A real apartment
The intimacy is an advantage. Make the home feel considered and changed without disguising it as a venue—or spending money trying to.
Planner creative brief · New York City
Make it feel
like Iris.
An intimate eleventh birthday in her family’s apartment. Pretty without being precious, playful without feeling little-kid, and created smartly for a real home and a real-world budget.
This is a brief, not a recipe. We are sharing the ingredients and asking for your point of view.
For planners Send a five-minute reply →
This is Iris
Make + laugh
Color + flashRoom energyKATSEYEZara Larsson · Olivia Rodrigo
Bows · dirty soda · Koko · SoHo · “The Fall I Turned Eleven”
The assignmentCreate the world.
Create the world.
Don’t execute a theme.
We are looking for one creative producer who can listen closely, edit confidently, and turn a collection of possibilities into one coherent afternoon.
Iris likes beauty, but she does not want to be put inside a “fancy party” costume. The right world feels current, personal, playful, a little downtown, and still special enough to mark turning eleven.
We do not need every idea below. We want to see which pieces you believe in, what you would leave out, and what only you would add.
The person at the center
This specific girl.
Iris is eleven, lives in New York, and knows when something feels made for younger kids. She wants a soft, social afternoon built around making something, taking photographs, and being with about twenty close school friends—not a party package with her name applied to it. She loves horseback riding and her pony, Koko—short for Kokomo; one real photograph or story belongs in the world, but this is not a pony theme.
The feelingSoft. Social.
Soft. Social.
Pop.
Iris chose pretty, relaxed and cozy without feeling babyish. She is drawn to both airy blue and confident pink, so these are two related ways into the same world—not sealed-off palettes. Choose one color to lead and let the other appear in controlled 10–15% accents. Chrome, color-flash photographs, neon signage and “The Fall I Turned Eleven” sharpen either direction without making it fancy.
SoftSocialPersonalizedPopCozyCurrent
The creative temperature
KATSEYE · Zara
Olivia
KATSEYE is a real Iris preference, not mood-board garnish. Their bright performance polish—with Zara Larsson and Olivia Rodrigo as supporting references—should inform energy, color and confidence without becoming artist-themed décor.The pieces on the tableUse them.
Use them.
Remix them.
Lose them.
These are pieces, not separate stations. We want a creative partner to edit and sequence them into one easy afternoon—and replace anything only when the new idea is better.
SpaLaLa as a likely rotation
A compact spa corner remains a front-runner, but it does not need to be the whole party or even the main making moment. It can be replaced only by an idea that is clearly cooler and works just as well in the apartment.
Something always happening beside it
The dirty soda and snack bar, color-flash photographs, easy games, music and conversation stay available while friends rotate. No line, no dead time, and no need for everyone to move in lockstep.
Customization as the main making moment
Iris wants to make or customize something. The personalized book/journal idea is the strongest current reference: useful, social, easy to do while talking, and personal enough to keep.
Who Knows Iris Best?
A short, funny whole-group beat built from Iris’s real answers, with a designed game card and reveal. It should feel like part of the visual world—not a worksheet downloaded from a party site.
A cool photo setup — likely
A compact booth or photographer-led setup that girls can drop into throughout the party: flattering light, a strong graphic treatment, instant or digital keepsakes, and one great group photograph. No plastic-prop bin or magic-mirror energy.
Dessert with character
Cake, Funny Face Bakery, or something equally photogenic and specific to Iris. We are open to the planner’s better idea.
A complete handoff
The lead producer owns the whole experience: creative direction, vendors, timing, setup, guest flow, teardown, cleanup, and apartment reset.
What must survive every interpretationThe outcome
The outcome
is the brief.
The format can change. These six things cannot.
Iris feels seen
The party could not have been made for just any eleven-year-old.
Her friends feel at ease
They are engaged but not managed, and there is room for normal conversation.
The apartment feels transformed
Beautiful and atmospheric, while still recognizably a home.
The age feels exactly right
Cool and fashion-aware; neither childish nor prematurely adult.
The parents are guests
One professional lead carries the details and returns the apartment at the end.
The memories look as good as they felt
Natural photographs, one strong group moment, and no forced photo-booth energy.
The edgesWhat it
What it
isn’t.
No face painting, glitter tattoos, character styling, giant balloon wall, generic spa clichés, green in the working palette, or tables covered in disconnected crafts. No faux-luxury production or spending that does not materially improve the girls’ experience. We are after taste, energy, warmth, and an afternoon they actually enjoy.
The practical frameEnough structure
Enough structure
to create freely.
- Occasion
- Iris’s 11th birthday
- Setting
- Family apartment · New York City
- Working budget
- Target around $3,000; flexible up to $5,000 for an exceptional idea
- Guest experience
- Approximately three hours
- Date
- Sunday, September 27 or Sunday, October 4, 2026
- Headcount
- Approximately 20 close school friends
- Required scope
- Concept through full apartment reset
- Next-stage inputs
- Apartment photos, measurements, building rules, timing
What we would love backA five-minute
A five-minute
reply is enough.
We are choosing a creative partner, not comparing package lists. Tell us whether it sparks an idea, what you would own, and what is realistic near the target budget. No proposal deck required.
- 01Your creative interpretation in a few sentences—not a menu of packages.
- 02Which ingredients you would keep, change, combine, or remove.
- 03The emotional arc of the afternoon and the role of any anchor experience.
- 04How you would use the apartment without crowding it or overbuilding it.
- 05What your team would own from first delivery through final cleanup.
- 06A preliminary scope, honest budget fit, availability, and one or two complete relevant projects—not just detail shots.
If the brief sparks a clear idea, we would love to see your take.