Tag: memory books

Ten tips for planning a milestone birthday party

So, your friend or family member has a big birthday coming up — one of those milestone birthdays that ushers in a new decade and maybe even a new attitude. Milestone birthdays call for a little extra celebration; they’re often a time to reflect, but that doesn’t mean they’re not a time to party. Here are 10 tips for planning a milestone birthday party the guest of honor won’t soon forget (even if they’re over the hill now).

1. Mix Up a Signature Drink

Most milestone birthdays are after age 21, so your guest of honor will be able to throw back a signature cocktail. For a big 30th birthday, a drink celebrating the Roaring ’20s is a clever addition to the menu. Turning 50? Blend together something using 50-proof alcohol.

2. Invite Special Guests

Since life milestones often inspire gratitude and the chance to look back on past decades’ accomplishments, your guest list deserves special attention. Invite people from different stages of the guest of honor’s life. High school friends, college friends and colleagues from their former job are just a few people who might be welcome!

3. Organize a Birthday Memory Book

What’s better than a game of “This Is Your Life”? Instead of trotting people out from behind a curtain, have loved ones work together to assemble a meaningful group scrapbook. Birthday memory books filled with photos, funny stories and sentimental memories from a large group of friends and family will be cherished forever.

4. Put Your Appreciation in Writing

A milestone birthday is the perfect time to shower your loved one with affection. Put up a poster board, and let guests list things they appreciate about the birthday king or queen. Better yet, create a poster that is milestone themed. If you’re celebrating a 50th birthday for your friend Jane, create a “50 Things We Love About Jane” poster.

5. Create a Custom Playlist

Can you remember which songs were popular 40, 50 or 60 years ago? Time to refresh your memory by putting together an epic playlist for the party. You can pass out CDs of the playlist as party favors or create and share a Spotify playlist if your guests are streaming savvy.

6. Personalize the Stemware

A 30th or 75th birthday (or any milestone age, really) is the perfect time to splurge on some personalized glassware. Or, if you prefer, plastic cups. Get the name of the birthday celebrant printed on the side, along with the number of the milestone birthday, to personalize the soiree.

7. Put Their Name in the Headlines

Hey, your loved one is turning 40 — he deserves some recognition! Print up a faux newspaper with his name and birthday as the headline. You can fill the rest of the front page news with details about his life’s accomplishments thus far, or what was happening back on the day they were born.

8. Bottle Something Special

What’s that? Personalized wine glasses or drinking cups aren’t elaborate enough for your birthday party? You can also order wine bottles with a personalized sticker to commemorate your loved one’s big milestone.

9. Bring Photo Props

Everyone will be snapping away with their iPhone or Galaxy, so you may as well give them some fun ways to capture their experience at the party! Silly themed props such as mustaches, giant glasses and cutouts of the milestone year (like a big 5-0) give guests a way to unwind and take photos with the guest of honor.

10. Create a Hashtag

Want to send your party viral? Give guests a unique hashtag — such as #JulieTurns30 — and encourage your guests to use it when posting to social media. Want to go all out? Create a special Snapchat filter to use on all photos posted on the social platform from your milestone party.

What are party and gift ideas to celebrate my parents’ anniversary?

Is it planning time and you need some fantastic anniversary party ideas to get started? Whether you’re searching for the perfect anniversary gift for your parents or another special couple in your life, we’ve collected the best ideas out there this year to make the happy day one that everyone will remember for a very long time..
Here is a list of the Top Five and we think they’re real winners:

d111. A collaborative appreciation list from loved ones using the number of years married. For example: 40 years = “40 Things We Love About You” If this gift is designed to celebrate parents anniversary, you may choose to involve each of their children and grandchildren to create the perfect list based on each person’s special relationship with them. AncesTree offer a ready-to-go poster that they will ship to you. Alternatively, Custom Printables NY will design a board you can print yourself.

d332. Create personalized wine bottles for the special occasion. Depending on the budget for your anniversary party, you may choose to order one unique bottle for the special couple, or several to display and share among guests. There are several companies out there like Etching Expressions that offer a wide variety of options when it comes to anniversary party ideas. You can stay as simple as the anniversary year with the couple’s names, or get a bit more romantically detailed by adding their wedding photo.

d223. The Perfect Playlist. Fill the evening with celebratory tunes that are meaningful to the special couple. Ideas include songs from their wedding day and the decade surrounding it. If you’re close enough to the couple to be throwing them a party, you are undoubtedly aware of their musical preferences. If you end up running a little short on lyrical inspiration, try looking looking through any music they have in the house to add to your playlist. At the end of the celebratory occasion, present them with a CD or other preferred method of sharing the compiled music for future enjoyment and happy memories. Companies like Evermine create custom CD labels as a more creative gift option.

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4. Create a decorative board breaking down the years your special couple has been married into months, days, hours and minutes spent together in matrimony. To add an even more sentimental element to this as an anniversary gift for parents, include the names of each of their children and grandchildren. Be sure to get a family photo around the board when everyone comes together to celebrate. Pinterest is full of brilliant ideas for how to make your time appreciative anniversary board.

5. Create a collaborative anniversary memory book filled with messages, stories and photos of everyone special in the lives of the couple. A site like Newlywords makes it a breeze to collect everyone’s contribution to the project. Distance doesn’t pose a problem when you can share a website that allows everyone to add photos and sentiments from anywhere. Don’t worry, you can still review and edit to make sure that this anniversary memory book for the happy couple is the perfect group album that you had in mind.

Whether your happy event is designed to celebrate your parents’ anniversary or anyone else special in your life, guarantee success with good planning and unique anniversary ideas like these!