Mara and 50+ of her friends gathered to celebrate her Portland Bat Mitzvah on Saturday, May 25, 2013 at Sunstone Montessori School in Southwest Portland.
 
With only a few adult chaperones in the building, the kids knew this was just for them and they had a great time dancing to the hottest current music and playing a few games, including a rousing version of Coke and Pepsi.
 

 
Mara also requested a ‘Snowball’ dance and the kids did the limbo. With those few adults in the room, we also managed a chair raising to ‘The Hora’.
 
Music for the dance floor featured all the latest hits, including Mara’s favorites from Ke$ha, Justin Bieber, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis and Taylor Swift. Her request list also noted some fun classics I hadn’t spun in awhile, including ‘American Idiot’ from Green Day.
 

 
Mazel Tov Mara and thank you mom Cathy for the opportunity. -Rich
 
Post Event Satisfaction Survey:

• Event Date: Saturday, May 25, 2013
• Event Type: Bat Mitzvah
• Event Location: Sunstone Montessori School – Portland, OR
• Event Staff: Rich Ellis
• Quality of Customer Service via Telephone: Excellent
• Quality of Customer Service via Internet: Excellent
• Quality of Customer Service at Event: Excellent
• Friendliness of your Entertainer: Excellent
• Promptness of your Entertainer: Excellent
• Professionalism of your Entertainer: Excellent
• Entertainer’s Performance: Excellent
• Entertainer’s Appearance: Excellent
• System Appearance: Excellent
• Sound Quality: Excellent
• Overall Volume Levels: Excellent
• Music Selection: Excellent
• Lighting Effects: Excellent
• Equipment Appearance: Excellent
• Overall Customer Service: Excellent
• Planning Assistance: Excellent
• Entertainer’s Cooperation with Other Vendors: N/A
• Overall Performance Rating: Excellent
• Would you recommend this service to others? Yes

 
Portland DJs Rich Ellis and Steve Marker performed back-to-back Bat Mitzvahs on Saturday, February 16, 2013.
 
The first was held for Ellie in the Crystal Ballroom at the Tiffany Center in Portland, Oregon from 12:30-4:30pm.
 
With the room split (adults on one side, kids on the other), Rich had the high-energy current music spinning for the kids at the very start, while competing for their attention was a photo booth with props. It was back and forth between the photo booth and dance floor the entire event, but they loved the tunes and collected a lot of photos.
 
After lunch, Ellie introduced family members and friends during the candle lighting ceremony. Some of the songs chosen for this event included: Bob Marley’s ‘Three Little Birds,’ Bill Withers ‘Lean On Me,’ ‘I Just Can’t Wait To Be King’ from the Lion King Soundtrack and Randy Newman’s ‘You’ve Got A Friend In Me.’
 
Following the candle lighting, Rich encouraged everyone to hit the dance floor for ‘The Hora.’ Reaction was immediate and they celebrated Ellie’s big day with the traditional chair raising. The parents danced a few numbers and then the kids returned for more shuffling between photos and dancing with an incredible dessert bar in the middle that had them all lined up waiting anxiously for it to open.
 
Starting at 6:30pm, Steve was all set-up and ready to go for Georgia’s Bat Mitzvah held at Congregation Shaarie Torah in Northwest Portland. Rich also made his way to this venue following the first event to provide a video projector and screen added by the client earlier in the week.
 
Georgia is a big fan of Ed Sheeran and the group One Direction… she requested nearly every one of each artist’s songs 🙂 Steve made this work by sprinkling in many of them as background music during dinner.
 
Before the dance floor was open to all with ‘The Hora’, Georgia shared special dances with her parents that included selections from the ‘Sleepless In Seattle’ Soundtrack and the appropriately titled ‘Georgia’ from Boz Scaggs.
 
The party then shifted into high gear as Steve played the hot hits and brought the special energy he is known for with fun and timely interaction.
 
It was an eventful day for these Portland DJs and judging by the immediate feedback from our clients, a successful one as well. Thank you for choosing PRO DJs and Mazel Tov Ellie and Georgia!
 
Post Event Satisfaction Survey:
 
“I was extremely satisfied.” -Randi Kobak

• Event Date: Saturday, February 16, 2013
• Event Type: Bat Mitzvah
• Event Location: Tiffany Center – Portland, OR
• Event Staff: Rich Ellis
• Quality of Customer Service via Telephone: Excellent
• Quality of Customer Service via Internet: Excellent
• Quality of Customer Service at Event: Excellent
• Friendliness of your Entertainer: Excellent
• Promptness of your Entertainer: Excellent
• Professionalism of your Entertainer: Excellent
• Entertainer’s Performance: Excellent
• Entertainer’s Appearance: Excellent
• System Appearance: Excellent
• Sound Quality: Good
• Overall Volume Levels: Good
• Music Selection: Good
• Lighting Effects: Good
• Equipment Appearance: Good
• Overall Customer Service: Excellent
• Planning Assistance: Excellent
• Entertainer’s Cooperation with Other Vendors: Excellent
• Overall Performance Rating: Excellent
• Would you recommend this service to others? Yes

[print_gllr id=3402]

 

January is a popular month for bar and bat mitzvahs in the Portland area. Equally as popular for these events is PRO DJs Steve Marker, who performed his first event of 2013 on Saturday, January 12th at Eliana’s Bat Mitzvah held at Tualatin Country Club in Tualatin, Oregon.
 
As the adults engaged in conversation during the cocktail hour, Steve kept the kids occupied with many games, including Eliana’s favorite, the Scavenger Hunt. Games and contests are always a hit with the next generation and a ton of prize giveaways made it extra fun.
 
After a welcome toast by Eliana’s parents, Jason & Allison and a buffet dinner, Bat Mitzvah DJ Steve opened the dance floor with ‘The Hora’ and chair raising that never fails to get a party to lively start. GUests enjoyed dancing the night away to the latest hit music, along with a few party classics.
 

 
Goodman Hall at Congregation Beth Israel in Northwest Portland was the site of Liz’s Bat Mitzvah celebration on Saturday, October 13, 2012. With a 6pm start, adults were greeted by a wine bar in the foyer and the kids were invited inside for games with me that included Name That Tune, 1-Leg Hop Musical Freeze and Liz’s request for a Hula Hoop Contest.
 
Dinner was next with the adults seated on one side of the room and kids on the other. The kids always finish eating first, so we had some more time for games. I led a paper airplane ‘fly the furthest’ contest that turned out to be a big hit.
 
Around 8pm, a 13 wishes cake was brought out to the middle of the room and signaled the start of the Candle Lighting Ceremony. Liz announced the special family and friends in her life and each came up to light a candle. After all candles were lit, I invited everyone back up to help Liz blow them out and then launched ‘The Hora’.
 
All the guests were ready to celebrate the Bat Mitzvah girl’s special day and she took a long ride in the chair raising to get things going. The dance floor was on fire the rest of the night, especially when I spun ‘Gangnam Style’… adults and kids alike were loving it, along with other current hit songs.
 
It was a great party and I appreciated the feedback from Liz’s grandmother afterwards. She was visiting from the East Coast and noted she was impressed with the outcome of this event and how the fun and excitement was comparable to some of the quality Bar and Bat Mitzvahs she has attended back home.
 
Mazel Tov Liz and thank you Judy and Alan for choosing PRO DJs. -Rich
 
Post Event Satisfaction Survey:
 
“Rich helped make the party a success! We were counting on him to entertain the young guests plus get the adults dancing with the kids during the second half of our party. Rich is adaptable and quick on his feet. There was a moment that something occurred out of order (during a candle lighting ceremony–our daughter accidentally skipped calling up her grandparents) and he was able to get things back on track. It was a great party. Liz enjoyed herself! Thank you!! People are still talking about it.” -Judy Lofurno

• Event Date: Saturday, October 13, 2012
• Event Type: Bat Mitzvah
• Event Location: Congregation Beth Israel – Portland, OR
• Event Staff: Rich Ellis
• Quality of Customer Service via Telephone: Excellent
• Quality of Customer Service via Internet: Excellent
• Quality of Customer Service at Event: Excellent
• Friendliness of your Entertainer: Excellent
• Promptness of your Entertainer: Excellent
• Professionalism of your Entertainer: Excellent
• Entertainer’s Performance: Excellent
• Entertainer’s Appearance: Excellent
• System Appearance: Excellent
• Sound Quality: Excellent
• Overall Volume Levels: Excellent
• Music Selection: Excellent
• Incorporation of Your Requests: Excellent
• Lighting Effects: Excellent
• Equipment Appearance: Excellent
• Overall Customer Service: Excellent
• Planning Assistance: Excellent
• Entertainer’s Cooperation with Other Vendors: Excellent
• Overall Performance Rating: Excellent
• Would you recommend this service to others? Yes

Thank you Andie Petkus Photography for sharing photos from this event.
 
[print_gllr id=2805]