Trying to help with planning of a 50th anniversary coming up........budget smallish......any ideas?

L

Well, I would have some flowers that are a favorite of the couples around in vases. Their favorite foods obviously.....would buy a special cover for the table ( can get this from a crafts store, or from Wal-mart...wherever)....would dress up the chairs a bit with slipcovers....would do a special album book for the couple, can even include recipes in it.....could take them both out earlier in the day for a special makeover with nails, feets, etc.....

One more suggestion...watch on the Foodnetwork Channel a certain cook called Sandra Lee. At the end of her show, she's always showing different ways to make up your tables, napkins, etc...so that's one idea you can look into.

What we did at my grandparents 50th was have it at their church, so the place was free, and they had a screen so we could project a slide show of their photos. I forget where we got them, but we found a pack of 50 frames in differing sizes but all silver for inexpensive and filled those with shots of them through the years. Those were centerpieces and stuck around the room on small tables with flowers/mints etc.. There are also lots of free websites with good ideas for settings/tables etc.. Have fun!!

I've seen the same thing done that happy Daisy mentioned - having it at the church and making a slide show. Also, you can take photos of them and have them blown up into poster size very inexpensively at a copy shop (we have Kinkos here, not sure if they are nationwide).

You could also consider making it a covered dish event, depending on the crowd. I love the silver frame idea.

You could also make up a trivia game about their lives together and have a few inexpensive prizes for the winners.

I like the pictures idea - I was going to suggest using decorations that would have been popular 50 years ago (you might be able to find decorating/style magazines from the 50's for tips on this). Also, maybe some signature appetizers/canapes from the 50's.

dollar tree and oriental trading company are both fantastic places to get supplies. Instead of gifts you could ask each guest to write down a memory of the couple and each person read it at the party, then you can take the written memories and turn them into a scrapbook. You could have a grandchild sing their wedding son (if they had one). The sky is the limit

Lacey

I love the scrapbook idea. You could take old photos and such and do part of it, then have everyone write down a memory and read it, then leave enough room in the scrapbook so they could put the memory papers in it later.

My wife and I did a slide show for her parent's 50th using iPhoto on our Mac. We set it up on a TV in the room and played music that was special to them over the years on the sound system. We simply looped the slide show and let people take turns checking it out while they were mingling. The music and photos really brought back a lot of good memories for them. We also put together a scrapbook and DVD using pictures from the slide show that they were able to take with them to enjoy as often as they wanted.

I love the picture idea. Why not request guests to bring one of their favorite pictures, make a copy of it and write a little story or memory that goes with it. Or have family and friends do this a few weeks before the party and you could make up book with the pictures and stories and pass them out as party favors. Have the party at a church, if they are a member, or rent a small hall if a lot of people are going to come. Have cake, coffee, and finger foods. You probably don't need any activities because I know my grandparents love to talk to everybody. Look online, you can find a lot of things to do for parties. Have a potluck style meal if you need to save money. Each person brings their favorite dish. Good luck.

Thanks so much

L

Great ideas! A friend of mine made candy bouquets using old fashioned candy (licorice for the center, mary janes, necco wafers, lollipops, squirrel nuts, dots, gum cigars) for her mother's 70th birthday party.

Do you have a pic of the candy bouqet?

Liz

<honey, you beat me to it!>

We also put balloons on each table, just a few that were weighted down with baggies filled with the almond Hershey's kisses (they are the ones wrapped in gold foil). For the gift table, we printed a few 8x10 pictures of my parents throughout the years and bought cheap gold frames to dress them up (at the end of the party, each of the kids got to keep a picture). For food, we just had some finger foods on platters from the grocery store, and ordered a cake from the grocery store.

There was also a microphone with the sound system in the room, and we passed it around to let people congratulate my parents and share funny stories with everyone. My parents really loved the party and talk about it all the time. Whatever you do, it doesn't have to be complicated or expensive. As long as everyone is together with their loved ones celebrating such a special event, all the rest of it doesn't matter.

Cindy

My parents re-newed their wedding vows on their 50th. It was really nice. a little pricier because we rented the high school and had a full wedding reception.

On their 60th, we did the slide show. I dug up all the old black and white pictures from multiple family members and scanned them into computer. We just used a DVD player. We had it at their church so that saved money. Food was kind of basic-what ever was on sale the weeks before. We kept the menu kind of open We felt we had to have a full meal because most everyone was traveling at least 3 hours to get there.

I also was working on the family tree so I interviewed family members and wrote my parent's life story. It was really interesting how things have changed in the last 80 years. I made a booklet and we gave it out to everyone. It had pictures and everything. We also did a family cookbook. Using a free template from Microsoft. I sent out a letter to everyone/anyone I could think of asking them for their favorite recipes. I also asked Mom to tell me what recipes she wanted. If nobody had that recipe I went on the net to find it.

If you are interested, I'll send you a copy of the cookbook. Send me a private message with your email address.

Sarah