The Inside Press

Magazines serving the communities of Northern Westchester

Momprenuers

One Stop Shopping for your Next Party

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Claire Gilvar (left) and Meryl Lefkowitz
PHOTO BY PRETTY PICTURES PHOTOGRAPHY & MARKETING
If you’ve visited Bookedparties.com, you already know how easy it is to find that perfect venue or vendor that’s sure to make your child’s birthday party the talk of the town.

Now with the newly launched Booked Marketplace, one-stop shopping for party favors, unique gifts and party décor is right at your fingertips. Booked Marketplace features locally owned businesses selling everything from jewelry to custom cakes and everything in between.

Chappaqua’s own Claire Gilvar and Meryl Lefkowitz launched in August of 2015. Many of the featured merchants offer services such as free local delivery or pick up, gift-wrapping or personalization to help make gift giving or party planning effortless. Booked Marketplace also offers an opportunity to add a philanthropic twist to celebrations.

The Shop for a Cause storefront donates a portion of each sale to local charities supported by Booked Parties. “We know that celebrations are a luxury and it’s important to us to raise awareness and support local organizations whose mission it is to provide resources and help to children in need,” said Gilvar.

– Stacey Pfeffer

How Wendy Goldstein Rescues Pictures

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Wendy Goldstein
Every house has them–boxes of old photos, memory books and clunky photo albums from what seems like the dinosaur age. These are your family memories; you have wedding photos, baby photos, first birthday photos and endless collections of more. It’s easier to let these photos sit in a box than to scan them onto your computer or send them away and make someone else do it.

Even the photos on your phone are memories but they get tossed in with the rest of your photos. Well, have no fear. Wendy Goldstein is here to help. A mother of two, Goldstein has lived in Chappaqua with her family for about 13 years. She started Album Accomplished three years ago, after experiencing an epiphany following her son’s bar mitzvah. When the photographer did not offer albums in their package, Wendy didn’t mind doing the album herself. Once her party planner saw her work, she immediately encouraged her to turn it into a business. “I just thought, ‘Who would even pay me to do this?’” she said.

After starting up the business, Wendy realized most people want to create albums, but never have the time.

Before starting Album Accomplished, Wendy was in the fashion world of public relations. Today, she is happy to relieve others of the pressures album-making can create, still using her design element skills from her PR days.

When Wendy is taking a break from her job, she is exercising, reading or getting tickets to see Broadway shows with her family, making album-worthy memories of her own.

– Molly Alexander

The Points Mom: Making Travel Affordable–and Even FREE

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Cindy Greenstein

Cindy Greenstein and her family have traveled just about everywhere you can imagine–London, Israel, Hawaii, the Canadian Rockies, Las Vegas–and most of the time, they’re traveling for free!

Cindy and her husband, Town Supervisor Rob Greenstein, felt they were spending too much on vacations for themselves and their three children. And that’s what inspired her to begin her business, The Points Mom, in 2013.

Running her business online, www.thepointsmom.com is a website that helps families apply for specific credit cards to get the most rewards possible, and in her words, “beat the system.” Rewards and bonuses include travel points, free hotel rooms, free plane tickets and more. Working independently, Cindy balances taking care of her kids and her business life. She finds the most time to work in the summer–a busy season of trip planning for many families. Cindy said she thoroughly enjoys her business because she likes to hear about families’ vacations and where they visited.

Hearing about other families’ adventures inspires some of her family’s own trips.  Meanwhile, she continues to be delighted to share ways to save money for other families interested, too. When she’s not working directly with clients, Cindy spends time maintaining the website and keeping it modern and up to date, and of course, spending quality time with her family.

– Molly Alexander