Help, how do I make husbands 70th birthday party a success?

For my 70th the family asked what I wanted and I said some professional photos of the grandchildren. We had a lovely day with our 3 offspring and their families with a photographer taking photos in the beautiful ground of an hotel(we all ended up buying loads of pics!) and then had a nice lunch together followed by champagne and cake back at my sons house. My husband surprised me by booking rhe rather posh hotel overnight so we went back there. However the photos are put pf date as we have two more grandchildren now!
For his 70th the year after i was a bit at a loss but we ended up booking a weekend away at a cottage with all the family which was great. On the actual day I had told him to keep it clear as I had planned a surprise ( he hates surprise parties so promised not to do that)
I booked a (different ) lovely hotel in the Cotswolds which is not too far away for the night and we went to a couple of national trust properties we hadnt seen on the way there and on the way back the next day.
We did have a party for our 40th anniversary to which we invited extended family, local friends And long term friends from far away. We had a caterer, pictures on the wall of the wedding etc , and a quiz and music based on 1969 (the year we were married) . I was disppointed that his original best man who had said he would come and make a speech backed out later, but on the whole it went well.
However I don't think we can be bothered to do it all again for our 50th - I would prefer the two of us to have a special holiday! (If we are spared!!)

For my DH's 70th I arranged a party with a disco and a dear friend did a party piece (Gary Glitter's Do you want to be in my gang, yes I know not very PC) and the same friend did a video presentation from photos we had supplied. Everyone who came had a great time but of course you always get people who accept then simply don't turn up and others who say they can't come and turn up anyway, which I think us very rude and of course venues charge per head! We went to Ecuador and The Galapagos, as a very special birthday treat, he is a great admirer of Charles Darwin.

It is my 70th in a few weeks time, have said I don't want a party, it's not the same organising your own; and on top of which my two daughters havn't spoken to each other for a year so things would be truly awkward. My youngest daughter asked what I would like and I said 'for you and .... to make amends and talk' to which she responded 'that's emotional blackmail'. My other daughter hasn't asked what I would like but if she does I will say the same to her.

Life doesn't seem to get any easier does it?

When the Bodach was 50 we had a party, and I managed to track down two old pals ( this might be much easier nowadays!)
When he was 60 I kidnapped him and took him to Berlin. He hadn't a clue!
The 70th is looming, and will be much more grandchild oriented!

In the village where we live, the "dressing up bag" is a highlight of any party. Just collect any items guaranteed to provide maximum embarrassment to the wearer, place them all in a bin bag, then play the music a la musical chairs, where you must don a garment/wig/mask from the bag if you are holding the bag when the music stops.( Children love this game if knickers are involved!)

Dear Appygran I do hope your party is a success. I loved the good ideas that Gransnetters have sent. I am keeping some of them in a file for when its my turn to arrange a party.

Thank you so much for starting this thread. All the very best on the day.

Just wanted to pop back to say thank you for all your excellent ideas.

Party is now over and it was enjoyed by everyone especially the birthday boy.

We managed to make the room look smaller and more intimate but more people turned up than anticipated anyway.

I made a collage combined with a soundtrack of my husbands life, i.e. I had a different song title, mostly Country and Western and Folk, for each aspect of his life. eg he was born in Liverpool so alongside photographs of his family we had "In my Liverpool Home". I did not manage to get the CD made before the party but we played the songs of an ipod. This went down really well.

The old fashioned sweets were a big hit, thanks for that suggestion.

In retrospect I don't know what I was worried about everyone was just happy to sit around, talk, listen to music and enjoy the food.

Thank you again.

appygran that's great news! So glad it all went well, now you can relax!

So pleased everything went well. It's amazing what we worry about that actually turns out fine! Now you can take a deep breath and feel proud of yourself

So glad it went well appygran & best wishes to MrAppy

appygran - getting stressed when organising an event on any level is natural, it would be unnatural if you weren't feeling the pressure. Ultimately when all is said and done we often we have been stressing about nothing!

I think the first key to success here is creating a cosy atmosphere where people aren't shouting across the room to each other, there are some good ideas for creating a cosier space here. You could see if the venue offers a smaller room or check out some other options. I've always found the private dining directory useful when booking private dining rooms: private-dining.co.uk/

The second key to success is engagement. You need to get all party members involved and feeling good about the fact they came. Again there are some great examples throughout this post of various games to get people involved.

Finally sit back entertainment, this is not always essential but a nice touch. If you can bring a magician as PRINTMISS suggested you've cracked it!

Good luck!

Teatime

I agree parties are not all they are all cracked up to be. I am getting to old I guess and often they go on far longer than I really want to be there and you feel it is rude to leave early. Along with deafening music where you can't hear what people are attempting to say I wonder why I agreed to come.

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