Sunday, March 15, 2009

40th birthday



Adult parties tend to be not nearly as thought-out as the kiddie fare (perhaps a less appreciative audience?), but this 40th birthday bash is an exception. Katy threw her music-loving, basketball-playing, 40 year-old husband one heck of a birthday party back in November. A couple of snaps above. 

What she did:

-collected 40 images and created 4 posters- one for each decade of his life- to hang up around the living room.

-had former students (from their teaching stint in the Caribbean) film groups of their classmates wishing him a happy birthday. They emailed the videos, which she put together into a movie...which she surprised him with and played at the party.

-because so many of his friends now live in other cities, she asked everyone who couldn't come to the party to send an email with a personal message and photos, which she compiled into a big album.

-those who were at the party signed sheets of paper fitted to the album size, that were later included in the back of the album.

-for each guest in attendance, she made a 2 cd mix of his favorite 40 songs (the 'top 40')- 20 slow and 20 fast- which were given out at the end of the night.

-at the end of the night, everyone moved into the basement (where his turntables are set up) and he DJ'ed!

I love the thought and care that was put into this party! For more pictures, go to Katy's flickr set here.

3 comments:

said...

I just loved the idea! I have a great friend who´s becoming 40 this year and I´ll talk with other friends to make some surprises like that!

caroline duke said...

love this idea. i wish i had someone to use it on! top 30 just wouldn't be the same!

Ashley said...

what fun. my mom did something like this once, and people loved it so much. thanks for sharing!