a fiesta for fifty

So, my husband asked me if I wanted celebrate my fiftieth birthday with a party.  Since I haven't had a birthday party since I was a teenager, I said yes.  And wow, did I have one!

I still can't believe the time and effort my family spent planning my party (my husband especially).  Most years my birthday is very quiet - I like to relax, read, drink coffee, get a massage and have a nice dinner (usually steak and lobster made by my husband).  So I thought it would be fun to host a big celebration for once.  And wow, was it big!

For almost a month before the day, my husband was shut in his office for hours "working on the party."  For three days before, my son joined him behind the door to help.  I could hear the construction sounds of wood being hammered...a ladder was pulled out...the Amazon truck stopped multiple times a day with multiple boxes.  What were they up to?  And on March twenty-first, (which conveniently fell on a Saturday) I finally got to see the results.  

I'll try not to share too many pics.  Here we go!

My husband and kids decorated the whole house.  And I mean, the WHOLE house.

For days before my birthday, they boxed up things in rooms and put them in storage, then put tables all around the house with displays and posters about my life.

There were 1970's decorations everywhere - I think my daughter said she put 100 flowers on the walls.

There were Scooby-Doo decorations too (my favorite cartoon as a kid) as well as three life-size cutouts of myself like this one - my "Cat Lady" Halloween costume!

Decorated tables like this were all through the house.

One of the themes of the party was the 250th celebration of our country, since I was born in the bicentennial year.  My husband set up his office as the "Bicentennial Room." 

Here I am again!

My daughter made a backdrop (it's actually hard to see behind everyone) for a "Bicentennial Photo Booth."  My husband bought lots of wigs and props for pictures...

The photo props were popular!

Here is my family (who worked so hard)!

We actually kept the photo booth up for a couple of weeks, and when friends and family came to visit we took pics 😀

 

The only request I had for my party (because my husband took over the planning) - I wanted it to be really fun for the guests, and I wanted to bring back all the games we played at my childhood birthday parties, and give away all my favorite things as the prizes.

We played the marshmallow game - you had to transfer marshmallows from one bowl to another using a spoon in your mouth (no hands allowed!).

We played "wall sit" where you had to time yourself sitting against the wall (no chair allowed!).

Longest time won.  Becktur (above) was the big winner of this one.

(OMG, we played this game at every childhood birthday party I can remember...)

We played "Pin the Lips on Phoebe" (sadly, I have no action pic of this one, think "Pin the tail on the donkey).  This was my high school graduation photo my husband turned into a poster.

(At least he picked a good one...😅)

And we had the amazing good fortune of having an 82 degree day on party day in March!

I don't remember that ever happening in Tennessee before...but we were able to be outside and play "Drop the Clothespin" (in the milk bottle).

We used a glass Byrne Dairy milk jug when I was a kid in New York...

We played 1976 Trivia.

In case you're wondering, the "Best Picture" winner that year at the movies was "Rocky," the most popular breed of dog was a Poodle and a gallon of milk cost $1.63.

There was a cake (an amazing cake!) made by my friend's daughter...

...and best of all, there were friends. 💗

We gave away my favorite things as prizes (a giftcard to my favorite restaurant, my favorite book, favorite candy, favorite movie, favorite flowers, etc.).

Here are my friends Mike and Jeanette (who won best dressed!) with their prize of flowers.

I bought a plain glass vase at Goodwill and my daughter Juli painted it.

(See, I can always bring everything back around to Goodwill!)

And finally...

...there was a disco ball!

A very, very groovy disco ball!

Eight of us wound down the night dancing to '70s music.

It was far out 💥

There were also some worship songs, led by my friend Kory, who brought his guitar.

And there was prayer (before the disco ball...).

It was truly a magical evening.  I never need another party.  We did it.  The last guest exited at midnight, a reasonable ending time for a fifty-year-old's party.  I even skipped church the next day to recover, as any self-respecting senior citizen would.

I am blessed. 💗