Thanks for all your suggestions. A theater gift certificate seemed to be the best solution for this couple. Yes, I thought about sewing something delicious for their home, but I have never been inside and have no ideas as to their taste! All these years, their parties have been held out of doors in the yard overlooking the water, (they even have a separate party restroom), so their interior decorating taste is still totally unknown to us. Thanks for all your help!

Hopefully I will be able to catch it on abc website. I watched an episode last week with Luke and Laura, and Scotty Baldwin. Guess that's just for the anni. My greatest hope regarding GH is that Jason would come back.

How thoughtful of you to do this for your parents! Especially your wanting to ensure that your guests will be cool & comfortable (I'm so done with attending outdoor summer weddings & sweating/melting in my good clothes) is impressive. Your plans sound great - especially having it butlered so you can enjoy this special party along with your guests. I was just a kid in the 50's and barely remember attending those weddings & receptions (but I do remember they were lovely and low-key...either watercress sandwiches, champagne & wedding cake, or the sit-down dinners). I do remember my parents & their friends hosting cocktail parties (which were very popular)...my folks made daiquiries or whiskey sours. I don't remember the hor d'oeuvres as being all that great though - not like today's. Onion dip was popular (made from Lipton's dry onion soup)...you might want to make the Barefoot Contessa's onion dip which is much better and serve with home-made potato chips as a 50's hor d'oeuvres (along with current healthier appetizers!). Have some chilled champagne for a toast, do big posters with photos of your parents' school days, courtship, friends, early marriage, babies arriving, etc. (my sister & I did that for the 50th anniv. party we held for our parents--lots of fun to create & guests enjoyed seeing themselves "back in the day"). Maybe have a CD featuring hits from the 50's (what a major change in music over those 10 years, especially when rock and roll came along). And, if possible, someone who will do a bit of emceeing (for lack of a better word), welcoming everyone, saluting the guests of honor maybe with funny stories from their courting days or wedding day, introducing special guests (their wedding party), etc. Oh--and someone to take videos and photos. Have a good time planning this party. It will be a lot of fun for your family and your parents will be so pleased. Ann

I would post pics of the party we did for my folks (2+ years ago), but Sis is still looking for the CD the photos are on. *sigh* Also consider doing a PowerPoint (very easy to do!) on your computer and playing it on a laptop so that it shows on the wall. I had a lot of fun doing that for my folks. We did a spiked and a plain punch but nearly ran into trouble because the country club we rented fussed about the wine in the punch. Not sure if it was because we didn't buy their expensive stuff or if it was liquor laws. We also went to the "dollar stores" and to a party store---GOLD stuff was very cheap because it was right around Christmas---and we bought tons of little tabletop things (gold beads, gold buckets for peanuts and mints, gold coin looking chocolate candy, etc.). Bought gold candles and chargers very cheaply at WalMart and Dillards (of all places). Again...the holidays were our friend. :-) We bought big gold bows (very cheap) for the chairs my folks sat in. candle holders, etc. cheap plastic bells for the cake table misc. gold balls that we put in a glass bowl on one table gold candles - I think we took the "stuff" off of them a pretty gold votive candle holder thing we used on the punch table