We’ve witnessed first hand the joy and pleasure our clients and their guests experience from a first class party. Parties are shared experiences and our events ultimately bring people together in a fun, celebratory and wonderful environment. Families adjoin, generations are gapped, and friends meet with only one thing on the agenda; to enjoy themselves.
Parties create lifelong memories and can provide escapism for everyone. Here at Mirage Parties, we feel lucky that we are in the position to provide such a positive service. We wanted to really explore this topic to see if there was any fact behind it – and there is! And whilst researching this piece we have seen a significant increase in the amount of media attention the subject is receiving. There is a clear rise within the public agenda of people wanting to experience life to the full.
In this blog post we explore why you’re better off spending your hard earned money on experiences as opposed to material ‘things’ and with life long memories created, you are actually investing in the long term.
“Money buys happiness but only to a point”
Dr. Thomas Gilovich, a psychology professor at Cornell University, has been researching the relationship between happiness and money for many years. His findings show that although there is happiness in the novelty of buying something new, the associated joy we feel soon wears off as we adapt to it – “people’s satisfaction with the things they bought went down, whereas their satisfaction with experiences they spent money on went up.”
Memories of our treasured experiences seem to improve over time. Many of our clients return years later for their next landmark birthday celebration safe in the knowledge that they are going to have another, if not better, event than the previous. It is not a ‘hard sell’ for us , once they experience a Mirage party they are pretty keen to experience another one and if possible an even more memorable event. For this reason, we have seen an increased trend in 60th Birthday parties from people who have loved having their 40th and 50th birthday celebrations with us.
In effect, experiences are what we are made of. “our experiences are a bigger part of ourselves than our material goods. You can really like your material stuff. You can even think that part of your identity is connected to those things, but nonetheless, they remain separate from you. In contrast, your experiences really are part of you. We are the sum total of our experiences.” (Dr Thomas Gilovich).
“Experience results in greater happiness”
Millennials are leading the way in prioritising their life experiences over their material possessions. The older generation are also following suit and as they approach retirement age they tend to minimalise their possessions and focus more on relationships and experiences.
A recent Forbes article discusses how industry is helping this growth of the “Sharing & experience economy”. They discuss how the likes of airbnb are encouraging people to share their travel experiences, people are increasingly opting to work freelance and choose where they work in order to ‘experience’ life more. All of which are helping to contribute to the rise of the “Sharing & experience economy.”
It is all about having a unique experience and being able to share it (which is obviously massively fuelled by social media).
Invest your hard earned money wisely
A good party really can be a unique experience. Fabulous entertainment, endless dancing, something wild or even a fabulous intimate party with amazing catering. People unite, come together and it becomes a shared experience that people talk about for years. They provide much better memories than any physical gift. Experiences become part of you .
We could carry on for ages on the fabulous experience a Mirage party could bring, but ultimately it’s our clients who have the final say on this.
What our client’s have experienced
“Many thanks to you, Christian and the rest of the team for the excellent event on Saturday. I have had a number of people text Louise and me to say what a memorable event that it was and how much they had enjoyed it. A very special wedding. As Louise said, it was perfect – nothing could have been better.“
We have just had the best party ever with Mirage – “legendary” and “magical” are two words our friends have used frequently. I would highly recommend Julia, Christian, Alex and the team to anyone as they are so professional and thoughtful, which is a great combination. Memories to last forever and well worth it…! –
Thank you for helping to give us such a fantastic party – memories to last a lifetime!
We cannot thank you enough for the brilliant party you threw for Paul. It was exactly what he wanted and the guests thought it was different and outrageous and haven’t stopped talking about it. Paul certainly made the right decision placing his party in your capable hands.
We made the most amazing memories last night and wanted to send you our very very many thanks
“You never know a true value of a moment (party) until it becomes a memory.’
We really are ‘memory makers’ and have been entrusted for over 25 years in creating beautiful and happy memories. If you would like a party experience like no other, please contact us on 01883 740 400 or email info@mirageparties.co.uk.
