Posted by willa on October 06, 2002 at 17:21:34:

In Reply to: Re: Our plans for Parents' 50th posted by Ann on October 04, 2002 at 02:05:07:

I love the martini glass centerpieces - that would look so pretty. Also, we had our son (the oldest grandson) do the toast for my parents and also I have seen this done at my aunt and uncles. When you do the balloons, make sure they are blown up right before the party. We had left balloons at the grocery store we had the cake done at and the balloons might have been done the night before. They were losing helium and looked bad at the party. That was my only disappointment. Like you I planned a year in advance as my husband and I are the only ones.

We had the centerpiece done at Michaels - a large silk one that looks so elegant - my parents have it on their entertainment center now. We had it made while silks were 40 percent off and they arranged it for free because there was a coupon in the paper for it. We got a $150.00 arrangement for $75.00. The restaurant where we had the party had ficus trees and gold lame covered bases so we just put our lights on that. If you don't know where you are having it yet and its possibly at a restaurant or facility, you could ask them if they have some you could use or maybe you have some or could borrow some.

The invitations sound really nice - my cousin did that for her parents and it was beautiful. I don't know much about preparing toasts. All of what we said was in letters to my parents some of which we read. My husband kind of mceed the whole thing with humor interspersed. We got decorated card stock and made a cover for programs. We put poems in it, a wordsearch puzzle about their lives, their history and things like that. We started the program off with welcoming them,prayer, dinner, introductions, we read our letters and the White House greetings, did the Love Kit, opened it up for people to talk about memories, cake ceremony, toasting and then my parents showed their gifts (even though we requested no gifts, some people still gave them).
I had made a memory book for them.

Well, hope this helps and if you have any questions, I might be able to give some ideas.

Willa

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