When asked what he wanted for his birthday, Andrew, ever the pragmatist, wanted to make sure that all of his friends were taken care of. That they had wills and their estates in order.

My task, was to make it happen *and* make it fun. After a couple of months consulting with lawyers, estate planners and the internet, I cracked the code.

Tips & Tricks:

Timing:

I decided to host this party first thing in the morning. Everyone is up, peppy, and there’s little time for those with social anxiety to overthink and cancel. Plus it helped to let attendees know that they would be done by noon. Imagine being able to do something so big and daunting by noon on a Saturday. You’d feel amazing!

Setting the tone

From the email (so. many. puns.) to the decor (balloon walls, ceremonial pens for the signing), I spent a lot of time making sure the event tied together. I hung up a balloon wall the night before that our friends could take pictures in front of. I heard later that many of them shared these pictures with family and friends who were shocked to find out how fun this event turned out.

The Menu

I picked things that were versatile, had a wow factor, and could be prepared ahead of time. Andrew loves breakfast, and all things DIY, so I went with a bagel bar and a parfait bar. This combination is also easy to tweak for guests with food sensitivities.

Bagel Bar

• Bagels + Cream Cheese (fancy version: different types of bagels and a variety of cream cheeses)

• Fixings: This included lox, eggs, tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, capers and dill

Parfait Bar

• Greek Yogurt (fancy version: different types of yogurt)

• Granola

• Honey and Agave

• Cinnamon

• Fruit Platter

Drinks

• Cold Brew Coffee

• Iced Tea

• Fresh Juice

• Mimosas

The Signing Ceremony

Putting together a will is incredibly personal. To increase the likelihood that guests would attend, I asked them to complete this step at home. In Washington DC, you need to have at least two signing witnesses who are not part of the will. This can be an awkward request to make of someone (“heeeey, you’re not important enough for me to leave you anything in my will, but can you sign this?”). I asked friends to bring a printed copy (or send it to me ahead of time to print), and to make the document official, we’d act as each other’s witnesses.

The Party Favors

To get folks excited to continue on this preparation journey, I put together emergency document binders for all the guests. There are few things quite as exhilarating as free stationary for a bunch of type-A Washingtonians.

In these binders I included:

• Tabs

• Page Protectors (to put their newly signed will in)

• Emergency Binder Template

• Custom Sticker of the birthday man (to remember this day!)

• I labelled each binder with their name using an embossing label maker. It made it each person feel special.

Here are the steps to hosting your very own Will Party:

1. Gather a group that gets it… and is willing to try something new.

   Before I had figured out how to make this happen, I quietly made the rounds of a few of his friends asking if they would be open to completing their will in a party format. While they all liked the idea, they were skeptical that the process of putting together a will could be easy, or fun. I got their buy-in by promising both.

2. Make decisions that increase the likelihood of success.

   Here’s what I know. People want to be prepared, but they don’t want to go through the discomfort of doing the difficult thing. After countless conversations with pros, I realized that just having a lawyer in the room talk to people about options wasn’t going to cut it. 1. It’s not the funnest topic and 2. It didn’t accomplish the goal of completing a will. Two decisions that vastly increased the likelihood of success were discovering Freewill, giving people a long runway to complete their wills, and making this a brunch event.

3. Send out an engaging email.

   Making a will is not anyone’s idea of a ‘fun’ time, so for this type of event, branding was everything. I went overboard to make sure that the attendees knew it would be a blast, they’d feel amazing once it was over, and that I had spent a lot of time thinking through all the sticky details. I also clearly listed out the steps they needed to take before attending the party.

4. Remind, remind, and confirm.

   To make our time together festive, I asked attendees to complete their wills ahead of time and to bring a printed copy to the party. Freewill makes the process of completing a will *so easy*, that I knew if I asked folks to spend 5-10 minutes checking it out, they’d whiz through and complete it in no time. The main event would be a fabulous brunch, followed by a signing of the wills ceremony. Reminder emails (and texts) kept folks on track.

5. Be a flexible and generous host.

   No matter how easy you make this, there’s still going to be a lot of internal resistance and apprehension to completing wills. Some attendees will wait till the last minute, others might need your help printing the document. I made sure that they could reach out to me any time if they had questions or needed help.

Additional Ideas

Want your friends/family/coworkers to be prepared in case the worst happens? Here are some other ways to host a will party:

Emergency Preparedness Month Party

• Themes: Prepared for Anything. Surviving and Thriving.

• Food: Emergency Rations Corner (energy bars, granola bars, dried fruit, trail mix, jerky)

• Activities: Share your favorite survival tip.

Halloween Party

• Themes: Wills and Witches. Ghoulish Gathering. A Will Party to Die For. Boos and Bequests

• Food: Finger shaped sandwiches. Witches’ brew punch. Meatballs.

• Activities: Share the one weird thing you made sure was taken care of in your will.

New Years Party

• Themes: New Year, New You! Resolutions & Revocable Trusts. Toast to Tomorrow.

• Food: Healthy options. Fresh pressed juice. Avocado Toast Bar. Smoothie Bowls.

• Activities: Share your New Year's resolutions and discuss how estate planning aligns with your goal. A 5 minute stretch or meditation session.

Galentine’s Party

• Themes: Love you to Death! Love & Last Wishes

• Food: Quiche. Tiny sandwiches. Mini pancake stack. Champagne flight.

• Activities: Share one thing you love about your current life.

If you end up hosting a Will Party, let me know how it goes!