How we created an incredible
bespoke 21st birthday
AT A GLANCE
Client: Private
Brief: Unforgettable 21st birthday.
Location: Down Hall UK
Lead time: 4 Months
Build and strike time: 22 Hours
Duration: 1 Day
THE CLIENT
Our client is a highly experienced British business leader and former CEO
THE BRIEF
Our client wanted to celebrate her daughters’ 21st birthday in style. She had heard about our bespoke Event Management services and approached us with the brief to create a pastel theme at a venue she had already chosen.
THE CHALLENGE
Immediately, the event provided a range of challenges because the venue had already been chosen and we had to accommodate all of our clients' expectations into one space. We would definitely need to our creative thinking caps on for this pastel theme.
OUR APPROACH
Our approach was broken down into three specific stages.
1. Site visit and logistics assessment
Unlike most events where we or the client comes up with a theme first, we felt it was necessary to visit the site before presenting our ideas to match the theme. As this was a very tight build with only the daytime to set up the evening dinner, our primary concern was logistics and having to clear the venue within 24 hours.The client had a vision of what she wanted the party to feel like and for the entertainment, but no real idea how she wanted the party to look, except for the fact that her daughter liked pastel shades.
The venue was Down Hall in Essex, which is a popular venue for weddings and parties. The site visit was essential to establish the logistics of the in and out for all the different suppliers. Our priority was to ensure that this build would run smoothly, because we had big plans for the interior.
2. The Pitch and Showstopper Design Elements
Following this site visit we were able to establish the level of theme we could reasonably install within the tight build window and to give it the wow factor our client expected within her budget.
The next step was to meet with our client and pitch her our ideas. We settled on the event happening in April so we thought an appropriate theme would be to install a full-scale cherry blossom garden incorporating five giant cherry trees. Guests would dine underneath these on tables adorned with a with a pastel theme tablescape. We wanted to keep the suspense and big reveal of the room for as long as possible from guests, so we encouraged our client to also add a giant living wall that hid the room from guests as they first entered the space. On entering the ballroom guests faced a stunning living wall - the room only revealed itself as guests intriguingly walked either side, creating a wonderful Alice in Wonderland style atmosphere.
The room would be complemented with a chill out area, games zones, led dance floor and state of the art lighting.
To build the anticipation further, we utilise the hotel's ante room as a champagne meet and greet area where the birthday girl could engage with her guests. This room featured an Instagram-worthy shimmer wall with a stunning balloon arch, champagne wall and of course, the ubiquitous giant illuminated 21st birthday sign. We went even further with the anticipation and made a suggestion to our client that guests should be entertained even before they entered the room with our human hedges.
Finally, we encourage our client to have a close-up magician during the reception and also working the tables during dinner to add further entertainment. For the finale, we suggested to our clients a magnificent firework display in the gardens of the hotel, which would conveniently set an end time to the party, allowing us to de-rig the room in time and meet the 24-hour build and dismantle window
Considerations included:
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Logistics, levels of room reveal to create anticipation
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Chill areas and entertainment choices
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Contingency including wet weather options for an outside reception space, that eventually was not utilised
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Seamless coordination across multiple suppliers and entertainers
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Budgets and allocation of resources to create the wow factor
3. Build and removal
As for all our events and to ensure a seamless operation, Cromer, it is essential to have great communications with the venue to ensure that all our suppliers are arriving, unloading, and departing without affecting the other operations within the hotel.
As this was a timed install great thought had to be given to the logistics of this event and the coordination with the hotel, allowing us sufficient time in the morning to build the main structures before they set up the room tables and chairs . Hotels often forget this detail and fail to communicate their planning setup. We provided the hotel with extensive plans and a coordinated schedule of events to ensure they were fully informed.
We conducted our own health and safety inspections and provided a full method statement as to how we would conduct this install. We also ensured that suppliers, such as the fireworks team, had full access to communicate with the hotel directly to coordinate the health and safety for the aspect. It was reassuring for our client to know that we were also safe contractor approved.
As a result of our detailed planning and our close coordination with the hotel's events team, we were able to ensure a smooth build of the main structures before allowing the hotel staff to set up the tables. We then continued with dressing them with their bespoke tablescapes we had arranged.
The final phase of any event is ensuring that other suppliers providing entertainment, games, and party features are coordinated with precision to ensure the successful delivery of the event.
These included:
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LED dance floor and state-of-the-art lighting system
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Bespoke balloon arch and glitter wall
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Champagne wall
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Giant 21 numbers
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Mix and mingle magician
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Party games area
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Chill out furniture
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Human hedge entertainment
OUR STAND OUT SUCCESSES
One of the standout successes was to fully incorporate a wow factor theme for our client within a very tight build schedule. In addition, maximising on the hotel space that was available to us. Creating a layered anticipation effect by understanding what the guests' journey would look like. We used this anticipation to our advantage and to maximum effect.
THE RESULT
The result is always down to what the client thinks, and I'm pleased to say she was blown away with the interior, the attention to detail, the layered effect of entertainment we provided - put simply, our client stated
‘It was more than she could have hoped for on just a brief of a pastel party’.
WHAT WE DELIVERED
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A successful wow factor enchanted garden pastel themed 21st birthday
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Multiple layers of entertainment and activities
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A detailed and logistically managed bespoke theme party with entertainment
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End to end event management, including venue liaison, logistics, supplier coordination, budget, planning & project management, with full on the day delivery build and removal within a 24 hour window
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Frequently Asked Questions What makes a 21st Birthday successful? Let's face it, 21st birthdays are special, so everybody wants to get it right, and it's even more important when you're an event company. On the plus side, everybody just wants to wish you well, but they also are anticipating a great party atmosphere. The party starts well before the event date with building the anticipation and sending your guests intriguing invites. This builds anticipation we want to create well before the event date. Try and continue feeding that anticipation by layering your arrival of your event. Maybe have something happening in the hotel reception include pop up surprises as people are approaching the main room and create a wow factor in the room itself. What is the typical lead time for an event of this scale? Ideally, we recommend a lead time of 4-6 months to allow for full planning, supplier sourcing, and creative development. However, we can also deliver high-quality events on shorter timelines when needed. Can you work to different event budgets? Yes, we are quite used to working to budgets to suit our clients' needs. However, we always remind clients that a great deal of work goes into the planning and logistics of an event way before we have even started installing anything, so budget planning for the management time is important. If you are using an event management company expect to set aside 15-20% of the budget on the management. We also provide prop install or dry hire, which cuts the costs considerably and allows clients to choose how much pre-event work they want to do themselves. What ideas do you have for a 21st on a lower budget. Of course, you don't need to use an event company. You can do all the work yourself, and of course you don't need to use a hotel. Think big open space that you can decorate like a village hall or marquee. Encourage everybody to support your party by bringing some food along. That will save a lot of money. One of the cheapest ideas you can do is make it a theme party where everybody dresses up in the theme. It's a simple and effective way to create a great atmosphere. You can use things like streamers, coloured lanterns or bunting to decorate the village hall or a marquee - these methods are very effective. You might not be able to afford a living wall, but you could do something entertaining like a giant balloon drop. Get all your guests to bring a certain number of balloons, and then you put them in some netting. When the birthday girl/boy arrives, you can coordinate the drop.If you have any budget at all, I would save it for lighting. Lighting transforms a room completely, and add a few props and voila, you have a party. What happens on the day of an event? Our aim is always to ensure the event day goes seamlessly for the client and our team is on-site managing every detail from the initial arrival to the last item being removed from the venue. If your event is much larger or more sophisticated, we have an AI concierge tool which answers guest questions through WhatsApp from pre-event invitation right up to the event date. It is a particularly useful tool if you are also providing accommodation in hotels for a number of guests. You can ask it via WhatsApp questions like "What room am I in?" and "What time am I expected at the reception? Or send me venue directions." and it will give you an immediate text or message response. The event day should be seamless for the client, our team is on-site managing every detail, including setup, supplier coordination, guest flow, and troubleshooting- ensuring everything runs seamlessly from start to finish. Do you provide risk assessments and insurance? Yes, we provide comprehensive risk assessments method statement and ensure all events meet health and safety requirements, along with appropriate insurance cover. We are also safe contractor approved. Can you provide support for venue finding or accommodation? Yes, as an event company, we provide full venue finding service and can manage your guests' accommodation needs, including their questions, using our AI concierge platform. How involved do we need to be in the event planning process? That’s entirely up to you and it does vary event to event. Quite often we are working for an events team within a company, handling multiple events or one aspect of a specific events like transfers or the themed dinner, or entertainers etc Can you handle everything including Venue, activities and catering? Yes, we can manage all aspects of the event, including venue sourcing, activities, entertainment, catering, and logistics, providing a complete end-to-end service. Our clients say they love the fact that we are also managing their budget and keeping them on track. How do you ensure the event is engaging for all attendees? Ensuring an event is engaging for all the participants is part of this planning process and in understanding who your guests or delegates are. It's at the core of what we do, and therefore we ensure we have the correct mix of activities and entertainment that appeals to a wide range of audience. Do you offer contingency planning for weather or unforeseen circumstances? Yes, it’s standard that we always build contingency plans into our events, including wet weather options and backup solutions to ensure everything runs smoothly regardless of circumstances. This is all done at the start during the planning phase, to ensure our clients understand the risk and what the backup options are to mitigate the risk. Do you provide staffing for the event? Yes, we have a wide network of both suppliers and staff who work across our industry, so we can scale up or down according to our client’ event's needs. We can also source a wide variety of entertainment, including live performers, DJs, the latest interactive experiences or trends. How do I get in contact with you and are you available all the time? You can get in touch with us via our website or email events@planetpursuits.com We're always busy, so the more lead time you can give us, the better. Generally, we look for at least a 6-month lead time for a large build event. We can also dry hire your equipment if you are looking for a last-minute install. This means you can hire props from us, and we can advise you how to table scape or design the room. I have an event management team already in my company. How can you help? It's our bread and butter to work with events teams within companies. We generally find they need additional support with the creative input, supplier coordination, and the logistics. Often we work on either the entire event and report back to an individual or committee, or we work on a section of the event, such as the entertainment, transfers, or theme install.
