For my 50th I had a party where all the guests were older than I so I was still the youngest. :)

I've always wanted to take a hot air balloon ride.

mom always wanted to ride in a glider

We still see a number of our university friends and we were all turning 50 the same year. We did an Alaskan Cruise with 9 other couples. So much fun

A friend of mine turned 50 a couple of years later and she wanted to do a girls week away at an all-inclusive on the Mayan side of Mexico. There were 12 of us altogether and boy did we have a blast.

Too funny, Annie.

Ask SueB, I think she celebrated all year!

Annie's idea is the very best. Did the older people know why they were invited? ;)

Mine is later this year. We're going to the Cook Islands for 12 days. I wanted to go somewhere unique and off the grid so we could really relax. Then we'll get together with friends when we're back home at the local beer garden.

If it were ladies only, I'd spend five days at Miraval Resort. It's a wonderful place. Or I'd go to New York to eat and shop.

Debra, my friend did the kayaks at Canalside and really enjoyed it.

For my 50th birthday my family drove here and we rented a lake house and had a relaxing weekend.

I think the winery steampunk event sounds good, too.

Sports? Go see a pro baseball/hockey game in Cleveland, Toronto, NY, or Boston? Road trip to Cleveland for Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?

Well, what I did was make my party a reunion of the people I worked with many years ago when I first started working...just so happened I was the youngest in the group at the time and lo and behold, still was all those many years later. We had a blast. Hadn't seen each other in like 25 years. It was great fun.

That does sound like fun. The weirdest thing for me at this age is working for and, calling on, people a lot younger than me. I remember feeling so self conscious when I first started working. But I would never go back in time...okay, maybe I would trade in my gray hair and wrinkles.....

Annie, my neighbor did something similar for his wife's surprise 50th birthday party.

He told the guests to come dressed looking older. It was interesting what happened. It seems that those 50 under really got into costume with walkers, canes,oxygen tanks and gray wigs etc., but those that were already older did not.

For my 50th, I met up with my twin sister and her husband for a weekend cruise to the Bahamas. Living many states apart, we are never together for our birthday, so we made it a point to be together for this one.

I was also treated by a group of close friends for a lovely dinner at a special restaurant.

im not sure I would do something that scares me to celebrate. Unless this has been a lifelong dream of yours to kayak, then go for it.

i would be more on the lines of the pole dancing. To me, this says that you are going out of your comfort zone to try something unlike anything you have ever done.

I'm not giving up on the pole dancing just putting it off till the winter and need to encourage friends to try it. I not I will do it myself! I'm only a little afraid of kayaks so it would be a fun challenge.

Hot air balloon or a helicopter ride (I'm also afraid of helicopters and hot balloons, they crash too often!) over Niagara Falls is an idea. A cruise or trip would have been nice. We (the group turning 50) talked about this a few years ago but never planned anything. Gsciencechick, maybe go see the Bills play in a different city? Like Miami??? Though that could be dangerous, lol.

This is also our 30th wedding anniversary this year (same month) so we are planning something for that too.

I admit the dressing up like older people or seeing people like that would really depress me. It bothers me now to see people with walkers, etc. Jokes about getting older may make me cry, seriously. I have said that on my birthday I will either be sobbing or screaming "I'm 50 and fabulous". Probably will end up doing both! My theme is I'm not growing old gracefully, I'm fighting it every step of the way.

It is odd at this age and older, the wide difference in people of the same age. You see women at 50 that could be in Playboy, others who look very dowdy, others who completely let themselves go, etc. and lots in between. Recently at a concert my friend and I were surprised to see so many women our age looking so boring. We said, please don't let us ever turn into that. I don't mean going to the extreme, trying to look like you are 18 and sleazy. But try to look attractive.

I know a woman who is 96. She is my hero of growing older! She looks fabulous, I mean really good. I have no doubt that if she wanted to hook up with someone she could get a much, much younger guy. She acts young, drives, still runs her own business, and gets more exercise than I do, etc. She is mentally and physically in better shape than many, decades younger than her. She dresses very attractively and classy. She rolls her eyes when others can't keep up with her. One thing I noticed is she does not make jokes or laugh at "old" comments. You would never hear her say she is having a "senior moment" or thinking that was funny. I love her attitude and I really think that is what keeps her so young.

FYI Yesterday, Slash turned 50!

A friend gave me a birthday party. And then, I went to Australia: Sydney, Melbourne suburbs, Cairns. Going to Australia for my 50th had been on my list of things to do since my 40th. :-)

My biggest issue is that my thyroid went sideways at the same time I started traveling extensively for work in my 40's, so I'm trying really hard to get back in shape. If I can find success there, I'm good to turn 50.

I was laid off two weeks before turning 30 and totally freaked out about my career path told myself I had ten years to get my stuff together and didn't focus on anything that wasn't work related.

When I turned 40, it was like a switch went off and I started having fun again.

Now, with the exception of the gelatinous body, I have a sense of calm and happiness that is just different. Turning 50 with a cocktail, my husband, a South Pacific beach and no internet just seemed like the way to glide into this phase. Oh, and maybe the lifestyle lift in a few years!

For me, 40 was great, 50 not so much. Same thing here with hypothyroid and menopause. I work out, do weights, got a Fitbit, have a treadmil desk (which I am using now), and it is very frustrating. DH and I are doing a few vegetarian meals per week, and that seems to be helping to get the calories down.

I am also very conscious of chronic disease. This year I had a nuclear stress test, a concussion, and I got called back on my yearly mammogram when I never had been before. I had a screening colonoscopy at 50 and wound up having a large precancerous polyp removed. Thank goodness everything turned out OK but I may eventually run out of luck. Hence, the need to get weight off but exercise does have its own independent effects--yay.

Debra, we went with my family to the Rolling Stones show at the Ralph,so, yes, it was quite a range. We had this hoochie-mama in the row in front of us with her thong hanging out of her pants and then her big implants and she was probably in our age range. There was a young teen boy and the father moved him from being next to her since the woman her friends came late.

Yes, I did celebrate multiple times when I turned 50 last fall! What I did (over the course of a few months):

4 days in Bermuda with DH and our two "BFF" couples.

3 days at Woodstock Inn, VT, with two close girlfriends.

4 days ALONE at Mirbeau Spa in Skaneatles, NY.

ON my birthday, a spa day with 4 friends, followed by a big party planned by DH (not a surprise but some details were a surprise, like a photo booth and the amazing food and dance floor).

I'm turning 51 in two months and it feels a LOT less fun!!

Well, as they say, it takes 10 yrs to get used to how old you are.

One thing that really hit home on my France trip was the importance of exercise. (It's not about looks, but about strength and stamina.) I was stunned that people who were 10 yrs younger than DH were complaining about how long the walking tours were or how many stairs they had to climb...believe me, the walks were short and leisurely. These were people without infirmity, and clearly without activity. We felt the walking was minimal and could easily have gone a lot further.

OTOH, there were those with clear infirmities who moved along as best they could, trucked no special accommodation, and never complained a bit. I give them a lot of credit.

GS, based on your suggestion, now checking into going to Nashville to see the Bills play. Unfortunately the airfare is really expensive even with travel agent discounts. What would be great is that we can meet up with a Bills fan club there and party with them. I didn't go see the Stones but have to say I still call it Rich Stadium, LOL.

Sue, I love how you had multiple celebrations!

Just told my BFF that if nothing else this had made me think that we need to always be doing fun things that take us out of our comfort zone. We have enough ideas to last a few years. She said she is game for any of the ideas except the pole dancing. Yeah, I'm not giving up on that one.

Thankfully health wise my body in some ways has returned to pre baby state (22 years later). The weight I gained having kids is finally gone without much effort. My appetite and metabolism seems back to what is was.

Too cool about Nashville. One of the local bars here is organizing a trip to Nashville to see the Bills. DH and I might do it. As long as I can take a laptop and work on the bus if I have to.

BTW, did you see the photos of Mick Jagger and Charlie Watts at the Darwin Martin house? I took DH. I had actually never been because for most of my life it was not open to the public.

Yeah, after the show we had to walk back to our tailgate lot, which was a little less than a mile. My one brother has a disability and cannot do that, but my SIL acted like it was going to be horrible for her. Luckily, they had pedi-cabs and a guy brought my brother back to the car.

Debrak, your comment about appetite and metabolism makes me hate you just a little.......kidding! Really I'm just jealous. I just keep going to Pilates.....

I did see the photos of Mick and Charlie at the Martin House. I was telling everyone about it! For me that was the coolest part of the Stones being in Buffalo. I haven't been there in about 5 years and the restoration was not complete. Need to go again.

The appetite and metabolism thing I believe has been a combination of factors. Going back to work outside the home, wearing invisalign (invisable braces), walking and doing tai chi. Then Pre menopause hit me like a brick with some temporary negatives but now more positives. I like to think it's mother nature trying to get me knocked up one more time.

Just wanted to send an update that I did put a deposit down on the Bills @ Titans game. The motorcoaches have wireless, so if I have to take my laptop and do work, at least I can do that. It's the weekend before my fall break from school, which is usually really swamped. We don't have off for columbus day.

My friend and I had to pass on the trip to see the Bills @ Titans due to the high cost of the airfare. : (

Still working on planning a fun activity.