My brother and I recently gave our father a surprise party to celebrate his 89th birthday. We gave party favors that everyone raved about--little engraved notepads and nice engraved pens in a little cellophane bag (from Dollar Tree). Also in the bag was a name tag for each person, plus I made labels on the computer and put them on the bottom of Hershey kisses, and put a handful of kisses in each bag.

You might also consider engraved napkins, and a nice cake knife (you can get them decorated with flowers and ribbons).

Notepads: http://www.beau-coup.com/personalized-notepad.htm

Here is a link that might be useful: Engraved Pens

I hosted a 50th anniversary party for my parents a few years ago. Some of the things I did was making copies from their wedding album (8 x 10 pics)and mounting them on foam core. I placed them around the room and everyone loved looking at them and reminicsing. I also made a poster size copy of one picture and everyone signed it. We then framed it for my parents and they proudly display it.

Another thing I did was to take some of their photos and do Photofetti. It not only adds additional color to the tables, but the little photo's are so cute. The photofetti is double sided. You can upload up to 10 pictures. The prices vary depending on what package you choose.

I also contacted the White House, governor and mayor to get a congrats letter on their milestone. I did it 3 months in advance.

Another thing I did was to make a video presentation using photos of them as kids, teens, when they met, wedding, kids, grandkids, friends, events. I added music that corresponded to each time period.

For the favors I copied what they had at their wedding.

I had such a blast planning it for them. Their 60th is in 3 years and I can't wait to start planning.

We got my MIL's wedding dress set out on a sewing dummy. I think the best thing you could do is incorporate as many photos of their life into the party as possible.

My siblings and I brainstormed all the "parentisms" my folks told us over the years. We came up with 50, and every few minutes, my sister rang a golden bell and read one off. Much laughter and fun memories.

Friends of ours used a knock off of the wedding invites, gathered stories from old friends (including childhood) and printed them in a keepsake book for the attendees and did the photo posters around the room to help get conversations going.

What a great idea about the gown! That is awesome!!

What great ideas. I love Arcy's wedding gown idea. I will share these with my sister. They're celebrating their 50th next June.

For decorating, you might want to look at the Oriental Trading site. Harry's daughter bought a lot of things for her daughter's wedding there and had them delivered to our house, so now I get two or three catalogs a week!!! Good site for napkins, glasses, etc.

Have a great party, Magoo!

We had my parent's 50th a couple years ago. We had it in a private room at a restaurant, so we didn't have to worry about the food. I did use a lot of pictures of them on a memory board and used their wedding photo for both the invitations and mini candy bar wrappers. The mini candy bars were the favors. We had all the guests write down a memory they had of my parents and these were put in a decorated jar which my parents took home.

I have a cousin who is a magician and he put on a short show that went along a little story about my parents. Someone here had wrote it for me and it was very clever.

I did also have a seating arrangement and put out little cards. I'm really glad I did this since the table was set up in a big U configuration.

I took a lot of photos and made them one of the hardback books using the pictures (Snapfish, etc. make good books).

Let us know how your party goes Magoo.

Some things I particularly remember from our 50th--

Several large snapshot displays with captions, mounted on easels, showed our lives from before marriage up to the 50th.

A daughter invited each guest to submit a written memory they had of us. These were presented in a notebook for us to keep.

Our oldest daughter went from guest to guest explaining their connection to us. Since some were strangers to each other this was a great help to break the ice.

My parents had their 50th in 2000. Back then I hired a videographer. I guess just about anyone could do that now but it kept me from having to worry about getting pics., etc.

They had a 3 pc band. The woman that stood up for them was there and told about that day. Then poster boards with pictures. I know we all had a blast!

Good luck!

You might let the people know that during the party a bell will ring and someone will be asked about a memory--funny, informative--(not sad) Keep it short, if they bring notes, keep them on a 3x5 card. After reading them, drop into a bowl, jar. then if this is a lunch/supper, draw one ( or more) for a silly prize. Like pen/pencil/tiny tablet, small bottle of shampoo/conditions/soap/lotion like you get at motels, Just a thought.

Definitely display their wedding photos prominently. How about side by side "Then and Now" photos? Have each guest (or couple) write down a memory on a 3 by 5 card.(But only a happy or funny story,nothing sad or embarassing.) Collect and read some, give them all to your parents at the end of the evening. Above all, have fun.

My Daughter decorated our 50th anniversary cake.
The cake was 36" long by 18". On the top of the cake she
had an edible wedding picture of us plus a picture of our wedding certificate and invitation to our wedding. The cake
was beautiful.

Dolly

How did you make the memory boards? I mean did you use poster type paper? I thought about doing one for each decade 60s, 70s, etc. Where can I find inexpensive easels?
The hard thing is...I need to "smuggle" some pictures out of their house and my mom is a neat freak and will notice if anything is moved!!
Keep the ideas coming, I need all the help I can get!!

Can anyone give me tips on the memory boards? Does W Mart or Michaels have them?

I got poster boards at Staples--I think they were about $7 each. The Dollar Tree has thin poster boards for $1--you could probably glue two together to make them thick enough.

I used mounting putty to attach the photos to the boards. That way, I was able to remove the putty to return the photos to their albums after the event.

I also used the thick poster board (foam board), think I got mine at Walmart. I had a big empty gold frame that I put it in. I made color copies of the pictures instead of using the originals and then let my parents keep the board after the party.

Science project display boards work well for memory boards.

I went to a 60th anniversary party where they had a large pic of the couple and it was mounted but not framed. They asked each of us to sign the mounting. The couple now has it framed and hanging in their home.