Need ideas to celebrate DH’s 50th birthday...

[gatorsmom]

...in the midst of COVID19 beginning of March. And for those of you who don’t know, we live in Wisconsin so it’s still cold then. I do not love planning parties for DH and I thought I was going to get a reprieve this year because of the virus. But his childhood friend’s wife called him and apparently she’s planning some retro flashback with photos of their childhood together and putting a lot of effort into it. So now, DH is expecting something nice too.

I’ll be honest- my hip still hurts daily from limping after ankle surgery. I’m behind on everything in our house. I’m focusing all my efforts on helping DS1 organize his college efforts (college tours, getting ACT accommodations for his dyslexia,- essentially acting like the college advisor that our school doesn’t have). And our primary activities (Boy scouts for all 4 kids and daily dance for dd) are still going strong as well as the church group I lead. I am venting but honestly, I don’t have time to put together a big photo slide show for Dh. I put a ton of effort into a surprise birthday party for his 30th and he got sick and I had to cancel it. :(. I just don’t want to do it again.

I did give him and the boys permission to go on a ski trip for his 50th. But he’s not putting much effort into organizing it. And he won’t want me to organize it. He prefers to plan his trips himself.

Do you have any ideas? Suggestions?

[mom2binsd]

I bet your kids could out it together easily, DD put a PowerPoint together one night trying to convince my friend that they needed to get ducks for their new property, kids have great tech skills these days.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

[twowhat?]

My DH prefers low key but for his, I ordered a custom cake from a local baker and had it designed based on his fantasy football league. He LOVED it and since it was custom, it felt "special enough". My girls also made him cards but agree with the above that kids these days can do some pretty cool things so get the kids to jump in and help!!

[mmsmom]

You can send an email to family/friends asking for photos & memories. Then have the kids help make a video and a photo book. Get a special cake and make a special dinner and position the ski trip as his gift. If you feel like he will need more then offer a 50.5 party in 6 months when hopefully everyone will be vaccinated.

[Liziz]

For my mom's birthday this past year, my dad organized a a big phone call party -- basically, he got all my mom's friends and family to sign up for a 15-minute time slot when they'd call my mom and wish her a happy birthday. It pulled a lot of people from the woodwork that my mom doesn't regularly get to talk to. She was so thrilled and felt like it was a fantastic way to celebrate -- and it didn't require much work from my dad (just an email and coordinating time slots....though you could totally do a signup genius to eliminate the time slot coordination).

And for a special event at my house, we ordered carryout from a fancy restaurant near us (we're not dining in at all still), and I put a tablecloth on the table, broke out nice dishes, did "wine pairings" with the food, lit candles.......it wasn't anything too fancy and didn't require much work, but after months and months and months of staying in (we have done carryout throughout, but only quicker things, not a fancy place like this), it actually still felt super fun and fancy and celebratory.

[gatorsmom]

These are excellent ideas. Thank you all so much! Keep them coming! I’m feeling like with the kids help, we might be able to pull off something special and not too time-consuming.

[California]

Here’s a very easy idea that feels festive and special: VidHug. A friend used VidHug for her mom’s 70th birthday, and we copied her idea for my DS’s 18th. I emailed and texted out the invite and link, then sent reminders. That was it! So easy. DS was very touched by it and we really enjoyed watching all the videos as a family.

[twowhat?]

I just thought of another thing based on kids bday parties, LOL. Do you have one of those yard sign companies? They put up happy bday, honk if you see this, congrats grad, etc signs on the front lawn. The ones here will sneak over to do it after sundown if you want. It's a fun surprise that will add an "extra special" feel without a lot of effort on your part, if he is the type of person who thrives on seeing "extra effort" like this. Maybe even add a drive-by if you have enough friends/family nearby. That's could be an easy FB invitation.

[ahisma]

We did this for my dad's 75th based on a recommendation from here (I think?). It was awesome. https://boomboxgifts.com/boombox/

[niccig]

DS’ birthday is Christmas Day. We zoomed with DH’s parents, sister, uncle and cousins to wish everyone a merry Christmas. The other families each made a happy Birthday sign for DS. Some were poster board with photos and captions, others were hand drawn on large pieces of paper. It didn’t matter how elaborate. It was that they all got together and organized something. DS loved it. So maybe suggest something like that if you have a virtual gathering


Sent from my iPhone using Baby Bargains (http://r.tapatalk.com/byo?rid=87652)

[moosemama]

Have a look at Kudoboard. We contributed a message/pics for a friend's birthday and it was very easy and our friend loved it.

[dogmom]

Get his friends and family to share a memory of him on video (they can just record it on a phone and send it to you) and then get a promise of doing something with him later instead of a gift. Like, getting drinks or going fishing or whatever. You can put some effort into making certificates or coupon like things and present them in a book to use when he can. Then I would plan two at home celebrations. One family meal you can make with a cake and such. Then one that you get from a nice restaurant as take out and have a lovely dinner with just the two of you.