Lindsay Maron's bat mitzva began in the usual way, with a service — at Temple Sharey Tefilo-Israel in South Orange — followed by a party at the Cedar Hill Country Club in Livingston.

But instead of taking part in a celebration with loud music and dancing, Lindsay's guests got their hands dirty. They stuffed teddy bears, decorated and filled planters, wrote letters to soldiers, and put together toiletry packages for homeless people and arts and crafts packets for children in hospitals.

Lindsay had already completed her own mitzva project — assembling the Pixie Dust Players, a performance troupe that entertained children at the Giggles Theater of St. Joseph's Children's Hospital in Paterson.

The Nov. 3 party was her way of helping her guests perform their own mitzvot.

"I'm really shy, especially when it comes to dancing, so the DJ and the dancing was not really for me. I also love to help charity and any chance I can get to help charity, I'll do," said the 13-year-old Short Hills resident. "I wanted some kind of arts and crafts that had everyone participating."

In this unusual mitzva project, Lindsay managed to engage not only her peers but all of her guests.

The stuffed bears will go to children who are hospitalized, the planters to residents of the Daughters of Israel senior facility in West Orange. Guests also put together packages of toiletries for homeless people, and packaged arts and crafts, toys, and tooth fairy pillows for children in hospitals.

Most of the ideas came from Lindsay, a seventh-grader at Millburn Middle School. The Marons enlisted the help of a party planner to help realize her vision.

In lieu of hired entertainment, Lindsay herself performed, both solo and with friends. She has an extensive theater background, including credits in the American Girl Show at American Girl Place in Manhattan, where she performs as Molly, a girl from the 1940s, and Kaya, a Native American. She takes lessons in voice, dance, piano, and guitar.

"I love music, and I wanted to incorporate that in my own way, instead of a DJ," she said. And she wrote her own song about the event, "so I could get out what I really wanted to say."

Although Lindsay celebrated becoming a bat mitzva last month, her good deeds have only just begun. The Pixie Dust Players will return to the Giggles Theater in January and has scheduled performances at Daughters of Israel and at a local special education school. The troupe is open to offers from "pretty much anyone who asks us to perform," she said.