<p>Just wondering what other folks have done or are planning…or perhaps asking their spouse to do. One of the traditions around here seems to be to have a big party, complete with black balloons and tasteless gifts (beer mug sippy cups, Depends, etc). Some of these parties are a surprise to the birthday gal or guy. Yuk.
So, hopefully, I won’t be doing THAT…might not even do anything special. Lose weight maybe? Pretend it’s just like any other b-day and move on?</p>
<p>I did lose 8 lbs to get back to my “wedding day” weight. Two of my kids were on a school trip. Husband couldn’t get away , so youngest child and I went to Universal Orlando and ate at Emeril’s Tshop Tshop (sp?) for dinner. Pretty cool. I even had a pina colada by the pool.</p>
<p>My birthday is often over spring break, so I have spent my birthday in many cool locations.</p>
<p>I share my birthday with my twin nieces, and it usually falls the week the extended family gets together down the shore. So the birthday is usually more theirs than mine, which is fine. Neither of my kids were with us on that actual date last year for 50th, but we went out to dinner at our favorite and surprisingly not expensive Cape May restaurant a few days earlier when both they and my mom were present.</p>
<p>H turned 50 this year, and his brother spent hours on EBay finding authentic toys from their childhood–now everyone loves visiting us to play Rockem Sockem Robots, table hockey, Tinker Toys, etc. A very cool idea.</p>
<p>I don’t remember! ;)</p>
<p>My 50th is a little over a year away and we’ll be taking a weekend trip to one of my favorite destinations that is not too far from us. I don’t like parties much, I’m too much of an introvert. My husband’s 50th came and went without too much notice. His birthday is very close to Christmas and for anyone who has a Christmas birthday you know what I mean when I say it’s a bad time for a birthday. My in-laws were miffed at me for not having a big party for him. Nice of them to volunteer me.</p>
<p>Ooooh! My 50th was the best! DH is a keeper, but he is usually a last minute kind of guy with gifts. They may be nice, but usually they have been purchased on the way home from work - no matter, he remembers and is loving so that is all that matters.</p>
<p>However, for my 50th, he bought tickets for a B-way show, made reservations at a lovely hotel in NYC, and had reservations for dinner! He gave me the gift ahead of time so I could shop if I needed something to wear. It is ahem, cough, cough, uh, a few years later and I STILL appreciate what he did for me. Just thinking of it now reminds me to be nice to him when he comes home today :)</p>
<p>H and I have the same birthday, and we celebrated it with our younger son at a restaurant in the Eiffel Tower. H was working in Paris for the summer, and younger S and I went along. H and I celebrated his 50th birthday in Seattle, where we were attending a conference. We had a suite and had a party in our suite. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, H is out of the country on sabbatical this year for our birthday, his 60th, so we’ll have to have separate celebrations. I’m having a board games/dance party with a female friend whose birthday is the day before mine.</p>
<p>For H’s 50th I threw him a surprise party at a restaurant; friends and relatives flew in from all over the country for it. He thought we were just going out with the kids to have a nice dinner celebration, so it was a true surprise, and he absolutely loved it. </p>
<p>For my 50th H bought me a car. We had been talking about trading my very old one in on something fairly modest, and I laughingly showed him a picture of a car I thought was beautiful, but quite expensive. Next thing I knew, we were in the showroom!</p>
<p>My neighbors (who are also my close friends) threw a party for me and H ( he is one month younger) between our birthdays. We were very touched and had a great time.</p>
<p>Two days after my actual 50th, I traveled to Hong Kong and Beijing with my Dad. He had business there for many years and has friends in Hong Kong. It was a trip of a lifetime and I will never forget standing on the Great Wall in the pouring rain, the beauty of Hong Kong and the wonderful food!</p>
<p>Four years ago…threw a cocktail party to celebrate, and DH surprised me with a DVD he made with a photo montage which he put on at the party. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house…very thoughtful I must say!</p>
<p>Since we had a bunch of friends all turning 50 the same year, (or thereabouts!) we decided to throw a group celebration at the home of one of us a couple of summers ago, inviting anyone we wanted. They have an old house with a barn that is perfect for parties, and we got an amateur band to play dance music there. We put lights up, and all shared in bringing the food and beverages, and had a big 5-0 cake.</p>
<p>It was a blast, and took the spotlight away from any individual old codger! I’d highly recommend this strategy, unless you prefer being the center of attention and putting up with the aging jokes on your own, lol!</p>
<p>For Husband’s birthday, we had a small surprise party for him at a restaurant. He was tickled because he has never had a birthday party - his birthday is Dec 26th, so it’s a really bad day to get folks together. Back when he was a kid, no one thought of having a party on some convenient day - it had to be on the birthday, so since his was on a bad day, never a party.</p>
<p>The best part of turning the big 50 was sharing it with my wonderful twin sister! Our school just happened to be having the annual “songwriters night”, where several parents at our kids school here in Nashville are Grammy award winning musicians and songwriters. Someone told the host at the dinner that we were observing our big 50 so these talented musicians sang Happy Birthday to us as a surprise!</p>
<p>I’m a kid here (just graduated HS, going to college in the fall), but my dad’s 50th was great. He plays the drums in a band (60s/70s rock covers, all guys his age). He believed his band had a gig playing at a party- when he arrived at the party, it turned out to be a surprise party thrown in his honor. His band did play (playing in the band is one of my dad’s favorite things), and it was great.</p>
<p>Drank wine, cried, drank some more wine, cried some more…alone. :(</p>
<p>Went to Paris.</p>
<p>I thought this idea was great - a good friend planned her celebration in the 50th state of Hawaii!!!</p>
<p>One more thing, I considered myself very blessed to be able to celebrate 50 years of life. I have a sibling (also some friends and many acquaintances) who was not so fortunate.
I don’t mean that as a downer.
Just be thankful.</p>
<p>My 2 best friends and I shared a cabin on a cruise ship & went away for a week. With 3 in the cabin it was less than $100 a day per each, all inclusive. We simply relaxed and spent wonderful time together.</p>
<p>Me? I stopped rinsing the gray out of my hair and learned to enjoy it. I was tired of seeing mahogany-colored dye wrecking my linens. Enough already.</p>
<p>I met a woman several years north of age 50 who was wearing a lovely pin. I asked her about it and she said, “My family gave that to me for my 50th birthday. I call it my Crone Pin.” Her lovely smile told me she had turned it all around to embrace being 50, realized she was still beautiful enough to receive a pretty pin.</p>
<p>Gail Sheehy rewrote her book “Passages” when she turned 50.</p>
<p>There’s a lot to consider turning 50 but my best gift was realizing I didn’t have to keep proving myself to others. </p>
<p>Our family never celebrates important birthdays or anniversaries with any fanfare, not by philosophy just dorkiness on that score. I really admire those who make the time to do so. If I could ask for anything I think I’d ask for a pin, which I’d call my Crone Pin. I thought that was so cool.</p>