Ringing Up Cash While Ringing In the New Year

While many Ventura County residents are gearing up to eat, drink and otherwise celebrate their way through New Year’s Eve, certain county business people are trying to make a living off the massive party planning.

New Year’s Eve is a culmination of the busiest month of the year for local caterers, mobile disc jockeys, party rental shops and other suppliers of party-related goods and services.

“The last New Year’s Eve I didn’t work was about 14 years ago,” said Ventura’s Bruce Barrios, 31, operator of his own disc jockey operation. “It’s the biggest night of the year for mobile DJs, and I don’t think there’s enough of us around to cover it.”

Over the years, Barrios has worked nightclubs, restaurants, private parties and other gatherings on New Year’s Eve. This year, he said he will be playing tunes for about 125 people at an upscale 18th birthday party at the Mandalay Beach Resort in Oxnard.

Barrios said that just in the past few years, Dec. 31 has turned into a popular night for couples to exchange vows. “The last three years, the trend has been toward weddings on New Year’s Eve,” he said. “You do your traditional wedding dance, do the toast, then count in the new year.”

LaStarr Heiliger, owner of LaStarr & Co. catering in Ventura, said she and her staff of five will be preparing desserts for about 10 weddings on New Year’s Eve.

“Weddings on New Year’s Eve have increased about 300% in the past few years,” said Heiliger, who caters for private functions, hotels, and restaurants. “Some hotels are available for weddings on New Year’s Eve, and we have a lot of private home weddings where the couple will rent a tent, and put more emphasis on glitz and the dramatic.”

Heiliger said she thinks the increase in New Year’s Eve weddings can be attributed to women being more willing to spend subsequent anniversaries watching college football games on New Year’s Day.

In all, said Heiliger, New Year’s Eve is the fourth biggest day of the year for her business, trailing Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day, and Thanksgiving. “From a business standpoint, New Year’s Eve is important,” she said. “That’s why we never plan on going away, and we never plan on having a party for ourselves.”

Carolynn Whitman, an accountant for Lister Rents Inc., an equipment rental company in Thousand Oaks, and its Lister Party Rentals division, said she’s seeing a trend toward more home parties for New Year’s Eve.

“People are pretty much staying at home and using caterers, instead of going to hotels and country clubs as much,” said Whitman, who has been in the party rental business for five years. “Party rental is really a good business to have. A lot of people are going toward renting. It’s a fad that won’t go away.”

Lister Party Rentals rents chairs, tables, linen, dishes, strobe lights and other party accessories. Whitman said the company has about a dozen jobs for New Year’s Eve, thus far, but expects some additional last-minute work requests.

James Tetter, assistant manager at Party America-Party World, a party supply store in Thousand Oaks, said business for New Year’s Eve has been growing each of his six years at the store.

“Every year I’ve noticed it’s been getting busier and busier,” he said. “This store seems to do a tremendous amount of balloons, about 1,200 to 1,500 for New Year’s Eve. They buy them in bulk cases for schools, businesses. A day or two before New Year’s Eve we do the bulk of our business.”