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Decades Birthday Party -50yr- Posters of Favorites

September 2009

Karen in Madison, AL, usa

Honorable Mention

50th  Birthday Celebration For my husband's 50th birthday celebration, I decided to have a Decades Party. 

For his invitations, I had a boyhood picture and a recent picture that read Isn't it Nifty James is turning 50. I made the invitations with my Publisher Program and printed them at a paper supply store.  

We had the party at my parent's home and since we were expecting 50+ people, I knew their family room wouldn't accommodate everyone.  I therefore divided several rooms around the house into different decades. In the family room, we had a dvd of facts from the year he was born (i.e average salary in 1959, cost of a home in 1959, baseball champions etc.).  We also had a slide show of name that tune from 1959 and clips from television show intros and commercials that we played  on the television that we were able to download from you tube.    

The living room was the 60s and 70s room.  I had banners above the entrance of the living room that read Welcome to the 60s with slogans from the 60s (peace, flower power etc) and another that read Outta Site in the 70s with a happy face.  The room  was decorated with all his boyhood pictures,  a copy of a magazine from the week he was born (found the magazine and articles on the internet), his tuxedo from his prom, and banners and pennants from his high school. I framed several of his childhood photos and we played music from the 60s and 70s in that room. 

The media room was dedicated to the 80s. The sign above the door read Welcome to the 80s and had his university logo on one side of the banner and his fraternity logo on the other side. I decorated one side of the room with his college paraphernalia (border, pennants, hat, t-shirt etc.) and the other side of his room with his fraternity paraphernalia (t-shirt, a picture from when he was pledging,  and other items I was able to retrieve from the attic and college friends) . 

Since mtv became popular in the 80s, we had music videos playing from the 80s in the media room. My husband is also a big Prince Fan, so we also had Purple Rain playing for a portion of the party.  The last area was dedicated to the 90s.  I simply had a banner hanging in front of the hallway that read welcome to the 90s with a picture of a dvd and :) on it.

I printed out signs from the various organizations he had been involved in(professional organizations, teams he had coached, social organizations etc.) on 8 ½ x 11 paper and posted them throughout  the hallway wall.  At the end of the hallway, I had a hanging banner that read Welcome to the New Millennium.  It lead to the last room that was decorated with family pictures and 50 balloons and decorations that I purchased on eBay and a party store. 

For refreshments,  had a layered road cake.  The cake had a car going down a road and there were various road signs made of fondant and icing. The signs read  Welcome to Pearlie's Place  Exit 1959 Detour to NC State University Exit 1977 etc..   We included other exit and road signs were from other significant life events (1st job, marriage, children etc.). I had the food catered by a friend and served heavy appetizers meatballs, shrimp, Mexican dip and chips, fruit, cheese and crackers, veggie tray, honey baked ham, rolls  and chicken tenders. 

I ordered personalized napkins on eBay in his favorite colors and used table cloths in the same colors. Serving table decorations also included flowers and votive candles.  While our guest were eating, I played a video I put together of my husband's closest friends and their thoughts about him.  They answered questions about what they like most about him, the craziest thing they saw him do, what drive them crazy about him etc..

Surprisingly, many of the answers were similar and everyone got a kick out of hearing the answers and funny stories about him.  The party turned out great and will have lasting memories for us.

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