friends and other important figures, in addition to a significant other or suitor.
The 18 males will each take one red rose to the celebrant and share a quick dance. Some dances may be funny, sweet or romantic, but the last dance is usually reserved for the father or the escort, which is a close friend, suitor or boyfriend of the debutante.
For the 18 females in the royal court, each will give a short speech, praise or well-wishes for the guest of honor, concluding in a candle-lighting ritual. Also known as 18 candles, this part of the ceremony is essentially a toast to the celebrant from the people that know her best.
Here at Occasions4.us, we know that planning and throwing a debut party can be complicated. That’s why we’ve partnered with five fabulous venues in Las Vegas to help you throw the debut party of your dreams. With simple, all-in pricing and various options to exercise all your creative ideas, planning a Filipino debut is easy with Occasions4.us. Request a proposal today!
For Filipino women, turning 18 is a reason for celebration. Not only is the 18th birthday a big deal in its own right, but in Filipino culture it’s customary to have a coming-of-age ceremony and a grand party to mark the occasion. However, while the details are up to you and whoever else is tasked with planning the party, there are some Filipino 18th birthday debut traditions that you won’t want to miss.
But first you’ll need a theme for the Filipina debut. Themes can take on just about any shape and color as long as the guest of honor and other attendees are up for it, but a traditional theme is much different from a more modern and interpretive take on Filipina debuts. While both modern and traditional themes have quite a bit of overlap, you’ll have a lot more liberty to take chances with a modern debut theme, which can take shape in many possible ways.
A traditional debut, on the other hand, will more closely resemble a ball or formal dance with strict adherence to customs that have historically been a part of debuts. Things like 18 roses, 18 candles and 18 treasures are common Filipina debut traditions, in addition to the grand cotillion waltz dance and a special father-daughter dance.
That said, many of the details are up for interpretation, and each Filipina debut will likely have its own spin on which traditions to keep and which ones to reimagine or do without. After all, a Filipina debut is both a coming-of-age celebration as well as a celebration of Filipino culture, so it’s important to include both.
If you’re not sure where to start, here are five Filipina debut traditions to consider.
Much of the preparation for any Filipina debut has to do with the grand cotillion waltz dance. Lasting between five and 12 minutes, the waltz dance typically requires months of planning and rehearsal prior to the debut party. Per cotillion etiquette, this group dance is performed by the debutante and her closest 18 friends.
Paired off in nine couples, this dance is usually the highlight of the night, with 18 participants enacting a choreographed dance that is commonly a waltz — though modern interpretations may bend the rules a bit for another type of song if the debutante and her friends feel that something else may be more appropriate.
Typically bookended by a father-daughter dance and a dance with a boyfriend or suitor, the 18 roses custom is a Filipina debut tradition that plays off of the theme of the 18th birthday. In it, 18 of her closest male friends present the guest of honor with a long-stemmed red rose, after which a short dance between the two takes place.
While it’s common to start things off with a father-daughter dance, the dances can actually be done in any order, especially with more modern debut parties. During the proceedings, a DJ or announcer may also introduce each dancer and give a quick background about their relationship to the debutante.
After the 18 roses part of the ceremony, now it’s the ladies’ turn. Just like the men, 18 ladies with close relationships to the debutante such as family members and friends will each light a candle and tell a story about the guest of honor. Traditionally, they’re meant to be inspiring and supportive to mark her entrance into adulthood, but some modern debuts may be more like a roast where funny or harmlessly provoking stories are shared.
Following the trip down memory lane, a candle is lit and presented to the debutante. After the last speech, all the candles are collected and ceremoniously blown out together. Typically, the mother gives the first speech and the last speech is given by the debutante’s best friend.
It’s a rather new practice at Filipina debuts, but it looks like this one is going to stay. Building on the 18 candles tradition, 18 treasures combines gift giving, speeches and comedy all in one. Unlike other traditions, this one’s also mixed-gender, so anyone can take part. The idea is this: eighteen of the debutante’s closest friends and relatives present a gift and a speech for the debutante while she’s seated nearby. The speeches themselves are wide-ranging from imparting wisdom to telling a joke or funny anecdote.
In addition to the 18 treasures Filipina debut tradition, it’s possible to play up the number 18 in other ways such as 18 shots, 18 blue bills or some other fun activity involving the number 18. Eighteen shots takes the same form of the 18 treasures practice, but with alcohol instead of gifts, while 18 blue bills stands for the giving of cash gifts — blue refers to the color of the Philippine one thousand peso note.
For modern Filipina debuts, the only limit here is your creativity.
Like the grand cotillion waltz dance, this Filipina debut tradition is one of the high points of the evening. It may not require the preparation of a group dance, but it is a poignant and sentimental part of Filipino debut history. Signifying the shift away from childhood and the acceptance of womanhood, the father-daughter dance is a moment that both father and daughter will cherish forever.
Whether the dance takes place during the 18 roses ceremony, the last dance of the evening is typically reserved for the father. If the father is unable to attend, a close male relative such as a father-figure, caretaker or grandparent may fill the role. After the last dance, everyone will be invited onto the dance floor for one last blowout — though the dancing could last for hours!
Here at Occasions4.us, we know that a Filipina debut is full of traditions and lots of shared memories. With the right venue and convenient, all-in pricing, we can help turn your Filipina debut dreams into reality.
We’ve partnered with five of the most exclusive venues in the Las Vegas area — including The Legacy Golf Club, Wildhorse Golf Club, Spanish Trail Country Club, Aliante Golf Club and Primm Valley Golf Club — and our close relationships with vendors and onsite event coordinators means that you’ll get to enjoy the evening instead of working.With complete venue setup, cleanup and plenty of upgrade options if you want us to do it all, we’ve got you covered. Request an event proposal today!
Congratulations! Your little girl is turning 18!
In addition to celebrating her birthday, it’s customary to hold a Philippine debut. Most Filipinas and their families have likely been planning for this moment for years, but now it’s a reality, and you’ve got a party to plan. Similar to other coming-of-age parties that mark the transition into adulthood, a Filipina debut is a celebration that takes place on or around her 18th birthday.
For many parents, the Filipina debut is also when their daughter may also start dating and have a boyfriend, which is a whole other side to the celebration. That said, you’ll have plenty of time to deal with those issues — the debut party may be just months away and there’s still a lot of planning to do.
Comprised of various programs that have in modern times shifted towards surprising twists and gimmicks, a Filipina debut is half traditional and half expression; a celebration that acknowledges the past yet looks forward to the future. For the debut itself, that means you can go traditional and modern, mixing and matching your daughter’s favorite traditions and modern activities, as well as what you’d like to see as a parent or guardian.
Generally, the Filipina debut is all about the number 18. Not only is she turning 18, but an entourage of 18 people (or multiples of 18) for the guest of honor is a common sight. After some kind of grand entrance, a waltz known as the grand cotillion dance is commonly performed. Then it’s right back to the number 18 with an 18 roses dance, which can also be reduced down to a nine roses dance.
Regardless of the theme of the party, which can go in many different directions, a Filipina debut should include many instances of 18 anywhere and everywhere. A more modern debut may elect to follow different dances and rituals than a traditional debut, but the great thing is that other than the importance of the number 18, there are no rules.
However, resist the urge to throw out the rulebook completely — here are some classic staples and must-haves that you should consider for a Filipina debut.
As an everlasting symbol of love, the rose represents affection and the readiness for romance. In a Filipina debut, 18 roses are typically given to the 18 males that are closest to the debutante, and each will dance with her while a song plays. At the end of the dance, a single long-stem red rose is given, at which point the next dance will start.
The last dance is traditionally reserved for the father or a father figure, though some do the 18 roses ceremony separate from a father-daughter dance. Alternatively, in more modern debuts the father may go first, leaving the last rose and dance for her romantic partner, a suitor or her best friend. Regardless of which approach you decide to go with, you’ll definitely need 18 roses for the celebration.
In addition to 18 roses, you’ll also need 18 candles for a Filipina debut. Like the roses are for the males in her life, the 18 candles represent her age and her relationship with her 18 closest female friends. After a quick speech about their relationship with the debutante, a special wish for the guest of honor is given, typically about success, health or the future, before the candle is lit and it’s on to the next speech.
First up is typically the mother of the debutante, and so on down the line until the last speech, which is usually given by the best friend. Some more modern Filipina debuts may swap out the 18 candles for 18 shots of alcohol and 18 friendly toasts, or it can also be separated out as part of another ritual. Either way, the speeches will typically include stories and anecdotes of their time with the debutante, along with a closing wish.
Another more modern convention is to have 18 treasures or symbolic gifts. Given by friends and relatives, each gift is accompanied with a short explanation as to why the gift was chosen and then presented to the guest of honor. Unlike the 18 roses and 18 candles, 18 treasures is a mixed-gender activity where both males and females are encouraged to participate. If the debutante has a different number of participants, it’s best to go with multiples of 18, or down to nine.
Other versions of this ritual include 18 shoes or 18 bills, as well as 18 white roses if the debutante’s father is unable to attend or is missing from her life. In this case a grandfather or another family member may play the role of father in some of the other rituals.
As mentioned earlier, some Filipina debuts engage in an activity called 18 shots, where family members and friends raise a glass and toast the guest of honor with well-wishes and a story or anecdote. Keep in mind that because it’s alcohol, no underage drinking should be taking place, especially in a public setting.
That said, the “shots” don’t have to be alcoholic, and those under the legal drinking age can participate with water, cola or another type of nonalcoholic beverage. Additionally, the shots don’t even have to be shots at all, and champagne or other types of alcoholic beverages can be used in place of liquor.=
Representing stability and independence, 18 blue bills stands for the Philippine one thousand peso note. Like the 18 treasures convention, 18 blue bills are cash gifts that are given to the debutante along with some sort of explanation and well-wishing.
Commonly practiced by godparents and grandparents, 18 blue bills is not a traditional part of Filipina debuts, meaning that you can have more fun with it and try out different things that might not be so welcome in other ceremonies.
If you’re looking for a venue for an upcoming Filipina debut, let Occasions4.us be your guide. We’ve partnered with five fabulous venues in the Las Vegas area — including The Legacy Golf Club and Wildhorse Golf Club in Henderson, the Spanish Trail Country Club and Aliante Golf Club in Las Vegas, as well as Primm Valley at the California-Nevada border — and our relationships with caterers, event coordinators and photographers means that you won’t have to spend the day organizing and ensuring that everything goes off without a hitch.
