About ElleN

Ellen grew up on a family farm, where she and her siblings explored the outdoors and invented active play — including an early zip line made with an old farm pulley.

Games! Dances! Music! Drama! They've all held a special place in my heart since childhood. Integrating these interests into "celebration" just seemed to come naturally as I was growing up. Over the years, creating special events for loved ones, organizations, schools, and businesses has resulted in countless fun times for my family, friends, and me. Now I'd like to share some of these ideas that have been so enjoyable for us. The result is Create a Celebration.

Holidays and other celebrations are times when people connect and traditions are born. These bring precious memories, but they're important to our lives in other ways as well. According to child psychologist Dr. Lawrence Hartman of Harvard Medical School, "Healthy families have a respect for tradition. Tradition helps order the universe and ensures that things are safe, that children and adults can count on certain events happening." These traditions are also vital to society as a whole. Noted literary scholar Joseph Campbell says that certain rites of passage are significant to our society, and kids growing up today (especially in cities) do not have these rituals and myths. Many experts agree that young people who do not experience rites of passage and rituals in their own families or from other traditional sources will instinctively create initiations and ethical systems of their own. The result is seen in troubled youth struggling in a society whose values they never learned and do not share. For the individual, the family, and all of society, the importance of tradition cannot be overemphasized.

Another important part of celebration is its teaching aspect. Many of our celebrations are reenactments or re-creations of important events. Religious rituals are obvious examples — for instance, the songs and games of Hanukkah celebrate the Jewish victory over persecution centuries ago and the miracle of the oil lamp; Christmas gifts represent those given to the infant Jesus. All-American holidays like Thanksgiving or the Fourth of July re-enact important moments in our nation's history. "Acting out" can give us real insight into life in other times and other cultures. We better understand frontier living through Tom Sawyer escapades or singing songs of the cowboy. We also learn the ways of the Eskimo, the African, or the Pacific Islander by playing their games and celebrating their cultures. This insight and understanding is invaluable to us as citizens of an increasingly global society.

Fortunately, creating a special event — and thus helping build a tradition or learning about other cultures — can be a rewarding activity for you and your family or group. Create a Celebration emphasizes the philosophy that planning and executing a party can and should be an intergenerational experience shared and enjoyed by young and old together. This is a "how to" book for involving all party guests and taking into consideration a variety of ages, interests, and personality types. When everyone celebrates together, groups are bonded and a sense of community develops among friends, in neighborhoods, and within organizations.

The thematic parties, holidays, and special occasions contained in this book include a quick, easy, and complete reference guide for busy party lovers. An outline format is timesaving, but there are also detailed preparation plans. Even the procrastinator or the never a-spare-minute person can put together a great event in limited time! Hosts have at their fingertips everything they need for that special party or celebration. But remember, there's no reason to limit your creativity. Use this book as a starting point, then … Create a Celebration!