Confused Looking for Creative Theme Party

If you combine them, have a tug of war. 40 yr olds vs 4 yr olds.

Have a trivia challenge. Ask the 40 yr olds things a 4 yr old would know, and ask the 4 yr olds what a 40 yr old should know. I bet the answers on either side of the age line will be funny!

Connect Four
Four Square
Fore! (as in golf)
Four Seasons
Four corners of the earth

ETA: Sure! I would suggest picking a theme that has to do with the number four, since you have that common link. I apologize if you know some of the stuff I am going to explain, I am going to assume that you may not have gotten all of the language/cultural references.

Connect Four is a very popual board game: http://www.amazon.com/Hasbro-4430-Connect-Four/dp/B00000IWI1
Pretty much anyone who grew up in the 70's-80's in the US played it when they were young. The pieces are red and black checkers in a bright yellow grid, so you could do a lot with decorations. You could set up a Connect Four tournament- it is a simple enough game that 4 and 40 year olds can both play and enjoy it! You could do cupcakes with yellow frosting and either a red or black licorice wheel on top, things like that.

Four Square is also a childhood game, played using the red bouncy playground balls and a "court" that is a large square drawn on the ground and divided into 4 squares. Again, you could have a tournament, those this would have to be outside or in a bid area like a gym. Decorations could be red, maybe throw in some other old-school playground things like jumpropes.

Fore! is something that golfers would recognize, it is a golf term that basically equates to "heads up!" So you could do a whole golf theme, I love the mini golf suggestion.

Four Seasons- you could do summer, fall, spring, winter activities. For example, decorate holiday cookies, carve pumpkins, decorate/hide Easter Eggs (or other cultural activity for spring), have a water balloon fight or smores and sparklers.

Four corners of the earth- pick four different countries that are spread far apart and choose a childhood game from each one and a food/beverage specialty from each one. Games for the kids (though fun for adults, too), food tasting for the adults.
I hope that helps!

Hi
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What are their favorite things? List out a few things for each of them, then see if any of that goes together in a fun or funny way. :)

I would have separate parties.
If you absolutely can't, you could make up a creative combo.
I like what someone said about golf. You could have a mini golf course for
the kids then a putting the adults.
You could do a Chinese theme w/lanterns decorating your backyard, screens, candles, red dragon. Serving rice, noodles & a bunch of Chinese
main dishes.

Again, I would separate the parties: a cute themed one for your child w/a
few neighborhood friends or just family.

Then have your husband's party a few nights later or the following weekend.
For his you could do:
-Beer & BBQ themed. Have beer tasting.
-Crab fest. Newspaper lined tables outside, King crab legs, corn on the cob, salad, beer etc.
-Send him & 3 buddies golfing (if that's his thing) then have them end up back at your house for a BBQ (steak on the grill, baked beans, salad)

My husband and son have birthdays a day apart. We always had combined parties. I think my husband had just as much fun as my son. We just invited everybody, had a lot of food and always a pinata. Do you have a yard or park to go to? That time of year is great for all sorts of outside games.

What do they most enjoy doing together? I'd find something they both love - and play it up, mostly kid style, but with some extravagant gift for Dad. Have fun!

So are you saying you want to do a joint party for them? Or you just are out of ideas for both of them and need ideas for a 4 yr old party AND for a 40 year old's party...

World of difference. I'm not sure I would do combined. It sounds cute.. until you imagine that 40 might be a big deal to your husband, and your son may not want to share his day and be overshadowed by his dad's big day. Let your 4 year old invite 4 friends to a party of his own.

Then do something more grown up for Dad. He'll be 40 after all... I took my husband away for a surprise weekend of golf on his 40th. Met some friends at the destination and had a great weekend. All a surprise. Says it was the best birthday he ever had.

Have separate parties.

Family and adult friends only for hubby's.

Kiddo's friends for kiddo's party. He's getting old enough that he won't want extended family at his kid party. Have dinner and invite the family over.

Honestly, I can't imagine any way of combining a party for a 40-year-old adult and a 4-year-old child that either the adults or the children would enjoy.
Have a party for the kiddo - he's young enough that birthdays are still a big deal. Go out to dinner for hubs' birthday.

For my son's birthday, I've usually done homemade theme parties, based on his interests at the time:

Turning 3: Thomas the Tank Engine / trains in general
Turning 4: Planets / solar system / outer space
Turning 5: Science experiments (this one was harder to manage, not sure I'd do it again)
Turning 6: Pool / water slides (this was a destination party, not really a theme)
Turning 7: Greek mythology
Turning 8 (next month!): Tae kwon do (also a destination party)

So, whatever your son's interests are, theme the party around that. PM me if you want some specific ideas for kid-activities.

The one time I ever threw a party for my husband (I know, bad wife), I just emailed a bunch of his friends, saying we were having a surprise party. Dropped some flowers (with little notes) off at the neighbors' houses, to apologize in advance for any noise, cooked some halfway-decent food, bought some booze, and that was it. Not very creative, I guess.