40th Birthday Party Ideas - Over the Hill Theme Party

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.

Over The Hill 40th Birthday Invitations

You want to start the party off right with a fantastic invitation that will get people talking. There are many great 40th birthday invitations to choose from.

Grim Reaper Over The Hill Invitation - Our most popular milestone birthday invitation... He has come for your youth!
Magazine Cover Invitations - Whether it's "Outta Time", "Hot Flash" or "Old Men's Journal", the celebrant will love this personal invite!
Ticket Invitations - A unique way to invite everyone to the hottest event of the year!
Over The Hill Birthday Invitation - Put a 40 on the tombstone while a vulture looks down in your party info... very fun for any Over the Hill party!
Double Photo Over The Hill Invitation - A great way to showcase the young and (very) old guest of honor. Choose from 6 great color schemes
Caricature Invitation - 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. This is a completely custom invite, the only limit is your imagination!

Here is some fun wording for a 40th Birthday Party Invitation -

William is Over the Hill! Help us lay his youth to rest...
Going 40 over the hill and she's picking up speed, a birthday party is what Janet needs!Turning forty is really great, please join us as we celebrate!
Life begins at forty, (or so they say) So we're having a bash for Jim's birthday!
Help Pam celebrate her 29th birthday... for the 11th time!
Lordy Lordy, Sarah made it to 40!
Say it isn't so, James is turning the big 4-0!

Invitation Tips: Traditionally, it is advised to send out invitations eight weeks before your event. At the very least get the invites out 2-4 weeks before the party. The sooner the better, but don't let this keep you from getting killer invitations at the last minute. You can always rush them if time is an issue. Make sure you include the reason for the party (Jim's 40th Birthday), the date/time, and the location of the party. You can also include RSVP information and the host/hostess name.

Over the Hill Decorations
Hang a personalized Over the Hill welcome banner outside your home to announce the party! Have a Grim Reaper greet guests at the front door. A life-sized cutout that will greet guests at the front door. These are always a hit and are a great souvenir for the guest of honor.

For inexpensive but dramatic decorations drape black crepe paper around doorways and across the ceiling. Scatter bouquets of black balloons around the room. For fun balloon weights use small tombstones, fake teeth, or product we use as we age (Fixodent, reading glasses, Just for Men/Hair Dye for covering the grey) Party Tip: Balloons look the best when grouped in odd numbers.

Set the table or buffet using the appropriate black tableware. You can make fun silverware bundles with black napkins and black plastic silverware. Wrap a strand of black beads around the bundle and you have tableware and a favor in one!

Here are some of our favorite 40th birthday party ideas for your Over the Hill table:

Another fun way to theme your centerpieces is to incorporate some things that the guest of honor is "as old as". Use buckets of potting soil with a little plant sign stuck into it that reads "Old As" for clever "Old As Dirt" centerpieces!
"Old and outdated" technology make for great props for around the room. Try the local secondhand store and garage sales for typewriters, floppy disks, 8-track player, or a rotary phone.
More fun "getting old" decorations; Geritol vitamins, prune juice, adult diapers, and copies of AARP magazines.

Some people think all the food should be black (olives, licorice, etc.) but it's hard to do food in black that tastes good. I would go with the standard party fare (the guest of honors favorites too), and maybe a side dish of oatmeal and some prune juice for humor value (and maybe the guest of honor will really need it).

If you are going to have a bar do an Over the Hill signature drink:

Old as Dirt Dirty Martini
Screw Old Age Screwdriver
(Aging Like a Fine) Wine
Old-Fashioned

Life is short... so eat cake! You can have a fabulous birthday cake, cupcakes or pastry tray for dessert. You can also make "Old as Dirt" cups; just layer chocolate pudding, crushed Oreos, and Cook Whip in a clear plastic cup. Add a few gummy worms for a fresh dirt look :)

40th Birthday Activities
One of our favorite 40th birthday party ideas is a roast! Make sure your guests know your plan, and ask them to bring a favorite story to tell. You can do a celebrity roast format where a variety of guests get "on stage" to poke fun at the star of the show. We don't want to hurt anyone's feelings (at least not too much), so use this approach only if you know the guests and are sure they won't "cross the line." The other option is to have a single person do the roasting. Best friends are perfect for this. They know all the secret little stories, but they also know where to draw the line.

"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.

Over The Hill Party Favors
40th birthday party ideas for favors should be fun and funny! Create a goody bag of all the items that the "elderly" cannot do without -

Hard candy (but nothing too tasty)
Brochures for nursing homes
Small pack of tissues
Gummy fake teeth
Personalized 40th birthday candy bar

The guests and the guest of honor will have so much fun they will eagerly await your next party!