Everyone expects the black decorations and old people jokes at a 40th birthday party, but you can add some special touches to make your party unforgettable. Use these 40th birthday party ideas to celebrate this special milestone.
We love magazine cover invitations for this party. Whether it's "Outta Time", "Hot Flash" or "Old Men's Journal", the celebrant will love this personal invite!
Or have a caricature invitation made of the soon to be ancient celebrant. A caricature invitation not only creates a great piece of art you can use several times during your event but it will also let you feature hobbies and character traits that can help theme your party. For example if the birthday person is a golfer you can make some of your gag gifts golf items (a giant tee, sharpened pencil, exploding golf balls, etc.)
For inexpensive but dramatic decorations drape black crepe paper around doorways and across the ceiling. Scatter bouquets of black balloons around the room, and throw in a Mylar Big 40 birthday balloon in each bouquet. We also love these black star balloons for this theme.
Add another Grim Reaper silhouette scene setter to one of the walls as a hilarious decoration.
Some people think all the food should be black (olives, licorice, etc.) but that's not much fun. I would go with the standard party fare, and maybe a side dish of oatmeal and some prune juice for humor value (and maybe the guest of honor will really need it).
You certainly should have some fun with the cake. Tying the Over the Hill theme in with a seasonal event or hobby is always good. When my spouse turned 40, three days after Halloween, I had a cake made with all sorts of goblins, ghosts and spider webs on it. The message? "Turning 40 is pretty scary." Not too original, but it was a big hit. Your golfer could have a golf flag with "Pretty soon, you'll finally shoot your age!" For the boater..."The Old Man and the Sea." Be creative. Any decent cake decorator can do almost anything you ask.
"This is your Life" is another format for the roast. Have mom and dad tell stories from the early years (a very long time ago), and grab a life-long friend or a teacher for the school years. A co-worker can recount famous (or infamous) moments at the office. You get the idea. Put together a CD with pictures from the corresponding years, and this can be a really fun hour or so. This approach can, and should, be funny, but it also lends itself to many touching moments and memories.
If you have a smaller group, think about renting a hearse (amazingly this isn't that hard to do) and tour some of the old neighborhood hangouts. This is a blast, and provides fabulous photo opportunities.
Whatever you decide to do, have your guests capture the memories on a personalized birthday camera so the guest of honor has many different views from the big day!
The guests and the guest of honor will have so much fun they will eagerly await your next party!