Need Birthday Party Ideas

one year for my parents 50th wedding anniverisy i made a family tree quilt with pictures. i took a plain piece of heavy cotton material and stitched a wide boarder. then i took fabric paints and drew a tree {my quilt was about 4 foot long by 3 foot wide with a dowel pocket like curtians have to hang it} i then took a picture of my parents when they got married and scaned it onto t shirt transfer paper and that picture went at the base of the tree, and each one of their kids{5 girls}had a branch, and their kids{grandkids} had their own branch and we even have 5 great grand kid branchs, its alot of pictures, to scan and copy, but you can make them ant size or color, and it will be more than a gift, it will be an heirlom to pass on.

Okay, here are a few ideas off the cuff. First, you could do a scrapbook. You could have each kid draw a picture of themself and grandpa together or their favorite thing to do/about grandpa. Then at the beginning of the scrapbook you could do a through the years montage starting with your dad as a baby and including pictures of the high points in his life (birthdays, wedding, graduation, other important events in his life). Then you could follow it with pictures of each of his kids. Some of your dad and each of his kid but also some of each kid alone on that page, too. You could also include a letter from each of his children telling them what his influence and support have meant to them or sharing their favorite memories of times with your dad. If your mom is still alive, I would have her write a letter and include a picture of them on their wedding and pictures of the two of them throughout their life together. If she is no longer with you, you could do a section honoring her. If they split, you could skip that section. I would put the spouse in before the children. After the children, I would put in a section from the grandchildren. I would make each grandchild's section at least two pages (facing each other) long. On the first page, I would put the picture that the grandchild made for your dad. On the opposite page, I would put the child's handprint. I would surround each with pictures of the grandchild. Some with your dad and some without. If there are others that would like to include special memories they had of your dad (siblings or good friends, for instance), I would reserve the end of the book for them. I would ask each for a letter and a favorite photo or two of themselves with your dad. (Alternatively, for the photoes you could ask for one of the person writing the note and if they have one together with your dad or a favorite photo of your dad.) I would label the last remaining pages, "Dad's Favorite Memories" and leave a spot for him to add photos or notes. On the very last page or inside the back cover, I would write him a note as to why you wanted to do this for him and also include the date.

A second project, is a photo collage. You could give the kids small pieces of paper to draw small pictures on and interweave them with cropped photos and put them all into a large frame.

A third idea, is to go to a craft store and buy a photo quilt. This is a quilt that comes with special iron-on paper and has specific white squares. You can then do a special photo montage/picture for each of the white squares. You can print them on your computer and iron them onto the quilt. Just remember to invert the picture if you have print on it so that when you iron it onto the quilt it will read correctly. I'm sure the kit will explain that though.

I hope these ideas help to spark one that works for you. Good luck and with your dad a very happy birthday.

Walmart.com has some fun stuff to do with pictures. They have calanders and scrapbooks and things of that sort. Another idea is a dvd. My sister and I put one together for my parent's 25th wedding anniversary. We put chronological pics together from their first date right up to a few days before their anniversary. We set it to their wedding song and it was a huge hit.

Something that I did for my husband's grandmother a few years ago, was that I made a memory tablecloth. I found pictures from old albums and new, and scanned them into the computer. I then printed them onto a iron-transfer paper, and then ironed them onto a tablecloth. It's been a few years, and she still brags about it. I also did soemthing similar with a blanket for my sister for her wedding. You could also scan your children's artwork into the computer and transfer that as well. If you know how to quilt, you could also make a memory quilt or wall hanging.

A really great hit at my husband's 30th was a "newspaper" of the year he was born. Google your dad's birth year and it will give you the major events of each month for that year. I took the events/stories and incorporated them into a newspaper on 8.5 x 11 paper. I added a headline and birth date/year at the top and created columns for each story like a real newspaper and then I made copies of them for each place setting for everyone to take home.

My sister blew up pictures of her husband from his band days to poster size and hung them around the party hall. You can also make collages of random pictures of your dad through the different years or stages of his life - if he was in the military or if he has a special hobby, make a separate collage for that.

I recently put together an anniversary scrapbook for my parents. I went to www.creativethoughts.net and purchased an “anniversary almanac” and “name meaning” certificate. The anniversary almanac tells news and trivia about their wedding day as well as subsequent anniversaries. They also have a “birthday almanac” that would have similar information. The name meaning certificate tells what their names mean as well as some personality traits (views on money, friends, family, etc – fun, horoscope type stuff). I then put together my own anniversary almanac with more personal info (“During your 1st year of marriage…Christine turned 21.” During your 3rd year of marriage…Tony and L. were born.”). I then created child and grandchild pages. For each individual I listed their first name and middle name plus their meanings, their birthdates, the day of the week they were born by writing the corresponding line from the “Monday’s Child” poem, their astrological sign and 2 pics (one as a baby and a current one). I included pics of various events (celebrations, vacations, etc) and homes they lived in. My kids made cards to put in the scrapbook and picked favorite pics of them with my parents.

Since your kids are older they could do artwork and cards. They could help create a “personality trait” page listing things that are special about your father. Maybe they could write a poem about him. They could help create a “do you remember when” section (…we all went to the beach on vacation, …the first time we went to the pumpkin patch, …the time the family pet climbed in the crib with the baby) and include pics to match the entries.

Hope these ideas get your creative juices flowing.

My aunt did this for her husband--a big posterboard entitled, "When Daddy Was My Age." She had each child color it and write facts about what life was like for her husband when he was each child's current age. You could put pictures of your dad at that age alongside pictures of each grandchild at his/her current age. She included major world events that happened and things like the cost of a gallon of milk, famous movie stars, etc. It was cute, homemade, and personal. Good luck!

Ask anyone and everyone who knows him to forward to you copies of any pictures and/or stories they may have of themselves with your father. Once you have them all put them in a scrapbook for your father.

Hi, Exposuresonline.com has alot of great items. My favorite is the "remember when album". Send pages to friends and loved ones, there is room for pictures and stories. They also have a "signature canvas" ,mat frames wide enough for messages to be written on. Check it out for the idea you may beable to do it yourself also. Good luck, L.

Depending on how much time you have you can create a scrapbook online for your father. You can then have the book printed and bound. We just did this for my mother-in-law and she absolutely loved it. All you need is a scanner and a computer and your good to go. I don't know the exact website we used but I believe that snapfish.com does things like this. Google search it I am sure you find tons. The quality was really nice too.

Hope this helps.

C.

Hi B.. I run a DVD photo slideshow business, and often give photo DVDs as gifts, myself. You can take a look at the services and sample presentations at www.capturedmomentsdvd.com

Good luck!

For someones birthday, I like to collect pictures from the time they were a baby to the present time. Then I arrange them on posterboard and make really funny captions under them and display them at the party. I just hang them on the wall in a really prominant area so everyone can see them and have a chuckle.

We did something like this for my grandparent's 50th anniversary. we did one posterboard full of pictures of just them, from when they were little to just married and throughout the years. Then we did a board of their 7 kids, including baby, school, wedding, and random family pictures. Then we did a board of the grandchildren, with the same type of pictures. The final thing we did was the day of the party, we took "family portraits" and my aunt got them all developed and put them in a big frame with other pictures from that day to give to my grandparents. It's very simple, but it looks really nice.

Hope the idea helped!

My sister just made my mother a picture quilt of my son's first moments. She had pictures scanned onto pieces of material and then collaged them together and pieced them into a quilt. My mom loves it.