Creative but Simple Centerpiece Idea? (40Th Bday)

How about glass square vases (cheap at a florist discount store) with green apples or another fruit - halved oranges. We did the apples for my 10 yr reunion last year, it worked really well, add a couple of tea lights, maybe vary the sizes and it can look very nice. Good luck!

Some food banks have center pieces you can buy and then donate back to them. Very unusual and you aren't wasting a lot of money on something that you are just going to throw out!

I just saw a nice idea in a magazine; they had little glass fishbowls filled with jelly beans (all one color) and a votive candle in the middle. When the candle is lit, it reflected the color from the jellybeans.

Hi S.,

What about a picture cube for your centerpiece. With pictures of him when he was a baby or even through the years!
Everyone loves old pics!
All The Best!
S.

Day or night party?

Day- contact your local fish store (Not Wal-Mart pr Petco, but actual tropical fish store) and ask about buying X number of beta fish. (Order 1 per table, plus 3 extras, as you will likely have a couple die.) Go to Dollar Tree and buy a "gold fish bolw" (like the ones at carnivals that you do the ping pong toss with). Depending on how much work you want to put into it, also go to Michael's ot anther craft store and buy ribbon that accents your "color scheme", even though you say you don't have one, and tie the ribbon abound the lip of the bowl. You can also choose if you do or don't want to buy some gravel for the bottom or the bowls. This is what we did for our wedding, and each center piece cost us about $6. (Well, should have- our friend that worked at the fish store bought the fish as our wedding gift, so it really on cost us about $1.50 each.)

Night- the lanterns would look nice and probably not to girly. Another idea, but a little more pricey: Hurricane Candle on a plate with chocolates and/or berries around it. The chocolates and/or berries would provide a "simple at table snack" and the candle would provide a little light. If you find a candle holder like these http://www.save-on-crafts.com/hurcanshad14.html I would think you should be able to keep each center piece under $15.

Hi S.,

For my hubby's 40th, I got canes from the 99 cent store and left markers on the tables so they could decorate a cane at every table. You might also consider making up a cotton or canvas tie for each table to be decorated by your guests also. Of course, if you want lots to remember, have a inexpensive throw away camera at each table too. If you can borrow a wheelchair &/or a rocking chair has a nice touch. I dressed as a nurse and got him a hospital gown to wear. He laughed so hard. I also had everyone soak their empty prescription bottles and filled them with M&M and gave it to him as gifts. The cake was covered in M&Ms too. The "pill bottles" can be labeled "Lawn Mowing Energy Booster" or "Quarter-Heimer's Pill" (He's not old enough for Alzheimer's)"Anti Wrinkle Pills" "Anti-Falling Asleep at the Theater Pills" what ever.

Good Luck ~ F.

S.,

My husband is turning 40 in August and I'm going to put a photo of him in one of those picture frames that you sign and then ask everyone at the party to write something special for his 40th. Afterwards I'll take a group shot and place that photo in the frame for a special memory.

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we do fruit in buckets some strawberries melon slices use cookie cuters to make shapes poke with a bamboo squer and arrange like a flower boquet(sp?) fill the bucket with cleaned and steralized fishbowl glass to hold everything up makes a pretty centerpiece nd everyone gets a snack

Hello S.,

I am a party planner and have seen plenty of ideas. Nobody wants to take a fish home!!
The photo cubes are nice, but usually too small for the table.

easy ideas:
small patriotic bucket filled with peanuts, good anchor for balloons too.

Collect coffee cans or large powdered formula cans... place blue jean scrapbook paper around it and place a mason jar inside with fresh daisies. Tie a red bandana around the can. It will be very masculine and western.

Buckets filled with rootbeer at the tables or different flavors of colored soda pop in the glass bottles...its 100 degrees here and cold drinks are refreshing when waiting at the table... remember to place a small plate under bucket for condensation... sprinkle rootbeer barrel candy or tootsie rolls around like confetti....

Find fun candy's from the 80's....

Lanterns are cute, you can tie a bandana (99 cents store) around the handle.

buy mason jars for glasses. You can place red gingam ribbon around the glasses and serve lemonade. You can give them away as gifts....

Buy pretty plastic water pitchers..Big Lots has a nice variety... you may place lemons, oranges or limes in the pitcher... I like the Ikea vase idea, but outdoors, where there might be a pool.... plastic could be the way to go..

simple? citronella candles.... you might find them cheap at Target or Dollar Tree..

Wrap Hershey Bars with your own personalized wrapper. You may add Hubby's picture
to make it fun.. All done on the computer. Go to Smart and Final for a whole box!

Board Games... ask friends to bring over board games. They stack nicely in the center of
the table and everyone can take home their own.

Be personal, be easy and be simple.. have fun!

M.

I had to respond when I read this because I just threw a 40th party for my husband in our backyard with tables covered in white linens with red accents! Too funny!

I also avoided the "over the hill" theme, but I did go over the top with the 40 theme. I got nice big pineapples for the table centerpieces and put some "40" decorations on them and tied a few balloons (red & white) to the pineapple. I also sprinkled the tables with "40" confetti. It was super simple, super cheap and looked really festive. Let me know if you want to see a picture and I will e-mail one to you.

Good luck with the party!

What's his favorite hobby or favorite thing to do......I did one party and the guys favorite thing to do was, sitting in front of the TV!! We found these figures that had a guy sitting in front of the TV with a remote!!Good Luck

pictures of him growing up,teenage yrs, college yrs, etc on a picture holder.

Hi S. ~ How fun to plan a party for you husband. My husband's birthday is January 1 so we always have a football theme. However, the picture idea is a great one. I used it for both of my girls parties when they graduated high school. You can use old pictures from when he was a child through high school, college, young adult. I would include pictures of him with his friends and family that would be great. We went to a wedding and that's how we determined our seating arrangements, you looked for the picture with you and the bride and/or groom and that's where you sat. It was very nice. Also, baloons by themselves are nice. Another thing I did for my girls was buy m&m's with their names on it. You can pick an assortment of colors and put his name and age on it. It's amazing how much you can put on 1 m&m. (example:I did my girls' in their school colors and then put "congrats grad" on one side and "class of '04 and '07" on the other.) You can buy inexpensive candle holders to put them in. the m&m company wraps them individually with a bow for you before they ship them. You can sit them in martini glasses or just on the table with some confetti sprinkled on it. Good luck and have fun

A nice centerpiece for a summer outdoor party - fill up some cheap Ikea vases with lemons and limes. Adds a pop of color, looks tres chic and they are totally biodegradable and re-usable (and you can use the fruit in those awesome margaritas you'll be making - right?????).

Ikea also has some great metal lanterns that aren't too pricey.

Gift bag/balloon center pieces: fill baggies with sand and tie a balloon bouquet to each. Stick each baggie in a gift bag and cover with tissue paper. Glue pictures of your husband at different ages/occassions to the front and back of each gift bag.

when my friends got married they did the didn't have a lot of money and had to get creative. They did mimosa buckets. Champagne and OJ in a bucket of ice. It was a great idea!

For my husbands 30th we had a band play and I rented tall bar tables. I also rented the linens, but they looked too formal, so I didn't use them. The tables were a big hit. Everyone thought they looked very cool. We were going for a "club" look, so I just used simple candles from the Dollar Store and little bowls of peanuts and other snacks.

Have fun!

i went to a wedding & they had a beta fish in a bowl with colored glass stones. the mother of the groom still has two of the fish 9 months later!
bubble bowl with colored stones & candle.
the signable picture frame someone mentioned was a great idea!

how about having a small picture frame on each table. Include a picture of your hubby from years ago. I different one for each table, add some flowers or confetti
have fun!

lately, i've noticed that birthday parties for men has more interest accents for centerpieces. The last one I attended had a bowl w/ the aquarium stones and one fish in it.

Another party had picture centerpieces and the latest was beer bottles with the picture of the guest of honor and 2 balloons tied to each.

I prefer to have the snack plate(Party chex) with flowers or leaves draped along the center of the table.

Here in Hawaii...it's the pineapple or a fruit as the centerpiece. SMILE! Not so much stress for something that's so special and so fast.

What about a framed picture of him at a certain age? You could even use the frames you have around the house or go to a discount store (Big Lots, etc.) and get some inexpensive ones. Sounds fun! Enjoy...

I don't know what your budget is but i have seen this and it is very cute. Go out and get the small BBQ's the ones for the condements(wallmart or target o possably ace hardware). And you can put anything in them, Flowers, candy, anything really. It sounds funny but for a Man and an back yard theam you can't really go wrong with little BBQ's. God Luck!! Have fun with it!

Hi S.-
I live in So. CA and made centerpieces (for a summer party) using glass fruit compote cups with an orange in each. I used orange and yellow rosebuds and/or roses, and also white/yellow daisies. You can use a paring knife to make four slits near the top of the orange and then continue making little slits around the orange (maybe 3-5 rows). You can shorten the stems on the flowers to a couple inches or less, and insert them into the orange. The juice of the orange keeps the flowers alive for quite a few days. I made the centerpieces the night before the event, and they actually lasted a week. I've done this with different citrus fruit(grapefruit, lemons and limes). I've also added greens to the centerpieces- myrtle,which had white berries attached, lemon tree leaves, and rosemary sprigs. On another occasion, I also used a tall candelabra (about 20")-which normally holds 7 candles- placed lemons (with flowers)where the glass votives go, and then placed night blooming jasmine draped from the lemons. This was on the table with the food. It was quite lovely. The beauty of this was that some of the citrus fruit was available from my back yard, as were the greens. I found the flowers at some of the markets I shop at, which made the whole presentation quite cost effective. You can place the flowers more sparingly, or really fill the fruit with it. Plus, you get the smell of the essence of the pierced fruit. I placed a small citronella candle on each table along with a couple lanterns. On another occasion, I used thin taper candles in the center of the orange, and placed a hidden foil to catch wax drippings, but you can find dripless candles, too. Good luck with your event.
E.

live fishes sound nice, but it seems cold hearted, when one replyer said buy extras incase some die :(

white x-mas lights streamed out every where out doors make any party festive. maybe go back in time of his high school years and place items that were popular back then. please let us know how it went!

My husband loves to fish and play golf, i was thinking this year for his 45th birthday that i would do a fishing golfing thing. YOu could fill a vase with golf balls or fishing stuff. All depends on if he will use it. I knowmine will. so it's kinda like an open present.
Good luck