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

Message deleted by Gransnet for breaking our forum guidelines. Replies may also be deleted.

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.

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!

So glad it went well appygran & best wishes to MrAppy

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

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

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.

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.

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!)

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?

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!!)

Lots of lovely ideas! Have you thought of a table quiz? We had events off past 60 years and a famous people of the same name. The DC organised it and provided a chocolate winner's cup (from Thornton's). It provided a subject for discussion, particularly amongst guests who didn't know each other very well. Music from his favourite decade/ decade would be good too.
Good luck.

The same thing happened to me when I planned a ceilidh for my 60th birthday. Of my three siblings and their families only one could be bothered to turn up on the day but the one who came really made a big effort to speak to my children, their other halves and my grandson as well as my friends. When you make arrangements such as these and are so excited and looking forward to it, it can be very dispiriting when the numbers are half of those invited. We had a great time though because those who came were those who cared enough about me to join in and it was a fun and life affirming occasion. The ones who missed out were the ones who couldn't or wouldn't make the effort to come along - not me!

I'm sure your husbands party will be a big success appygran.

Just a thought, but as well as Card factory did you know that Asda to a good selection of party accessories, party.asda.com/ they do several 'themed' ideas.

My DH celebrated his 60th last month with a kiddies tea party with our four grandchildren on the actual day and a meal out with their parents at the weekend. He wanted jelly and ice cream and party poppers so we decorated the dining room, bought lots of balloons and to our grandchildren's delight played the game of 'Pie Face' where he was pelted with squirty cream!

I think I'll go away for my 60th

So apt that this is here today as I am holding a surprise party for my husband's 70th in April - not easy to keep it from him now we are retired and he is around 24/7! Getting some great ideas from this stream and feeling calmer. Wonderful daughters are taking on lots of the organisation and both offered their gardens for a marquee. It has grown from 50 to about 80 friends and family!

We did the photograph thing at my Dad's 95th which took place at home. We made it into a quiz by asking people to guess the year the pic was taken. It was a lot of fun and got everyone circulating around the sitting and dining rooms where they were blue tac'd up. Good luck with your party I'm sure the people there..the ones who care will have a great time.

Just popped back on this site, thanks for the great ideas. Gosh you can rely on gransnet for ideas I should have come on here first. Number of guests don't worry me it was just that I received quite a few sorry can't make it today after said people previously accepting. Just felt a bit gutted and needed to rethink my plans. DD and DIL decorating venue and I have pointed out some of your ideas, it is now over to them. I am busy putting together a memory wall of photographs depicting each decade. I may leave enough room for guests to write messages or add photos as this would be a nice memento for husband to keep.

Thanks again

I love the idea of changing to a smaller room and the balloons on the chairs.

Last year for a special birthday (male) I sent a balloon bouquet. It had one really big themed balloon, 3 or 4 large balloons, and about 5 smaller ones, all helium filled. It went down a treat. And for several weeks after there were about ten balloons hanging from various parts of the ceiling, having released the tether that held them all together.

For my DH's 70th last year, I rented a house in the Malvern's for a long weekend that was big enough for DH and me and our 2 DSs and their families. We had a lovely time and younger DS cooked a special birthday meal. We also contacted people from different times of his life and got them to make a short video talking about the things they had done and younger DS linked them all together on a DVD. DH was completely over whelmed by this - he had no idea

Yes, I agree the Card Factory is brilliant for party stuff and miles cheaper than any other shop. It does the helium balloons too which could be good for your husband's chair.

Have you got any help appygran?

Card factory are very reasonable for balloons if you have one near you.

https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/201603/medium-606209-il-214x170-921388286-haxj.jpg https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/201603/medium-202188-pink-pinwheel-2.jpg https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/201603/medium-523041-pink-sweet-shop-3-67331-1423274077-240-240.jpg

I don't know how much you want to spend, the age of the guests, or time of day it will be held, but some ideas that might help are -

Balloons on ribbons for every chair - pick 2/3 colours (one looks lonely) and group one of each colour from each chair at slightly different heights. 70th Birthday balloons for the guest of honour (try eBay).

Vintage sweet stand - this kind of thing is really popular now with mixed age groups as everyone loves the old fashioned sweetie shop! You can get small ready made cardboard stands that come with bags that you fill with sweets (all from eBay).

Scrapbook of memories - you might not have time for this, but perhaps you've got help. Guests could bring photos to add to the book if they want and write comments - or maybe just get a guest book from eBay and pass it around for guests to write messages to your husband.

eBay is your friend when it comes to this kind of thing because everything can be delivered quickly (make sure the seller is in the UK though), and it's usually cheaper than the high street.

A magician is a great idea, especially if they can do a little spot where your husband can be the 'willing' volunteer.

Hope you have a great time and do remember to tell us how it goes!

appygran you will have a great time, after all all the party poopers are staying away so everyone will be there to enjoy themselves. Wish you and your DH all the best.

appy I'm sure the numbers won't matter, a friend of ours had a 70th birthday party in a private room in a restaurant and it was a lovely occasion - as trisher suggested, ask the venue if they have a smaller space you could use, to make it seem more intimate.
Is anyone giving a speech? Someone who has known your DH for years & could recount amusing anecdotes?
Anyway, I hope you have a great time.

appy I have just had my 60th and the family asked if I wanted a party, I didnt so they booked a conservatory in a local hotel with a light buffet for my immediate family. There were 30 of us, it was held at 1pm so all my Grandchildren came which was what I wanted, they range from 18ths up to 21yrs. I had the most amazing afternoon, we had background music not a disco and the kids just played on the floor, I got to chat with everyone and it was perfect, so dont worry about the numbers small is good, hope your DH enjoys his birthday.