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s/o 40th birthday parties- how did you celebrate?


saraha
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Next year is my husbands 40th birthday, and I know I want to do something special to mark it for him. I once gave him a random surprise party for his 28th and it was a lot of fun, but a lot of life has happened, and a lot of those people aren't around and our social circle is much smaller.

 

Anyway, what did you/husband/friend/anyone you know do for their 40th birthday?

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In my crowd most people go out to dinner with a couple of close friends and go back to someone's house for dessert.  Or they just have friends over for dessert.

Or in the case that was my 40th you can spend it celebrating your mother-in-laws 60th birthday (because her birthday is the day after yours) with a family dinner and a big cake and lots of gifts and at some point have your sister-in-laws and mother-in-law hand you a card.  Yeah, still bitter when I think about it.

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I think that for my 40th, dh and I took the kids on a 3 day river rafting trip. Our birthday is during the Perseids meteor shower. As long as there is no full moon that year, we take a trip somewhere with a dark sky so we can enjoy them. It is amazing to fall asleep with an open sky full of meteors revolving above you. It is my favorite way to celebrate my birthday.

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James Bond was in Afghanistan this year for his 40th and mine!  For mine, I just went out to dinner with Indy and Han Solo, but the next day, I went off with some friends for brunch.  It was obviously low keyed.  When a friend of mine had her 40th a few years back, her husband told her he was going to have a small BBQ, and order most of the food from a local restaurant.  Another friend and I offered to pick up the food, and asked the b-day girl to go with us.  When we got to the restaurant, all her friends (and her dh, who had slipped out in front of us) were there to surprise her with a party.  She was shocked, because she had absolutely no idea.  

 

For my 37th, James Bond did something similar.  He said he was taking me out to dinner to a very swanky spot that was hard to get reservations.  When we went, all our friends were there.  They even had a crown and sash for me to wear during dinner.  

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My husband arranged a surprise bday party at a restaurant for me for my 40th. I dislike surprises and also dislike parties in my honor.  I appreciated the thought but the event was not really what I wanted.  Also, he forgot to invite one of my SIL's until the last minute, then told me that he wasn't sure if he had made clear that only ladies were invited, so I might see my brother's entire family (six people) along with the ladies who came.  So there's that...

 

My husband wanted to throw himself a little party at a bbq place, which I thought would be poorly attended.  It was poorly attended.  We invited about 30 people, and about 10 people came.

 

So, from my experience, if I had all of it to do over again, I would vote for a nice dinner with a few close friends.  (But I secretly kind of hate parties of all kinds...)

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My mom hosted a party for me & my friends at her house on my 40th.  A friend of mine's dh had a big to-do for her, catered under a tent in their back yard. 

 

Neither of these hold a candle to my mom's own 40th, though.  She rented a hall, and yes, it was potluck but she did say no gifts, she just didn't want to cook.  She also had dancing, and the piece de resistance was that two of her friends from her belly dancing class put on a belly dancing show (mom refrained from performing herself. ;) )

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I threw a 40th birthday party for my dh.  I invited all of his friends, acquaintances, coworkers and family members.  Pot luck (if you came for supper) no gifts, we provided the soda/beer.  We had it in our backyard, we had games for the kids and later had a fire in the fire pit.    It was very well attended and still the talk of the neighborhood.  (this was 4 years ago)

 

Mine is later this year.  Dh asked what I wanted to do and I just want dinner with the family.

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We invited everyone who might be interested to meet us for bowling, and invited everyone to my house for cake afterward. We paid for the bowling, though about half the people who came bowling declined and paid for themselves; fewer people came over for cake than came bowling, because they needed to get home for kids or whatever.

 

It was fabulous. Low-key, no one felt the need to bring a present, it really was about having the people I care about with me on my birthday. :)

 

Cat

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Well, my dh is a very outgoing guy and a big joker. I thought it would be worth a few laughs to give him a surprise "Over The Hill" party when he turned 40. It went over like a ton of bricks. He pouted through the whole thing. He claims that it was because someone spoiled the surprise for him. :-P

 

Anyway, I won't be doing that again.

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My parents gave a party for my sister.  When I had my 40th we joined my uncle who turned 70 a couple of days before my birthday and his family ... went to Red Robin for dinner.  I am not as much into having groups of friends over as my sister is though and my mother knows that.

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I don't remember what, if anything, we did for our 40th birthdays. My husband and I have birthdays less than two months apart. He insists that we celebrate his, while I like to more or less ignore mine. I do vaguely remember suggesting that we do something nicer than usual, given that we were both celebrating milestone birthdays, but I don't think we ended up doing anything special.

 

We're coming up on 50 in less than two years, now. I don't expect to do anything special for that, either.

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Hmmm...I think I made dinner, cleaned up, helped get kids ready for bed, and did more school planning. Basically the day I turned 40 was an ordinary day, which is exactly what I wanted. My dh knew for years (since we met when I was 17, actually) no parties, especially surprise ones.

 

I like to think that since I don't "do" birthdays that I'm not really getting older. :)

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I had a work acquaintance who wanted to do something for her 40th that she would look back on and "remember fondly when she was 80." Unbeknownst to many, she took singing lessons in the weeks before hand. For the event, she rented a local old movie theater, had "casino" tables for entertainment, a dj for music, wnderfully catered food, and when the big moment of a speech and her cake came along, she surprised all of us by singing her favorite mariachi song, in which she belted out a stellar song. Singing in front of people was something she always wanted to do but was afraid to do so. It was a great event and tons of fun.

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I wanted to do something big for my 40th (two years ago), but life happened and my plans didn't pan out.  It ended up being very low-key but nice.  We had a little celebration at home with the kids, DH took me out to a very nice dinner at one of my favorite restaurants, and I went out with my best girlfriends a few days later.

 

Maybe I'll have that big bash for my 45th.   :)

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We had a small party at home for DH's 40th with just family and a few friends, whatever he wanted to eat and cake.

 

He's taking me out to dinner tonight for mine. Just us, b/c all 3 kids are busy. It's going to be odd to have a birthday dinner with just DH. LOL   Saturday we're having an open-house style beach bash with family and friends.

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