Micro-community Building

I just had an AHA moment…

It’s 12:30am, I had finished watching my recording of today’s Oprah Show, and I was discuss the future of women including myself, with my grown-up, very wise (takes after me!) daughter Ashleigh.

The topic on the show was how empowering women is at the heart of turning war-ravaged countries into peaceful havens, changing calamitous economies into prosperous ones, and convincing intolerant minds to blossom into forward thinking peace-keepers. When women are educated and given the opportunity to improve themselves, their natural instinct is to invest their good fortune in their families and communities.

Hilary Clinton was interviewed for the show on the topic of micro-financing—a movement that has received attention and support from all corners of the earth. In a nutshell, organizations offer small loans, sometimes as little as $50 or $100 to women who use the money to buy a goat or supplies for their beading business. These micro-investments are paid-in-full in very short order and the businesswomen who have received a leg up grow businesses that employ others (men and women) in the village, thus improving their villages as well.

Of course, this thinking—empowering women to see their role in the world peace process—sounded quite familiar to me. We have been preaching and teaching this for years in our event planning classes. If you can plan a birthday party, you can create world peace. Think about it, if you can keep the tolerance quotient up, have the kids get along, and send everyone home happy—then apply that same approach to every event—Brownie meetings, family gatherings, Thanksgiving dinner, a wedding—and if each event could build on the foundation of tolerance learned at the one before, you could teach harmonious relationships. You could create WORLD PEACE.

World Peace is a Cupcake Away

If you can plan a birthday party where kids bring a present and take home a new friendship, world peace is a cupcake away.

If you can plan a Thanksgiving Dinner where guests pass the gravy and leave the judgment, world peace is a drumstick away.

If you can plan a wedding where families are dressed in diplomacy and decorum, world peace is a bouquet-toss away.

If you can plan a business conference where companies boost the bottom line and build a stronger team, world peace is a briefcase away.

If you can plan a G8 Summit where nations connect and cultures are understood, world peace is a handshake away.

When you plan a great event; World Peace is a cupcake away.

Now, don’t panic. World peace is a lofty goal, perhaps even overwhelming. So here’s my theory…we women, ALL OF US, need to be micro-community builders. That’s how we can make a difference. We need to make the effort to teach our children to gather their friends, treat them with compassion and respect, enjoy them without judgment, and pay that attitude forward.

Of course, you are welcomed to go bigger, but the point is, you can start small, at the kitchen table, in the classroom, at a birthday party. While you’re at it, consider becoming a donor and letter-writer to one woman in the Sudan or Afghanistan through www.womenforwomen.org. For $27 a month you can sponsor a woman who you also write the occasional letter. Share your thoughts, learn what motivates her…you won’t be disappointed at the outcome.

Enough for now…I’m going to share a cupcake with my daughter…(and maybe a teeny little lesson).

Birth of Two Bloggers

Having just finished the second round of edits for our first book, The Everything Baby Shower Book, (which will be released in February 2008) we decided that we should get down to the business of creating a blog to chronicle our journey as everyday event planners, share some party ideas, and find out what other people do to celebrate the everyday occasions that are really events.

We have been professional event planners for many years, and one of the best parts about our job is that we hear so many event/party stories. We love hearing all the details of decor and menu choices, but even more, we love to hear the back stories that come with every party. And it really is every party--sometimes as simple as a family dinner. For example: Joni once threw a Bad Manners Dinner, which included her scooping mashed potatoes out of a pot with her bare hands much to the stunned surprise of her three children, just to show them how bad table manners and behavior looks out in the real world. (More on that one later!)

Sometimes people tell us that they could never handle organizing all the details that come with an event, but we think the details are the easy part. The part that is exciting and most interesting is that every event is like a little (or big!) theatre production--full of drama, intrigue, secrets, plot twists, emotions, along with costumes and sets!

So for our charter blog audience, all we ask is to share your stories--what was the best party you ever threw? Ever attended? Why? What was the most memorable thing about your wedding? What is the least significant event you have ever celebrated? How did you feel as you prepared for your first dinner party? Anything and everything you want to tell us about your parties and events, we want to hear. We are also here to help. We have loads of party ideas and tips that we would love to share. We are looking forward to meeting you.

Eventing we will go,

Sabrina Hill & Joni Russell