 JUNE 4 • 2020 | 17

weekend. Over in Bloomfield 
Hills, the Wittenberg family 
worked with party planner 
Julie Yaker to organize a drive-
by party for their son Jonah’
s 
bar mitzvah, also on May 16. 
Yaker said they sent out 
invitations to Jonah’
s bar 
mitzvah in mid-March, but 
by April it became clear that 
a party wouldn’
t be possible. 
When the family found out 
that Jonah’
s service had to 
be held at home instead of 
in person at Adat Shalom in 
Farmington Hills, they decid-
ed to look for alternative ways 
to celebrate. 
After looking at birthday 
party trends and seeing what 
people were doing for bar and 
bat mitzvahs in other states, 
Yaker and the Wittenbergs 
decided to do a drive-by party 
at the Wittenberg home with 
music, a balloon arch and even 
a company that handed out 
waffles on a stick to attendees 
as they drove by. Over 100 
cars came through to celebrate 
Jonah. 
“We wanted people to feel 
comfortable — if people want-
ed to keep their windows up 
and drive by, that was totally 
acceptable. If people wanted 
to jump out their sunroof and 
hold out a sign, that was great 
too,
” Yaker said. 
Stacey Wittenberg, Jonah’
s 
mom, said she was grateful 
they were able to find a way to 
mark the occasion. 
“It was a little bit of a let-
down, especially for him, 
because it’
s not how the day 
was supposed to look like,
” she 
said. “But I think under the 
circumstances, it was really the 
best-case scenario.
” 
Yaker, who runs party-plan-
ning company EyeCatching 
Consulting, said she’
s worked 
with many clients this spring 

to re-work their celebrations 
for these unprecedented times 
— she recently worked on a 
Zoom engagement party. But 
several of her clients who had 
spring bar and bat mitzvahs 
decided to postpone their par-
ties to the fall, and Yaker isn’
t 
sure what those parties will 
look like yet. 
Her advice to people who 
need to alter their celebrations 
due to the pandemic? Take 
time to mourn the original 
event and then focus on how 
you can still make it mean-
ingful. 
“I think we’
re just all going 
to have to get really creative,
” 
she said. “Find ways to stay 
safe and celebrate.
”
Shannon McConnell, 
senior event director at Star 
Trax, helped with both the 
Michaelson and Wittenberg 
parties. She said they were the 
first two non-virtual events 
the company has worked on 
since Michigan’
s stay-at-home 
order began in March, though 
they’
ve been hosting events 
over Zoom. 
“People enjoy celebrating 
so much, and it’
s such a warm 
feeling for the friends and 
the families to be able to cel-
ebrate these big milestones. I 
can only envision and hope 
that sooner or later we’
ll be 
back up and running in some 
capacity,
” McConnell said of 
the future of party-planning. 
In the meantime, though, 
any bit of celebration seems to 
go a long way.
“I think the thing I’
ll 
remember most is … how 
special it is that I actually have 
people all over the place come 
to see me,
” Daniel Michaelson 
said. “In the end, I feel like this 
was maybe better than a party. 
It was definitely more special 
than one.
” 

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