PULTEVENT
Bar and bat mitzvah entertainment: 8 screen ideas for teens and their families
A hotel ballroom in northern New Jersey, Saturday, a little after eight. Shabbat ended an hour ago. Seventy seventh-graders are clustered by the dance floor in matching party socks, pretending they aren't looking at the photo booth. A hundred and twenty adults are at round tables, catching up over the salad. Between the two groups there's a projector screen, currently blank, and a thirteen-year-old in a new suit who has just done the hardest public performance of her life and would now like to have fun.
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A mitzvah party has two audiences in one room, and they want different things. The kids want to move, compete and be loud. The grandparents want to watch their grandchild, hear the candle-lighting and see the photos. The best party planners I've worked with treat the screen as the bridge between them.
PULTEVENT puts that screen under one laptop. It works alongside your DJ or band, not instead of them. The host or the DJ runs the console in a browser, the projector or the venue's screens show the games, and guests join from their phones by scanning a QR code, no app. Phones need internet, so ask the venue about guest Wi-Fi well ahead. Everything here is for the party; the service is a different matter entirely.
8 ideas for a bar or bat mitzvah screen
1 Candle-lighting on the big screen
A splash screen for every candle: the honorees' names and a photo, a caption with who they are to the kid, and the song as a one-tap video or audio button. The room sees each grandparent, cousin or friend as they walk up.
How to run it. Build it in the order the kid will read the poems. Rehearse once with the kid, with the clicker.
It gives the most emotional part of the evening a clean rhythm, and older relatives can finally see who's being called up.
2 The montage
The photo and video montage of the kid's first thirteen years, played from the Video section or from your slides. One tap to start, one to stop, loop option for the cocktail hour.
How to run it. Keep it under eight minutes. After that, even grandmothers look at the bread basket.
It's the moment everyone watches together, and the kids come off the dance floor for it.
3 Whose baby photo
Baby photos of the kid, siblings, cousins and a few of the kid's friends, one at a time on screen. Phones vote for who it is, the reveal gets a cheer.
How to run it. Collect the friends' photos through their parents. Keep it secret from the guest of honor.
The kids see each other as babies and lose their minds; the adults recognize the family faces.
4 How well do you know the mitzvah kid
A quiz from phones: first word, favorite snack, the pet's name, the Torah portion, the summer camp cabin number. Four options each, the answers on the screen.
How to run it. Play it kids against adults. It's usually close, and nobody forgets the result.
Both halves of the room care about one thing for ten minutes: the kid.
5 Drift Arena tournament
The 3D car arena on the big screen, up to twelve cars at a time, steered from phones. Heats, a semi-final, a final. The winners go on the scoreboard.
How to run it. Run it during the adults' main course. The kids have eaten already and are bored of the dance floor.
Seventh-graders don't want to be told to have fun. They want to win something. This gives them that.
6 The family timeline
Moments from family history in the wrong order: great-grandparents arriving in America, a wedding in 1972, the kid's parents meeting at college, the birth of the kid. Guests order them on phones.
How to run it. Check the dates with the oldest relatives. It's the one round where accuracy really matters.
It honors the generations in the room, which fits the day, and grandparents have a real advantage.
7 Dance battle
Two teams on the floor, one song each, the room votes from phones for the winner. Kids against parents is a classic for a reason.
How to run it. Coordinate with the DJ. They'll know which songs fill the floor with this age group.
It pulls the parents onto the dance floor, which the kids pretend to hate and actually love.
8 The credits
At the end, the credits roll on screen: the kid, the family, the rabbi and tutor, the honorees, the planners, the DJ, the grandparents who flew in. Everyone stays to find their name.
How to run it. Put the list together from the invitation and the thank-you list. Nobody should be missing.
It's a graceful ending that thanks everyone at once and signals it's time for the coats.
Candle-lighting with a face on screen
Each honoree's name and photo appear as they're called up, with the song you chose for them.
A tournament the kids take over
Drift Arena puts up to twelve cars on the big screen, steered from phones. The seventh grade finds it very quickly.
A round for the grown-ups
Baby photos and a family timeline, played while the kids are on the dance floor.
Your DJ keeps the floor
Games slot between dance sets. The laptop sits next to the DJ booth or with the party host.
Two parties in one room
Almost every mitzvah party ends up split: the kids' zone near the dance floor and the adults' tables, with the photo booth in between. Plan the screen time so each group gets its moments. The montage and candle-lighting are for everyone. The races and the dance battle are for the kids. The baby photos and the timeline pull the adults in. The quiz, kids against adults, is the one moment the two halves compete.
A good planner puts the screen where both sides can see it. Usually that means the end of the dance floor, slightly raised.
Timing around the traditions
The hora and the chair lift belong to the band or DJ, and so does the rhythm of the dance sets. Screen games fit into the gaps: during cocktail hour, between courses, during dessert. Candle-lighting usually comes around cake time, and many families do it after the main course.
Many families hold the party on Saturday night after Shabbat ends, or on Sunday. If yours is observant, discuss phone use with the rabbi and your planner before anything else. That decision is yours, not the software's.
Working with the DJ or the entertainment company
If you've hired a DJ with motivators, share the plan with them early. The laptop can sit at the DJ booth, and the DJ can run the games between sets. Or your own party host can run the console from a side table. Either way, the DJ's sound system can carry the audio for the montage, the candle songs and the dance battle.
"Can we do the race after the hora?"
"After the hora they'll need five minutes to breathe. Then yes."
Grandparents in another country
Mitzvah families are often spread across cities and continents. Relatives who can't fly in can watch the candle-lighting and the montage live if you share the stage window in a video call. If they want to join the quiz, they can scan the QR code with their phones. Guest screens appear in each phone's own language, which helps a grandmother in Israel or Argentina follow the interface; your questions show in whatever language you wrote them.
Planning months ahead
Mitzvah planning starts a year out, and the screen content is the easiest part to leave to the last minute. Don't. Collect photos and candle-lighting names three months before, build the montage early, and write the quiz with the kid's help. They'll want veto power.
The free 3-day demo needs no card, so you can build the candle-lighting slides and try a race on your TV at home. After that you buy a one-time license, no subscription. Pricing is on pultevent.ru/en.
About the author
PULTEVENT was built by Ruslan Barashkin, who has hosted weddings, birthdays and office parties since 2014: over 500 events, best host of Moscow 2024 and of Saint Petersburg 2023 at the TOP 100 Awards. He made it for his own nights first. The rest is at pultevent.ru/en.
How to add screen entertainment to a bar or bat mitzvah
- 1
Three months out, confirm the venue's screens, HDMI and guest Wi-Fi.
- 2
Collect photos for the candle-lighting, the montage and the baby photo round.
- 3
Build the candle-lighting slides in poem order and write the quiz with the kid's input.
- 4
Share the plan with the DJ or entertainment company and agree where the laptop sits.
- 5
On the night, run the montage and adult rounds early, the races during dinner, the candle-lighting at cake.
- 6
Close with the dance battle and roll the end credits during the last song.
FAQ
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