I need ideas for a 60th birthday party that I'm hosting. Help please!?!
I need ideas for a 60th birthday party that I'm hosting. Help please!?
This will be in late september with about 100 people. I'm looking for some kind of nostalgic ideas for a this is your life thing.
Answers:
How fun!
For a "This Is Your Life" theme, use one central idea, such as music or television, and dedicate each table to a different decade of that theme. For example:
One idea is a "Music Through the Decades" theme . For instance, one table can be '40s big band/swing, such as "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy." Another table is for the '50s do-wop music, '60s is the "Age of Aquarius", '70s is disco, etc. Put a center piece on each table with a big music note on it, along with a small banner with the name of a popular song that defines the decade. Then you can scatter symbols for each decade around the music note (use nautical symbols for the '40s, a doll-sized poodle skirt for the '50s, etc.) You can find the music notes and the themes at a party supply store or on the internet. Or you can go with bands that define each decade, such as Elvis, the Beatles, the Doors, etc.
Also consider a "Television Through the Decades" theme. Ozzie and Harriet, I Love Lucy, Leave It To Beaver, etc. A centerpiece is easy for this one: decorate a box to look like a TV, print out a still photo from the TV shows, and glue them on to the TV.
Consider what the birthday person likes. Fashion? You can do a Fashion Through the Decades theme (poodle skirts, bell bottoms, etc.). Sports? Do a Sports Heroes Through the Decades theme.
In your invitation, send along a blank piece of stationery in the theme of the party. Request that each guest write a letter stating how they know the birthday person and their favorite memory of him/her. Even if you don't read them at the party, the birthday person will enjoy reading them later.
Also request that guests send you copies of their favorite pictures of themselves with the birthday person. You can have them send it to you ahead of time and make a collage or a scrapbook to present to the birthday person at the party, or the guests can bring the pictures to the party and they can assemble the collage or scrapbook there.
Another fun game is to have questionnaires at each plate asking questions about the birthday person. Such as, "What was his/her favorite toy to play with as a child?" "What color was his/her childhood bedroom?" "Who was his/her high school crush?" "What was his/her first job?" etc. After everyone has filled them out, have the birthday person answer the questions aloud. The guests will score their own papers, and the guest(s) who score the highest will win a prize. You can choose something fun and inexpensive things such as scratch-off lottery tickets or a big candy bar for prizes.
Have fun at your party. Let us know how it goes!
1940's...think the Great Gatsby or Casablanca...WWII...Let me look into this and I will come up with some ideas!
Here is some cool info..page down to 1940...
http://www.foodtimeline.org/fooddecades....
http://www.billreed.com/index.php?page=p...
Do either black and whites of old movie starts - Bogey and Bacall..Betty Grable...have everyone serving or such wear black suits and hats, or 40's dresses and hairstyles...
http://www.vintageblues.com/history4.htm...
http://www.fashion-era.com/utility_cloth...
http://www.angelfire.com/retro2/lisanost...
Or do or combine it with a war theme - hand out ration coupons and put flags and banners around....
http://www.askginka.com/themes/1940theme...
http://www.partymerchant.com/forties_the...
Make sure you get in some old 1940's music...
http://www.wgeneration.com/1940.html...
http://kclibrary.nhmccd.edu/decade40.htm...
http://www.tunecharts.com/?1940s-music:1...
Think yo-yo's, and marbles. Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra, and Duke Ellington.
I hope this helps inspire you!!!
Are you able to get your hands on any photos when the person was a child? Graduation pictures, wedding pictures etc? Blow them up to poster size and set on easles or find out what the first car the person owned or drove, try to find toy cars of the same model, or go to the newspaper office and see if they have copies of headlines from the year the person was born, (might be on microfiche if they still use those).
Sounds like a fun party, good luck.
For centerpieces, you could make displays of picture frames from different times in the birthday girl (or boy's) life. On one table, baby pictures, on another wedding pictures, that kind of thing.
You could order copies of newspapers from big dates in the person's life. I once did a 50's party for my mother-in-law's 50th birthday. We found magazines from the 50's on sale for a couple of bucks at an antique store and included them on a display table- they were a huge hit.
I think the key to any great birthday party is really understanding what the person you're celebrating likes (and dislikes). Including the person's favorite flowers, food, drinks, games really makes the person feel recognized and loved, don't you think?
Maybe there's something in life that this person is really proud of? An accomplishment, children, a pet? Be sure to include these things in your celebration somehow.
Have a great, great party! Enjoy!
Melanie
One thing NOT to do is allow those tasteless gag gifts having to do with getting old, incontinence and loss of libido etc. Some people think they're funny - but they're really embarrassing.
How about sending each guest a stamped envelope asking them to send a memento, photo, something to be included in a memory book for the birthday girl/boy? Give them a deadline a month before the party so you can make the scrapbook.
Ask for things like school pictures, snippets from the newspaper, a favorite bible verse, old photo, old post card, military ribbon etc. dance card, favorite flower etc.
Send a questionnaire along too - how you know the birthday boy/girl, favorite memory etc. etc.
It is acceptable to request no gifts, please.
It is NOT acceptable to request money for any reason.