Upon first entering the Independence Sea-Port Museum in Philadelphia, the guests were surrounded by fish netting adorned with lobsters, starfish and other sea life. As they made their way to the first landing, Island girls greeted the guests at the entry of the tented out door deck, enclosed by palm trees, which housed the custom built tropic Booze Bar. Just outside on the rotunda, a steel drum band played while the children participated in fun activities such as hair braiding and tattooing. Afterwards, the guests were led to their final destination, Paradise. Even the elevator was adorned with welcoming plants and animals. Once they arrived they walked across a tropical bridge decorated in bamboo, exotic flowers and foliage. This was the entry to the dining area, where the tables were set with fine linens and flanked by palm trees all around. To end the night, the guests made their way through a rock arch entrance into the Dessert cave.

The planning of an important event such as a B’nai Mitzvah should be done well in advance. We planned the celebration for well over a year. The chosen theme was to be Caribbean. Here at The Theme Factory of Philadelphia, we already stock a vast selection of props in that category.

The event planner, Deborah Ashton and the Mother of the twins, Mrs. Jill Backhus met with me for the first time to tour our facility and the ideas started to flow. We decided to utilize some of our pre-existing props, and eventually made decisions to create customized items. .

My team of craftsmen and installation specialists met with crews from Flowers by Yukie, Plantasia, Jim O’Brien Decorations, Frog Catering, and of course Deborah Ashton with her assistant Susan, of Intrinsic Interiors. We all worked together as one large team for one great cause, ensuring that this entire event would be absolutely perfect for the Backhus family.

It the end we created an atmosphere totally reminiscent of a tropical getaway. The Backhus’ and their guests were in awe of our creation.

On the Monday after the event Mrs. Backhus wrote “[We] loved working with you. You are such a professional whom brought as much excitement and enthusiasm to our B'nai Mitzvah as we had. The rest of your design team brought our visions to reality. My guests could not believe the atmosphere, and only wanted to know HOW this was created. I know that The Theme Factory was the secret. Thanks for making our dreams come true!!”