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BAT MITZVAH PARTY 2.0 Rylee Fox’s planned bat mitzvah bash was going to be great. When the pandemic changed the rules, it got even greater. By Donna Rolando
Photography by James Clark, iNsYnc Photography
Invitations had already been printed when a Wyckoff family’s bat mitzvah festivities faced a COVID curveball, and the special day they’d dreamed of for years was suddenly off track. It was an unsettling situation for 13-year-old Rylee and her parents, Amy and Jason Fox, but they didn’t let it mean defeat. After all, sometimes a detour can be the best part of a trip. Rylee’s detour swept the celebration away from the event venue, the Art Factory in Paterson, where the pandemic pulled the plug on their original June 13, 2020 date. But it opened the door to an “equally exciting ceremony and colorful celebration” in the Fox’s backyard two months later, on Aug. 8, says their party planner, Amy Shey Jacobs of Chandelier Events. With the planner’s help, the family went a little crazy—crazy like a Fox. Their yard became Street Art Central in harmony with their originally planned theme, well suited for New York-born Rylee. (Her family calls her Smiley Rylee.) “Within weeks, we put together an incredible event with COVID-safe solutions,” says Jacobs.
As a sign of the times, guests received masks with a pink lightning bolt and hand sanitizer. Amy Fox agrees the event didn’t suffer for a lack of time, and she appreciates Jacobs’ efforts. In fact, they had an opportunity to proceed with a November 2020 date at the Art Factory, but decided it was too much of a wait, with no end to the quarantine in sight. The alternative, a home celebration, was exactly what it needed to be. “The people there were family and friends,” says Fox. “We had masks; we were seated accordingly,” she says—basically COVID-safe. As they began to plan this new venue— home—the pandemic that had originally worked against them opened an unexpected opportunity. Rylee’s mom had been following world-famous street artist Jason Naylor on Instagram for some time and thought his graffiti art would be a cool vibe for the bat mitzvah. “He was available,” she says. “Maybe it was the timing of COVID; he was just available.” (The disc jockey from Untouchable Events was also top-notch, she says—and available, perhaps also due to the coronavirus.)
Everyone got into the street-art act as part of the bat mitzvah for Rylee Fox, pictured here outside her Wyckoff home, where her dad, Jason Fox, created his own graffiti with chalk on the bricks, helping to set the tone for his daughter’s big day. Hot pink high-tops with the delicate bat mitzvah dress highlight the event’s fun side.
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4/26/21 10:29 AM
