Paul Campbell is known for bringing people together for celebrations big and small. From intimate gatherings with close friends to huge parties ringing in the new year, Paul enjoys creating moments to remember. He often marks major life events like birthdays, anniversaries, and graduations as well as seasonal events and holidays with festive get-togethers.
Memorable Birthday Parties
Paul hosts lively birthday parties for family and friends every year without fail. He enjoys celebrating each person and making their special day unforgettable.
Paul’s 30th Surprise Birthday Party
Paul was completely shocked when over 50 guests jumped out yelling “Surprise!” at his 30th birthday party planned by his wife Julie. Decorated as a casino night theme, Paul’s home was filled with fun casino games, a chili bar, a cigar roller, and more. It was an evening filled with laughter that Paul continued to talk about years later.
Birthday Dinner Tradition
For immediate family birthdays, Paul always plans a dinner at their favorite restaurant. The birthday celebrations have included venues like steakhouses, Italian restaurants, seafood restaurants, and more. He enjoys meaningful conversations and time together.
Marking Major Milestones
Paul goes all out organizing major milestone events like graduations, retirements, and engagements in the family. Planning elaborate parties to honor the person and the achievement.
Graduation Celebrations
When Paul’s daughter Emma graduated high school as valedictorian, he organized a huge graduation pool party in their backyard. With over 100 guests, he had a dj, photo booth, ice cream sundae bar and catered BBQ. The lively party allowed Emma to celebrate properly after all her hard work.
For college graduations, Paul hosts more formal celebrations like rehearsal dinners or garden brunches depending on the graduate’s personality and preferences.
Retirement Send-Offs
When Paul’s mentor was retiring after 40 years working at the same accounting firm, he worked with colleagues to throw a big retirement party. Renting out the event room at an upscale restaurant, they had a three course plated dinner, custom video montage and roasting session highlighting his career. It was a fun way to celebrate accomplishments while roasting each other.
Engagement Parties
Paul and Julie hosted an elaborate garden engagement party for their son Michael and his fiancée Jess. With over 150 guests, the backyard was decorated beautifully with lights, floral arrangements, lawn games and a tiered engagement cake. It was an incredible way to bring both families together to get to know one another.
Holidays and Seasonal Gatherings
Holidays are Paul’s favorite time to host themed parties and events to celebrate with family and friends. He often decorates elaborately, plans activities and games along with seasonal cuisine and cocktails.
Halloween Parties
Ever year, Paul hosts a massive Halloween party in their home decorated from floor to ceiling. Paul and Julie would dress up in complex couples costumes like Sonny and Cher, salt and pepper shakers, and more. With spooky music, haunted maze in the basement, candy stations and bobbing for apples – it’s always the event of the season!
Thanksgiving Friendsgiving
Wanting to give their children the entire holiday off, Paul and his wife Julie host an amazing Friendsgiving celebration every year the weekend before Thanksgiving. It brings together over 30 different friends who may not have local family. With Turkey, ham and all the traditional sides and desserts, it’s their biggest event to host every year.
New Years Eve Gala
To ring in the new year, Paul rents out a club and hosts a glamorous black tie optional New Years Eve Party. With gourmet food stations, champagne tower, live band, dj and ball room dancers, the spectacular party goes well into the early morning celebrating the start of a new year with 150 close friends.
Paul’s Party Planning Tips
Over the years hosting numerous events, Paul has learned a lot of best practices on how to perfectly plan celebrations. Here are some of his top tips:
Tip 1: Plan in Advance
Give yourself at least 2-3 months in advance to properly plan any size gathering. This gives you time to secure a venue, send invitations, decide on a menu, decoration scheme and activities. It also allows guests time to arrange schedules.
Tip 2: Create a Budget
Before planning anything, create an overall budget for your event accounting for all key elements like food, drinks, entertainment, decorations, venue fees, etc. Having a budget will help guide what choices you make when selecting menus, venues, performers, and other vendors.
Tip 3: Pick a Theme
Selecting a specific theme will help drive all other creative decisions from food, décor, activities, costumes and more. Themes provide excitement while setting clear expectations on the tone and atmosphere.
| Type of Event | Possible Theme Ideas |
|---|---|
| Birthday | Casino Night, Decade Party like 80’s, Backyard Luau |
| Graduation | Beach Party, Masquerade Ball, Classic Hollywood |
| Holiday Party | Halloween Bash, Ugly Sweater Party, White Elephant Gift Exchange |
Tip 4: Send Quality Invitations
First impressions matter so invest some effort into creating fabulous invites. Digitally designed invitations set the tone for the type of event so guests know what to expect. Paperless Post, Evite and Punchbowl are all great online invitation platforms.
Tip 5: Go Big with Food & Drinks
Never skimp on the two most important elements of any celebration – the food and drinks! Hire caterers, bartenders and servers if needed to offer guests an abundant variety of delicious menus options and cocktails all event long.
Paul’s Best Celebration Stories
Over the many events Paul has hosted and attended, a few crazy stories stand out that still have the whole family chuckling.
Halloween Haunted House Mishap
One year for Halloween when Paul’s daughters were young, he transformed their basement into an elaborate haunted house. With dense fog, terrifying music and kids jumping out – it was pretty scary. A bit too scary as one kid got so frightened he fell backwards right through the drywall! The party came to a halt as they helped pick the boy up and repaired the wall.
Thanksgiving Food Coma Contest
Post Thanksgiving dinner, Paul’s family has a tradition of everyone lying down to relax and digest while watching the football game. Whoever remains awake the longest each year wins a silly trophy called the “Ultimate Food Coma Champion”. One year Paul’s nephew Brandon ate so much turkey he passed out cold before half time. He remains the reigning champ all these years later.
Engagement Fireworks Fail
When Paul’s friend John proposed to his girlfriend Amy on New Years Eve, he had arranged for fireworks to light up with a special message right after she said yes. But when lit, the fireworks tipped over causing panic as they shot off horizontally straight towards guests! Thankfully no one was injured and the couple laughs about it now as a funny story.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Paul Campbell clearly enjoys hosting lively celebrations for major life events, seasonal happenings and holidays with family and friends. From intimate birthday dinners to huge elaborate new years eve parties – Paul pours thoughtfulness and creativity into planning unique events attendees will remember for years.
His passion shines through in every aspect – from perfectly decorated spaces, abundance of delicious cuisine, wide variety of drinks and entertainment providing non-stop fun. Paul sets the stage, atmosphere and tone for an unforgettable experience celebrating milestone occasions in people’s lives. It comes natural to Paul who thrives on bringing people together through parties while making lasting memories in the process.
With decades of knowledge hosting all sizes of celebrations, Paul happily shares sage advice on event planning best practices. His tips range from selecting creative themes, making proper budgets, choosing venues, entertaining guests, picking menus and more. Paul believes first class celebrations allow people to express joy while deepening relationships with family and friends.
If his elaborately themed annual Halloween haunted house extravaganza or glamorous black tie New Years Eve gala sound like your ideal event – Paul is available as a top-rated celebration planning consultant! He will leverage his mastery hosting parties to craft your dream event with wow-factor. The ability to perfectly fuse people, venue, food and entertainment into beautiful celebrations makes Paul a world-class host you want orchestrating your next momentous occasion.
Frequently Asked Questions About Paul’s Celebrations
Here are answers to common questions people have about Paul Campbell’s celebrations:
What is Paul’s favorite event to host annually?
Paul’s favorite party to host every year is his massive Halloween bash that has become legendary in his community. He loves the creativity of designing elaborate couples costumes with his wife Julie and going all out decorating their home and planning spooky activities like the haunted maze.
How many people attend Paul’s Friendsgiving event?
Paul and Julie host over 30 people every year for their amazing Friendsgiving feast the weekend before actual Thanksgiving. It’s attended by a mixture of close friends, neighbors, co-workers who can’t make it home for the holidays and friends of their kids home from college.
What entertainment does Paul arrange for New Years Eve parties?
To wow guests ringing in the new year, Paul’s annual New Years Eve Gala always includes live musical performances from bands and dj’s. He also loves to hire ballroom dancers, jazz singers, magicians and comedians to entertain throughout the glamorous event.
What graduation party did Paul host with over 100 guests?
When Paul’s daughter Emma graduated top of her high school class, he hosted an enormous backyard graduation party for her with over 100 attendees. The pool party had a dj, photo booth, ice cream sundae bar, catered barbecue and more celebrating her academic achievements.
How far in advance does Paul start planning events?
Paul recommends allowing yourself at least 2-3 months lead time when organizing any sized gathering. This gives adequate time to send invitations, book venues, decide on menus, entertainment, décor and all other elements that go into a great event.