<p>Planning a dinner party for my inlaw’s 50th wedding anniversary. They’re taking the whole fam–16 of us–to Hawaii, and I’m looking for some good ideas for party favors, decor, gifts? I did some personalized M&Ms, and hired a photographer to take both candid and family group pics. Will give them a photo album after the vacation. All the grandchildren will make toasts. Any suggestions to add specialness?</p>
<p>Sounds great to me! Hawaii is always great…</p>
<p>We had a family vacation for my parent’s 50th and we divided days up between the 3 of us “kids” with a theme of 3 places they had lived. Day 1, because they met in Hawaii, was a luau with roast pork and hawaiian shirts and drinks with little umbrellas. Video hula lessons. Day 2 was Texas - barbecue, etc. Activities included horse-back rides and cribbage matches. Day 3 was Pacific NW - grilled salmon, wine tasting, boating, etc.
My techie sis made a slide show of old photos and music that had us all in tears.</p>
<p>sent you a PM</p>
<p>Decor - Have each one of the 16 guests make a poster that represents their “special memory” of the couple. Could be something funny like the day they fell out of the boat into the lake, or something joyful like the day the first grandchild was born or something touching like passing on a family heirloom. Maybe you read some at dinner each night or you could use them to decorate. Depends on what your agenda looks like. My family always enjoys telling the “old stories”.</p>
<p>Are they interested in renewing their vows? You could find a local place of worship - or have a non-religious ceremony at the hotel.</p>
<p>Congratulations to your in-laws. It’s always great to hear of couples celebrating those big milestones.</p>
<p>When my aunt and uncle celebrated their 65th anniversary a couple of years ago the party favors were personalized Hershey’s bars. The front had an old picture of them from their dating days. The back had a more current picture along with advice on why their marriage lasted so long.</p>
<p>For decorations the extended family were asked to bring old pictures that covered their lives together. I know Walmart (and I’m sure other places as well) will create a book of those pictures for a very reasonal cost.One of my cousins has this done for milestone birthdays.</p>
<p>We asked lots of old friends of my parents if they had any photos of them, and got a frame that held a lot of photos and put them in that.</p>
<p>We asked lots of old friends of my parents if they had any photos of them, and got a frame that held a lot of photos and put them in that. </p>
<p>Cheaper and easier… get those “science fair” boards at the office supply store and make a display of the old photos on one or two or three of them. Far easier for people to see than an album or frames (and cheaper than frames)</p>
<p>Viagra?</p>
<p>Sorry-- only kidding!</p>
<p>Have your family do this: It a GREAT gift!! Its called a “voice quilt”. Everyone records a message and then its put into one recording and packaged in a keepsake box [VoiceQuilt</a> Recorded Messages and Voice Memories Are A Unique Gift](<a href=“Thanks For The Memories | VoiceQuilt”>Thanks For The Memories | VoiceQuilt)</p>
<p>We sent scrapbook pages to all my parents friends and had them fill them up - some wrote letters, some put in pictures. Since my parents were in the foreign service they had friends all over the world. The scrapbook we put together is amazing!</p>
<p>Mathmom, I see what you mean if your intent is to display the photos at the party. We actually wrapped the framed photos as a gift to them, and they still display it in their house several years later. Not that you couldn’t do both if you made copies of the photos.</p>
<p>intparent, our intent was not to display photos at the party. Not all their friends sent photos, some sent letters with amusing memories of good times they’d had together. The scrapbook pages all arrived early enough to be put in a scrap book and that was at the party.</p>
<p>Here is what I did for Bullet’s parents 50th</p>
<ol>
<li> Made baskets for check in. I had things that people forget.
For Example:
~Nail polish remover
~Tide to go stick
~Razor
~Tissues (the knot website has bride and groom tissues)
~Toothpaste
~Gum
~Magnet (again the knot website) that had their date and a verse</li>
</ol>
<p>I made the baskets and wrapped in cellophane, then I used my hairdryer to seal it.</p>
<p>I also spent hours upon hours on [Ancestry.com</a> – Browser Upgrade](<a href=“http://www.ancestry.com%5DAncestry.com”>http://www.ancestry.com) and made the old fashion photo album. Included were things like the census of my FIL’s grandfather’s in 1900, the record form Ellis Island of when he entered, contacted the churches for copies of baptismal certificates for his aunts/uncles, found long lost cousins and asked for copies of their parents (his aunts and uncles) of their certificates. Even found newspaper articles regarding them. For example, I was able to get copies of his uncle’s military enlistment AND the newspaper announcement of where he was stationed at. I also found that his grandfather was the furrier for Donald Trump’s father. I created a family tree going back to the 1800’s, couldn’t go back farther since his great grandmother only had US records dated to 1840.</p>
<p>I made his copy in a hard photo album, but for the others we went to Kinko’s.</p>
<p>We had pictures that my FIL never saw. We were able through research to pinpoint the town in Italy that his family originated from. </p>
<p>I will say the hours were a lot, but without a doubt that was the gift 5 yrs later he still talks about. He knew his grandfather worked in the coal mines of PA, but he never knew that his grandfather gave up children to the state after his grandmother died. He never knew that he had an uncle who died at a young age. He never knew that his grandfather changed an A to an O when entering the country from Italy, but his grandfather’s brother kept the O and he had more family than he ever knew.</p>
<p>We too found out something, the line of our last name, be it O or A is on our DS’s shoulders. We are the only one out of 41 families that has a male heir to carry the name. Talk about pressure, our 2 boys are the last to keep the line going in the US.</p>
<p>I will say that if you want to really give a gift, pay for the ancestry.com site and give them their roots. Contact relatives for pics, you will be amazed at the fact to them they are ones that they never saw. Add a page with emails and numbers for newfound relatives.</p>
<p>Bullet’s folks were visiting a few weeks ago and asked if we have copies because now his Dad’s siblings have found other relatives and wanted to share with them.</p>
<p>GREAT ideas, everyone–thank you so much! Bullet, you were the hostess with the mostess!!!</p>
<p>Mathmom, I was not criticizing the scrapbook idea at all! I misspoke (misnamed?), I meant that dragonmom’s suggestion for the poster boards just wasn’t what we were getting at with the photos we collected. Sorry…</p>
<p>The photos were actually something we did for a surprise party for my parents’ 40th. We invited all their old friends (people who had been in their wedding, college friends, etc.). We rented a restaurant for the evening. It was a blast!</p>
<p>For my parents’ 50th, my mom wanted to go to… a dude ranch! Go figure, I think she had only ridden a horse once in her life before. It was a complete blast! But we didn’t do much for a celebration/gifts, we just had the ranch make a cake for them.</p>
<p>I’ll tell you what my parents liked best about their 50th celebration: the grandkids, ranging in age from 3 - 22 wrote a little song about their grandparents and performed it. It doesn’t have to be fancy or even well written. Grandparents aren’t picky. Then some played instruments, some just sang. My mother had tears in her eyes.</p>
<p>That’s a sweet idea. I’m trying to get a’hold of their wedding album for some inspiration.</p>
<p>The grandchildren for Bullet’s parents 50th did the same as 3bm, but did a poem, and each grandchild had their own speaking part.</p>
<p>They took the last name added an 's because there were 8 grandchildren and need the 's for the 8th child. They went from oldest to youngest. Each child started with the letter corresponding to the name and their birth order and said one line. Some were funny wore serious. For example: T is for all the TIMES that I slept on grandpa’s belly as a baby…C is for the times Grandma kissed me when I CRIED.</p>
<p>We as parents never knew our children were doing this. They had decided this the night before and did it all on their own. (our family, thus the kids live in different states and they had not seen each other until the night before) </p>
<p>My in laws did the poster board picture thing to be displayed at the reception, however, I will say it was too many pictures and people just ignored it because it was too much.</p>
<p>I attended another anniversary and I liked better what the children decided to do. They took their wedding picture and had it done in 8X11 with a nice white/ivory matte. They then had a recent photo of them and repeated that. They left it out on a table and asked people to sign one or the other with any comment. They even were smart enough to say if you knew them when they got married sign that one, if it was after sign the other. The children then at the end of the night collected them and brought them back out framed for the folks to take home.</p>
<p>The children and grandchildren were the last to sign, they did the one that had less comments or signatures because they felt they floated either way.</p>
<p>Consider hiring a professional photographer to create one terrific picture of all assembled at the 50th. </p>
<p>I have one from each side of our family from the l940’s. It’s helpful now years later, identifying all the relatives, which feeds into the ancestry.com work we’re doing.</p>
<p>Since one was taken during WWII, I see my father and uncle there in the form of framed military photographs set up in the front row, as they were away at war. The anniversary couple is sitting in the middle, wearing corsage and boutoniere (sp?). Children are being held by parents. So sweet.</p>
<p>The 50th picture I have of my own parents, with their descendants assembled around them, is also precious to me, as it was the last time my Dad was in good health. I’m grateful my mom arranged the photographer that day, and gave us kids each a copy as “thank you” for the anniversary gathering. Now when she visits our homes, she sees it framed on our walls and feels good about it.</p>
<p>It can take time to make everyone pose, but I still think it’s worth it. Do it right in the same location; bring in a professional photographer.</p>
<p>Have your in-laws lived in the same family home for a long time? If so, perhaps a Cats Meow reproduction of the place where they raised their kids would be small sentimental touch. You can order them here: <a href=“https://www.catsmeow.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/MyWorldView?langId=-1&storeId=10151&catalogId=10251[/url]”>https://www.catsmeow.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/MyWorldView?langId=-1&storeId=10151&catalogId=10251</a></p>