Your parents are celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary and you want to plan a special party to celebrate their love and this important milestone. If you are looking for wedding anniversary party ideas, you have come to the right place.
From intimate gatherings to full-scale parties, there are plenty of ways to make this day special for your parents. Take the planning out of their hands, invite friends and family members, and surprise them with an epic party they won’t forget.
The key to planning the perfect party is to make sure that it is personalized for your parents. Add inside jokes, symbols, and keepsakes of their relationship, and memories from all those years spent together.
Read on to discover some of the best 40th-anniversary party ideas for parents.
40th-anniversary party – Picking the location
Before you start any planning, you’ll need to decide where you want the party to take place. Ask yourself if they would want something intimate with only close friends and family, or a big party with everyone they know.
If planning a huge party, consider renting a venue with a catering service to make things easier on you.
For a smaller gathering, there are also plenty of options, it can be at their house or yours, indoors or outdoors depending on the weather – you can also go to a park. And of course, you can celebrate it at a restaurant or by doing an activity they like.
40th Wedding Anniversary Party – Decoration Ideas
Ruby is the traditional and modern gift, as well as the gemstone and the color for a 40th wedding anniversary, so you can have a dark red party decor. No need to go overboard, just pick some red tablecloths and tableware, maybe a mix of white and red balloons, with a touch of gold.
Add memorabilia of their years together, maybe some photos, you can even order a real-size cut-out of them to add some extra laughter to the celebration.
When it comes to flowers, Gladioli are the official flower for the 40th wedding anniversary party, so see if you can find some floral arrangements with Gladioli in them.
You can also pick mostly red flowers, especially if you are going with a ruby color scheme for the rest of the decorations.
40th-Anniversary Party – Food Ideas
Depending on the type of party you are planning, you will need to adapt the food accordingly.
One thing you must have is a cake. Have it decorated specially for the occasion, maybe with a picture of them (actual or from their wedding), or have it made with a deep red frosting. You can also replicate their wedding cake if you find a picture of it.
For the rest, you can keep it simple with a hors-d’oeuvre buffet and dessert bar – or go full-on and prepare their favorite meal.
40th-Anniversary Party Ideas – Making it Special
So now that we have the basics of party planning out of the way, you will want to find special things to do to make their 40th-anniversary party memorable. From sentimental keepsakes to fun party games, celebrate the day with these fun anniversary party ideas for parents.
Make a Slideshow
It is the perfect occasion to reminisce about the years spent together and all the milestones that have been reached as a couple.
Create a beautiful slideshow or montage of your favorite memories and go down memory lane. You are sure that your parents will appreciate this special gesture and it will make a beautiful anniversary gift.
You can also have all the special people in their lives record a message about a memory they have of them as a couple and create a video.
Make a playlist
Have fun with the music and create a playlist of all their favorite song – you can also make one with all the hits from the year they were married or try to re-create the one from their wedding day. Anyway, make sure to start with the song from their first dance.
Make a toast
Like at their wedding, have guests prepare a toast to celebrate the couple and their 40 years together. Write something special that will make them laugh and melt their heart – be sentimental or funny, or even a blend of both, and you are sure to make this party memorable.
Book them a photoshoot
Have a professional photographer come to the party and recreate pictures from their wedding or engagement photoshoot. It will be a lot of fun and will be perfect on display at their home once the pictures are printed and framed – it will make the perfect keepsakes for their 40th wedding anniversary that they can cherish for years to come.
Play some party games
There are plenty of games you can play to make the party more fun for your parents and your guests.
Here are some anniversary party game ideas:
- Scavenger Hunt – with questions about the couple to find the next clue;
- A Trivia with questions about the couple;
- Find-Your-Spouse – blindfold your mom and have her find your dad among the guests with touch alone, then do the same with your dad;
- Paper Dance Competition – scatter newspaper pages on the floor and ask each pair/couple to stand on it, start the music and the dancing, if a couple steps out, they lose, after the end of the song, fold the page in half and repeat, keep playing until there’s only one couple left.
Book an entertainer
Based on what they like most, you can book a special entertainer for the party, be it a band that plays their wedding first dance song, an impersonator of their favorite celebrity, or a humorist to make them laugh, there are plenty of options to make the day memorable.
Hiring a caricature artist can also be a nice idea, and that way the guests have something to bring home and remember this special day.
Tips for throwing a wedding anniversary party for your parents
When you decide to throw your parent an anniversary party, make sure they’re not planning anything special on their side, check with your relatives as well, and maybe get a couple of them to help you out with the party planning.
Start planning ahead by making a guest list to figure out more or less how many people you need to plan a party for. Then decide on the location, and book the venue if needed.
Next comes the theme, as the 40th anniversary is known as the Ruby anniversary it shouldn’t be complicated, but you might want to opt for something more original based on your parent’s tastes and likes.
Once everything is settled, you can make and send the invitations. If you are planning a small gathering, calling or texting guests might be enough. You can also design invitations and mail/email them to guests. Canva has a lot of beautiful invitation templates you can use for free.
Make sure to include: names, date and time of the event, theme, location, and RSVP information.
If you want to hire entertainment, a DJ, a photographer, and/or catering services, make sure to book them once you have set the date.
Don’t forget about the cake either and make sure you have everything you need when it comes to decorations, food if you’re cooking, and activities.
40th anniversary party ideas on a budget
Planning an anniversary party for your parents doesn’t have to break the bank. You can plan an intimate gathering with only a few people and have it at your home or theirs to save money.
Cook their favorite meal, ask guests to take care of the drinks, and plan a couple of free activities – and there you’ll have a great anniversary party on a budget!
Being with their loved ones on this special day and seeing how thoughtful you are will be more than enough for your parents.
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