This is a fun way to celebrate the milestone of a 50^th wedding anniversary, but you can use the same ideas for any wedding anniversary. Decorate the party place with all things from the year the couple was married. In the case of a 50^th wedding anniversary celebrated in 2009 the wedding year is 1959. Dig up all the information you can on 1959 and use what you find to help choose a theme.

In 1959 for instance TV shows such as Bonanza and Rawhide premiered in that year, so a western theme might be what your draw from for a theme and decorations. You might choose to use Etch A Sketch as decoration on the tables since they were invented in that year. For entertainment you could hire impersonators to play the popular artist from the day, such as Doris Day or Frank Sinatra.

For food again look to the past for what to serve. In the 50’s grilling was a rising trend, so grilled food may be a good choice for this party. Or any other food items that were popular during that time. Do the same with your beverages choose drinks that were popular during the anniversary couple’s wedding year. In 1959 soda pop in bottles were the rage. See if you can find soda in bottles to continue the theme year. Tang was a popular drink as well. For adult beverages, martinis were very popular in the late 50’s.

With a bit of research on your part, a golden opportunity to give a wonderful walk down memory lane to an anniversary couple is a snap. And remember you can do this with any wedding year.

This anniversay party planning idea was brought ot you by weddingandpartynetwork.com.

Halloween theme parties are one of my favorites. When throwing a Halloween party, you’ll need to invest in few scary surprises for your party guest.

Tip #1 – DRY ICE

The most important surprise begin with dry ice.  It creates the ultimate spooky party feeling. You can use it in your punch and with your decorations. Not sure about dry ice but still want the creepy affect of an eerie fog rolling in? Rent a fog machine.

Tip #2 – Get Into Character

Create the ultimate Halloween party atmosphere by hiring some scary characters to mingle with the crowd. There performers can liven up the party with ghoulish activities and spooky skits.  Be part of the fun by renting a character costume for yourself or make it a Halloween costume party. Transform your party area into a Halloween mecca. Decorate with fake spider webs, mini caskets to hold the food, orange and black streamers and black candles placed in a fake skull. Cardboard cut out tombstones for your outdoors and well as indoors.

Tip #3 – Ghoulish Food Equals Good Time

Once you’ve got your dry ice punch, other food and drink ideas are simple.  Serve a blood drink for Vampires (7up™ or Sprite™ colored with red food coloring). Serve your ghoulish dip served in carved pumpkin. (Ghoulish dip can be made from anything but dips with chunks of pimentos, mushrooms, etc. give a creepier effect.) Don’t forget the spooky sweets.  If you’re not good at making creepy cakes and spooky cookies have your bakery make them for you. Serve super spicy bat wings. Okay, you can’t really buy spicy bat wings but you can chicken wings and call them bat wings.

Tip #4 – Treat Them To Entertainment

Although entertainment will vary by age, a Halloween party lends itself to many options. A unique kids entertainment ideas is pumpkin bowling.  All you need for this low-cost form of entertainment is some empty water bottles and a few pumpkins.  Everyone loves to bowl, but teens and adults might prefer a more refined type of entertainment.  Try a murder mystery game.  Halloween entertainment options are endless.

These are basic tips you can use for any type of Halloween party. These same principles for a kids Halloween party or for adult parties.  Just remember with the help of these tips, your local bakery, and a  party supply store, you can throw a wickedly fun Halloween party!

As always Wedding and Party Network, is a great place for ideas when planning your party.

40th Birthday – You’re Not Old – You’re Like Fine Wine & Cheese – Better With Age

Having  reached my fortieth year (a milestone birthday), my sister threw me a great party. It was subdued, yet a fantastically wonderful party. My Sister invited my husband and a few of my dearest friends over to celebrate my birthday. The black ad white invitation arrived by mail, asking us to attend a wine and cheese party, and to dress in evening wear attire.

She decorated her home with flowers that coordinated with the wines we were going to taste. The serving table was decorated with flowers such as red roses behind a Merlot wine,  white roses for a Chardonnay wine. It was fragrant and beautiful, her home looked like a fine restaurant. The food was delicious yet simple, the rich cheese, the fresh fruits all served by a waiter dressed in a purple shirt with black pants (purple is my favorite color). The best part was the most decadent seven layer chocolate cake she served for desert.

My sister, always the best hostess, hired a wonderful singer/guitar player who softy played through out the night. As we drank the wines and sampled the cheeses, we swayed to the music even singing along occasionally.  This party is a relaxing way way to celebrate a 40^th birthday. 

Sometimes we think a milestone birthday party means big and grand, but big is not what every 40 year old wants. Some like a more subdued party that is rich in food, drink and close friends and family. My sister gave me what I needed a relaxing celebration of my birthday.  Keep this idea in mind you may have a friend or family member that wants to quietly celebrate their age. This allows you to celebrate their milestone without stressing them out with big party.

When someone retires, it is a great time for an office party.  However as with all parties, it requires organization and planning. Of course, the focus of the party should be on the life and work of the retiree which can be tricky. So how do you throw a great retirement party for some one you only know as a co-worker?

Simple get their family involved.  Ask their family to share the hobbies, favorite color, food, and drink of the retiree. Get those questions answered then run with it. If you’re having the parties at work, decorate the party area with balloons, streamers and table cloths in their favorite color or colors.  It also a nice touches to have a “Happy Retirement” banner made.  If you’re having a quick retirement party, you can serve cake and ice cream with water, soda, and juice for the drinks and food. If you found out the retiree’s hobby is golfing then purchase napkins with a golf theme.

To do a more formal dinner party, you can book a room at restaurant. For larger parties with entertainment,  rent a party hall and hire caterers. as for decorations, skip the streamers and balloons instead use candles and flower arrangements. Keep table cloths in basic black or white and use flowers in the favorite color of the retiree. If this party is for multiple retirees, go with company colors in the table flower arrangements. That way you’ll offend no one by leaving out their favorite color.

Being in charge of the office retirement parties isn’t really a difficult task when you ask the right questions and follow key party principles.

Everyone knows that a party is more fun if there is a theme involved. That’s why whenever hosting a party, I  try to have some kind of central idea to focus around whether it be Hawaiian themed, Mexican themed, or holiday themed. Here lately, I have been in a rut with my party theme ideas. I really needed some fresh ideas.  So, I started exploring possibilities outside of my norm. I considered weird wacky themes, outlandish themes and even considered recycling some old themes.  Then in the midst of my brainstorming, I thought of a new and exciting idea for any kind of party: Decade Themes.

With a decade as a theme, you can incorporate many aspects of entertainment into your party planning including: popular foods, clothes, games, and music. To make sure the theme really takes off, be sure and send out party theme invitations ahead of time incorporating elements of the decade. Let guests know that decade attire is required for the party. Guests decked out in decade party attire will add to another element to your party decorations, not to mention some good laughs. Think of how much fun guests will have putting together outfits for the event. You can even have a contest for the best decade outfit.

Choosing what to serve at your party is completely up to the host. Regular party food is always fine. However if you want to get creative, find or make some foods that were popular during that time. Entertainment is a must. Games are optional of course, but games such as Twister and Super Nintendo sure do bring some laughs to a room full of MC Hammer pants. Of course pumping it up with a little music, is probably the best way to immerse your guests in the decade, as well as, entertain them.  To add that special musical ambiance to the party hire a band that plays a variety of songs from the decade. If you can’t find the right live entertainment for your party, a good decade music list from your Ipod will work just fine.

A decade theme party is a fun and unique way to throw a fabloulous shin-dig.  So pick a decade and let the good times rock and roll.

If you have a relative celebrating their 60^th birthday this year, consider throwing a Party with a “Sock Hop” theme. Those born in 1949 will remember the 50’s and will appreciate a nostalgic trip down memory lane.

What You Need For A “Sock Hop” 60th Birthday Party

1) A Classic Car. Have the honoree picked up and driven to the party site in a classic car from that era. This will set the stage for what’s to come.

2) Sounds From The 50’s. Don’t forget the music which was a huge part of the 50’s. Hire a DJ to spin 50’s tunes or turn in to the fifties channel on your stereo.

3) A 50’s Atmosphere. Decorate your walls with pictures of the honoree from the 50’s that have been enlarged. Decorate with retro items. Create a 50’s atmosphere by setting up a “Malt Shop” bar with 50’s memorabilia including glasses containing hand-dipped milkshakes and malts.

4) The Taste of the 50’s. If you’re serving a meal, consider classics like meatloaf and mashed potatoes or drive-in favorites like burgers and fries.

5) Party like they did back when. Hula hoops came of age in the 50’s, so why not have a hula hoop contest?

6) A trip down memory lane. Most of all, give the guests an opportunity to pay tribute to the guest of honor. A 60^th birthday is a special milestone and it’s a great time to tell humorous stories and anecdotes about the honoree. With a trip down memory lane the stories should be abundant and a great way to share how important the guests and birthday boy/girl are to each other.

So stroll down to the party store and pick up some 50’s theme party supplies and in no time your 60 year old birthday boy/girl will be rocking and rolling their way to fabulous birthday.

I’m always looking for an excuse to throw a party. For 2009, I decided that the Golden Globe Awards was a great adult party theme to kick off the New Year. I’ve put together some great ideas to make your Golden Globes Party fun and creative without breaking the bank.

First, you can’t have a Golden Globes party without a red carpet. Run down to you’re local store in search for an inexpensive red carpet. If you can’t find one there, you can certainly make your own. A few yards of inexpensive red fabric will do the trick.

Games are always a great idea for any kind of party. Before guests arrive, prepare a list of the Golden Globe nominations on elegant paper in a fancy font. The guests can use this list to select who they think will win each category. Before the awards ceremony starts have everyone turn in their ballot and who ever has the most correct after the show receives their very own golden globe. You can pick up a fake Golden Globe at a local party supplies store or order online. If your budget allows, you could send everyone home with a mini Golden Globe as party favors.

Planning a dinner?

Invite Excitement With Creative Party Invitations

Of all the responsibilities of throwing a party, the invitation is often the most overlooked—and the most important. The party invitation is the first thing guests will see. It gives them an idea of the theme, atmosphere, and basic information about the party. If you rigorously work to throw a party, you want the invitation to show it!

For every type of party, there are hundreds of invitation possibilities. While creativity at a party is somewhat optional, it is a must for the invitation. It’s the “calling card” for the event. Invitations represent the event in its entirety.

Add A Personal Touch To Party Invitations

Invitations for common events, such as weddings and birthday parties, are opportunities to display some uncommonness and personality. Elaborate invitations are always an option; however, the more personality injected into an invitation, the more effective it will be. For example, with birthday parties, try a snapshot of the guest of honor in his or her youth with information on the back or, for something more formal, place the photo inside of a more intricate invitation.

Find a humorous or endearing photograph from a scrap album, have copies made at any photography development counter, and add the time, date, and location on the back or on the rest of the invitation. Imagine getting a photo in the mail of a friend dressed like a cowboy as a four-year-old and how difficult it Read the rest of Party Invitation Ideas »

When throwing a birthday party, decorations and details are very important. Utilizing color and making it the base of your party is the easiest theme you can choose. It can revolve around sport team colors, school colors, or the birthday person’s favorite colors.

Choose one or two favorite colors of the birthday man or women. Start with decorating with crepe paper. String crepe paper from each of the four corners of your room to make a crepe paper canopy. To the center Read the rest of Color Me Surpised Birthday Party Theme »

This is a very versatile party theme. It great for childrens parties, adult parties or birthday parties and involves something everyone loves – cheeseburgers.

The Cheeseburger in Paradise party theme for children is easy and takes minimal planning. Send kids party invitations in the shape of a cheeseburger. Before guests arrive, place a Welcome to Paradise sign in the front yard. Upon arrival give each child a cheeseburger-shaped goody bag that includes party favors; like Read the rest of Cheeseburger In Paradise »