25Th Anniversary

For my parents' 50th, we had my brother make a playlist on his ipod of music from the year they got married and then we had that music. We didn't have any dancing, just dinner and plenty of time for people to visit.

We set up a corner of the room with my Mom's dress on display, their wedding album and I think their wedding program.

Something that would be fun would be to have a bridesmaid dress on display if there's one still around.

We also had some posterboards with photos on them just showing them over the years.

Hi R.,

I have a mom-owned business located in Oak Lawn called Good Times Invitations. Do you need help with 25th Anniversary invitations?

thanks
D.

I would try catering the food from either Portillo's or Buona Beef. Make your life and planning the event a little easier and the food is wonderful.

I am also planning my parent's anniverary party right now. I found a website that has trivia books/cards for every year. Just google "1984 gifts" or whatever year, I think the site is BirthdayandAnniversaryGifts.com.

I thought it would be fun to ask questions from the year they were married and see if anyone in the crowd could answer.

They also have other items relating to the year. I will also be making posters with old photos with humorous captions underneath, so people can mingle around the room looking and laughing.

I think a wonderful gift would be to make a photo montage/slideshow illustrating their life together. My BIL is a DJ and his company creates these for weddings and other occasions--they are set to music and turn out wonderfully! YOu could do one yourself or use a company like his to creat one.

for my dad's birthday we did a slide show of him, family and friends that continually ran in a part of the room. It can be put up on a screen or just run on a computer. A copy of the disc is a wonderful gift to give your parents also. A little bit of work but you'll all have it forever.

Fun foods: a cookie tree, a cake with a photo of them, their favorite foods, or can personalized candies, cookies, etc.

Disposable camera placed throughout the room so guests can take photos.

Their favorite music (Music from their coming of age?)playing throughout the night. If you make a disc of this they can keep that too.

Most important - Have fun!!!

One of my favorite things we did for my parents 25th was to introduce all of the original wedding party along with the bride & groom and had them all dance. We also had a 1st dance for the bride & groom to the same song as they danced to at their wedding. Good luck!

For my in-laws 30th, we found old wedding photos and I used those for the table assignments. I had 5 different pictures and used a different picture for each table. On the tables we had the picture in a clear 8x10 frame and on the table cards I shrunk the photo and then would have the guests name on the card. The picture would indicate what table they sat at. Everyone loved looking at the different pictures. We also made a scrapbook and set that out for all the guests to look at. We then had a trivia contest. We thought up questions based on their wedding and marriage. The winner got a small gift cards.
Have fun!

If you know their friends or people who were IN your mom and dad's wedding, I would pick their brains for stories about how your parents met, what the wedding was like, any funny or sweet things they remember.

You could even do a little video of them telling the story and show it at the party, or just arrange for each person to get up and tell their memory or story of your mom and dad's courtship and wedding. If you have them tell stories AT the party, make sure someone in the family is recording it- that would make a lovely gift for your parents. But doing a video in advance might be better, in case anyone is not comfortable getting up in public to talk!

It might be a nice touch to play songs that were popular then or that your parents danced to in school or at their wedding. Have their best man and maid of honor get up to make toasts, as they would have at the wedding. Get all the old pictures you can from your parents or from relatives and make a big poster or computer slideshow of them. Did your mom have a favorite dress or color she liked to wear? Where did they go for their honeymoon and did anything happen there? ( my parent's got limburger cheese smeared on their radiator and it stank all the way there! Then my mom got the flu- but my dad bought her a gift that she still has, and made her feel better. Isn't that a good story???) things like that will make it a very personal, special event for them and all their friends and family. I am sure you will have a great party!!! Best of luck and congratulations to your mom and dad!!

I threw a 25th anniversary for my parents a couple years ago. I had gotten a picture of their wedding cake and had it replicated, also invited everyone from the wedding party. We used the silver anniversary theme of course, but tried to incorporate anything from the actual wedding that we could. We even had some of the food that they made at the reception. Hope some of the ideas help you.

For my parents' 50th we started with a mass and they read the readings that were read at their wedding. Than we had a beautiful open house in a historic hotel. One popular thing was the posters with all the photos thru the years. My parents made sure to introduce the people at the party that were present at their wedding. It was truly a memorable event. Make sure to have someone take lots of photos and then you can follow up with an album or slideshow of the event.

A picture board or a slide show is always nice. You could have the slide show running on an endless loop. I would just an open house but sounds like you may be look for more of a sit down dinner kind of event.

S.