Surprise 50th?

Question

I am hosting a Surpirse 50th for my dad in October this year but i have NO IDEA what to do first....

Has anyone see a party planning website around or does anyone have any idea what i should be doing first?

Please HELP!!!

He has had a ruff few year and I want this to be as special as it can be for him.

Answer 1

Cater it w/his fav ethnic food (are you like of one ethnic background to make it easy!??))..or just his fav.

Contact some of his old friends, better make that OLD friends (LOL) and ask them to contribute an eMail (sent to YOU) or a vid on youtube remembering him and how crazy he was in his more youthful daze (days, I mean days).

HTH.

Answer 2

Since he was 20 in 1978, you might want to have a Disco theme:  disco ball, mirror squares under candles on tables;  mirror confetti strewed on tables....disco music ....most people always love the music they listened to as teenagers/young 20's....

Answer 3

What does he like?  It really depends.  If he likes football pick that as your theme.  Decorate with those colors, serve franks, nachos, beer, tacos, etc.

If he's really nostalgic, try to bring together some of his high school buddies.  I did this for my fiancees 30th with his little league friends.

I would start there.  Then figure out your budget and guest list.  Then we can better help you.

Answer 4

First decide who and how many people you're going to invite.  Once you do that, decide WHERE you want to have it, if it's going to be somewhere other than your house or a relative's house, go there and talk to them to get an idea of the cost, what dates they have open, etc.  Also you need to figure out if the place does the food, or if you need to find a caterer to do it.  And if you need to provide the drinks.  

If you are providing the food and drinks, you are also providing the paper plates and things.  Which means you need dinner plates, salad bowls, and cake plates.  Plastic forks, spoons, and knives.  Cups for cold drinks and then hot drinks (coffee and tea which is both regular and decaf). You'll need sodas, milk, skim and regular, and decide what alcohol you'll be serving.  You'll also need napkins, tablecloths, coffee urn, etc.  Sometimes it's cheaper to go with a restuarant than it is to rent a hall and do everything yourself.  I've done both and there's been thousands of dollars in the difference and the restuarant was cheaper because they do EVERYTHING!  I had to buy everything, and I do mean everything! You have to think of everything you use when you eat, salt, pepper, sugar, etc, and get all those things when you have it in a hall.

Sometimes though, depending where you live and where you find it, the hall can be cheaper and if you find a good caterer they can help you with those things and go through it with you.

After you find that out, figure out a caterer, if you want to hire a band/DJ, if you are doing the invites, etc.  It's not as hard as it sounds, but it IS a lot of little things and it is a lot of work.  You also have to get decorations and go and put them up and if you do pick a hall, find out when you can get there and get in.  Some places won't give you the key until the day of the event.

I hope I'm not freaking you out!  First, make your guest list, then get some prices and compare the costs of having it in a restuarant vs. a hall you can go to a caterer and get their costs and the costs of a hall and compare that to the cost of a restuarant and see which you like better and which you think your dad would like better.  Do you think he'd like to get up and dance? If so, go with the hall.  

I hope this helps and good luck with everything!

Answer 5

Actually you don't need to have a theme, just family and his closest friends will make him happy.  Have your supermarket bake a sheet cake with Happy Birthday on it for him.  Have a punch bowl full of Hawaiian punch.

OR have an outdoor barbecue.

Most of all DO NOT HAVE A SIGN THAT SAYS "OVER THE HILL".   No one wants to be 50 years old which means they are one half of one hundred years old.