Want to throw our own birthday party

15 years ago

My husband and I both turned 40 in early March of last year (our birthdays are a day apart) and we went on a weekend trip with our daughters to celebrate. This year I think I'd like to throw a party instead, something along the lines of, "Oh my God, We're Turning 41".

The thing is, we're not very social people. We're actually homebodies, shy and retiring, but I do have quite a few friends and acquaintances. We just don't party a lot (rarely, is more like it).

So, I need help on ideas of how to throw ourselves a birthday party at home and what to do, what to feed our guests. I need some fun ideas that don't cost a lot of money. I'm really looking at it as more of an excuse to have a party with all of our friends from different social circles (not that we're all that social, lol), but I need help figuring out how to plan it so that there's something for everyone so no one is bored out of their gourd.

We're not looking at a small intimate affair, but also not a raucous rowdy time either because our home is small.

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Comments (6)

lindac
15 years ago
How many people? What time of day? A weekend? Will there be beer, wine, a full bar or just soft drinks? And do you want to serve them a meal?
Linda C
teapot100
Original Author
15 years ago
Good questions!

I'm thinking no more than 20 people can fit in here at one time, Saturday evening (not a supper event), looking at beer, wine and certain cocktails, hors d'oeuvres. Dressy events are not our style.
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I teach elementary school aged cooking classes--have for over 20 years. I can assure you, you're going to be a very frustrated young woman you combine 5 year olds and 10 year olds. That's just too great a span for a group--especially with the number of kids you plan to invite. I find that a range of K and 1st is about as great as you can manage for little ones, although you can group grades 2-5 pretty well. Go beyond those groupings, though, and the little ones are lost or the older ones are just bored stiff while you do age-appropriate things with the little guys. If do decide to go through with this party as you've outlined, I can only heartily suggest that you basically run it as 2 separate, simultaneous parties and have at least 3 adults running the activities for the little ones, at least 2 for the older kids, with another 2 adults taking care of the food, another 1-2 doing potty runs, at least 2 doing clean-up detail, and another extra person or 2 who can help out where needed. Any less than that and you're going to have complete and utter chaos. Alternatively, could you maybe have the little guys from 12-1:30 (and serve an easy lunch) and the older kids from 2-4? Then the family members could just stay for both parties, but you could send the neighborhood kids/school chums home? Might help keep the numbers more workable. Next on your list, you have to have loads of age-appropriate activities planned. That means that you need one group of activities for the little ones, and another group for the older kids. Figure on changing activities at least every 10 minutes for the little guys, and every 15 for the bigger ones. And assume that you'll need at least twice as many activities as you think will fit into the time alloted--LOL (they always get done way, way faster than you think they will). If you want to do science experiments for the older kids, there are lots of kitchen science books. You might be able to find some in your library. The book Cooking Wizardry for Kids is an exceptional kids' cookbook that combines recipes, food lore and kitchen science. A little pricey, but a great resource to have for your children to use at home. The nice thing about kitchen science experiments is that they usually use inexpensive, common household items, AND that they teach everyday science lessons that are important in daily life. Has your son done the mild experiment? Put about 1/4" of milk in a flat bowl. Drop one drop of red food coloring, one of blue, one of yellow equally spaced around the outside edge of the bowl. Then drop 2-3 drops of dish detergent into the center and watch what happens. I did this for the neighborhood kids for our Harry Potter Party this summer and called it a 'pensieve', but it's really just a science experiment that shows how detergent works--it is fun to watch, though. Whatever you decide, good luck and have fun.
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I think you should go for it and I don't think it's tacky at all. I wish more people would do that. Personally, I don't like to make a fuss for my b-day and so I don't for others but I love to b-day parties especially when I know this is what they want. Just last week my boss had a b-day. She emailed everyone and asked that everyone bring something for making sub sandwiches, each person brought one thing to put it together. It turned out great. She bought her own cake and had them write "It's my birthday." We thought it was great fun!
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I guess I feel pretty lucky--my DD has a small class, only 14 students. I would agree that inviting 40 kids is excessive. I'm assuming there are two classes for SD's grade? Could you do something where she only invites her particular class? Or what about just the girls? My DD's school seems to be low-key. Last year, only a handful of kids had bday parties; a few invited the whole class, but two girls just invited the girls, and I think 2 boys had boys-only parties, as well. We just had an issue with BM about this. SS's bday is coming up and she wanted him to have it at this very expensive indoor trampoline place----the party room (that you HAVE to rent) is $175. Then it is an additional $14.75 PER jumper and there is a 10 person minimum. So that's $322 already. This does not include cake or drinks or goodie bags or anything. There are 23 kids in SS's class and SS's mom felt he should be able to invite the entire class. DH just told her that it is ridiculous to spend $500-600 on a 7 year old's birthday party and that she (or we) would have to find something more reasonable. Well, then they got in a big argument b/c she was saying they would split the cost this year (normally, DH pays) and DH said that wasn't the point----that even if they did cut the cost down the middle, it was just too extravagant of a party. We normally spend $150-$200 for a party. DD's birthday is 6 weeks after SS's, so we have to be financially mindful of planning for two parties relatively close together, as well.
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lindac
15 years ago
Make out your guest list, decide on a date and time, send the invitations....or as I lkie to do make phone calls....that way you get an instant RSVP.
Then depending on your house, decide where to put your bar and where the food table, buy the booze, set out glasses and mixers, and put food on the table, put on some music and stand back!
No need for games, just good food and drink.
Linda C
gellchom
15 years ago
I agree with lindac (as usual) -- you don't need games or planned activities. If you really are afraid that people won't socialize, then have a party to watch a game or other special event on TV. But I would trust your guests to enjoy getting to know each other. If you think these people simply won't enjoy each other, don't invite them all to the same party!

Why don't you want to serve supper? If I were invited to a party on a Saturday evening, unless it starts really late -- at least 9 pm -- I would assume you were giving me dinner. It doesn't have to be a sit-down meal or anything fancy, but substantial enough that people who didn't eat before won't go hungry (or scarf up all the snacks before the rest get any!). Cold cuts, chili, etc. all cost as little as appetizers and are a lot easier to prepare and serve, too.

Are you planning on indicating when you invite people that it is a birthday party, or just inviting them to "a" party? If the former, they will probably bring gifts, so you definitely don't want to seem skimpy with the food, as if you were trying to get gifts while spending as little as possible. I know that is NOT why you are having this party! But you want to make sure that none of your guests gets that feeling.
mommacass
15 years ago
teapot-my DH and I were born a day apart also! Our birthday is coming up and we're planning a party. I came here looking for ideas. I'm only planning on having about 5 couples for an informal meal. We'll probably have Italian beef from the crockpot, a couple of salads (that's where I need suggestions) and red velvet cake for dessert (DH's favorite). For drinks the guys prefer beer, we'll have some wine and maybe margaritas. I don't have any planned activities, but we may end up playing poker or some other card game.
Happy birthday!
teapot100
Original Author
15 years ago
Thank you all for the ideas. I guess I wasn't as worried about the amount of food whether we serve dinner or hors d'oeuvres because usually I make it a point to make sure nobody ever goes hungry! But yes, maybe some chili or something similar. Soup shots? I saw that idea somewhere.

We were also thinking ... a karaoke party! So cheesy, but I bet it would be fun. Cocktails and Karaoke - maybe a match made in heaven.

Mommacass - too cool to have your birthdays so close too. I hope you

Want to throw our own birthday party

Comments (6)

lindac

teapot100
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Want to throw our own birthday party

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lindac

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lindac

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