
A recent bat mitzvah bash at Sony Studios included a make-your-own-movie area, a video arcade and a studio tour; guests entered the soiree by walking down an Oscars-style red carpet.
The economic downturn is bringing outlandish bar and bat mitzvah parties back down to earth. Read the full description.
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Piece Description
If you have teenagers, then you might have been to a few bar or bat mitzvahs ("bar" is the one for a boy; "bat" for a girl). There's the religious ceremony, to mark a Jewish child's move into adulthood, and then... there's the party.
Before the economy went into the tank, some of these soirees had become so competitive that "over the top" was becoming the new norm. But the growing financial crisis might be crashing the party. Rebecca Sheir has more.
Broadcast History
A version of this piece originally aired on Marketplace, January 23rd, 2009.





