Milestone Birthday Parties

Good Monday morning!

The Showcase Pic is from yesterday's family dinner. I know Roxie and I are both wearing different prints, but try to get past that little fact, please.

The Gallery Pics are from the Volleyball Tournament AND more family photos. As is my custom, when someone has a birthday dinner, I try to get at least one picture of the birthday girl/guy with EVERYONE in the family. Katie and Roxie love it, and the guys... not so much!

ANNOUNCEMENT! ANNOUNCEMENT! ANNOUNCEMENT! - After MANY sleepless nights and MUCH careful consideration, I have decided to create a new "picture-a-day" blog beginning Thursday, August 26, 2010. That's right. I'm doing it all again!

The new blog will be entitled Belinda's Project Life. (This is the brain child of one of my favorite scrapbookers in the world, Becky Higgins. Both Projects were her idea.) It will be the same format as Project 365, and hopefully will depict my 49th year of life accurately!

You will be able to click on Belinda's Project Life under My Blog List beginning Thursday morning, OR I will have the website address listed for your convenience!

It's going to be another exciting year... I can just feel it!

CONTEST! CONTEST! CONTEST! - Since Project 365 is quickly coming to an end, I feel a contest is necessary in order to properly celebrate this HUGE milestone. Here are the rules.

1. I have looked at all 362 pictures in Project 365. (Pictures 363, 364 and 365 have not been taken yet!) I have picked my SIX favorite photos.

2. You must guess at least ONE of my favorites to win a $15 gift certificate to your favorite restaurant!

3. But wait! That would be too difficult, wouldn't it? I mean, there are 362 PICTURES to choose from! That is why I am giving you TEN guesses! That's right! TEN!

4. Leave your TEN guesses in my Comment Section Monday, Tuesday OR Wednesday of this week! (You can also e-mail me or send me a message via Facebook.)

5. You will need to specify which photos you think are my favorites by putting the day OR date of the pic. (For example, "Day 161, Day 5, Day 43, Day 62, Day 322, etc., etc.")

6. In the event of multiple winners, the FIRST person who correctly guesses ONE of my favorite SIX pictures will win the $15 gift certificate. Any other correct "guessers" will receive a smaller (but fun) prize.

7. I will announce the winner bright and early Thursday morning, August 26, 2010!

LET THE CONTEST BEGIN!

Milestone Birthday Parties

Although my upcoming birthday is not a Milestone Birthday, it will be here before you know it! I looked at different websites and borrowed good ideas from several. The following is a hodge-podge of FUN!

All birthdays are special, but some are more significant than others. For adults, these are milestone birthdays. The ones that end in zero and make you feel the passage of time. When you think back to childhood birthdays, what do you remember most? It's the magical feeling you had... you were queen for the day. The next time someone special celebrates a big birthday, why not help her recapture that magic?

Invitations

Create a combination invitation and mask. Make color copies of a photo of the guest of honor's face. Cut the copies out and glue them to Popsicle sticks. Write the party information on the back of each mask, along with a note asking guests to bring the masks to greet the honoree.

Food

Let's face it. Adults like cupcakes as much as your average 10 year-old. At a party, they're much easier to serve. Real Simple suggests serving basic cupcakes in disguise. Start with boxed yellow and chocolate cake mix and add surprising flavors and fresh embellishments for a more grown-up version of a childhood favorite.

If serving ice cream, the night before the party, spoon ice cream into muffin tins lined with paper baking cups, then transfer the tins to the freezer. When it's time to serve the cake (or in this case, the cupcakes), you can simply remove the scoops from the baking cups and drop the ice cream onto waiting plates. (I think this is brilliant! It's a great idea for a kid party, too.)

Decorations

1. Cover the table with a white paper tablecloth. Use a paint pen or a colored marker to note historic or personal events from the honoree's lifetime. It can vary from the funniest, most important or oddest happenings over the course of the birthday person's life. Guests who are more artistic can also incorporate drawings representing the events.

2. Continue the theme of nostalgia with party favors that make guests feel like kids in a candy store. Fill goodie bags with nostalgic treats like Tootsie Rolls, Bit-O-Honey pieces and Candy Buttons you used to love biting off the paper. You can find "old-fashioned" candy at most Cracker Barrel stores.

Activities

1. Ask each guest to bring a picture of the honoree to the party (formal, funny or otherwise). Place a photo album, a stack of index cards, and a pen on a table near the entrance to the party and instruct each guest to write a clever caption on an index card relating to his or her photo. Slide the card and the photo into facing pages of the album. At the end of the night, the honoree will have a permanent and humorous memory to take home.

2. What will the honoree be up to on her next milestone? Have guests write down predictions and stick them in the photo album. Or invite guests to write their predictions on the paper tablecloth for the rest of the party to enjoy.

3. Why should just the birthday person get to blow out candles? Encourage guests to make wishes on their own cupcakes. Roll up paper napkins, tie with a ribbon, then slip in a candle and a match. Attach a sign that says “Make A Wish!” Supply a large box of matches to use as a communal striker.

Gifts

An inexpensive gift suggestion in keeping with the milestone theme is to ask each guest to bring a quantity of items equaling the birth age. For a 30 year-old party, you would ask each guest to bring 30 of a single item. It could be pennies, sticks of gum, balloons, hard candies, etc.

Have a fun Monday. Since I had such a long post today, I'll be sharing a recipe, the Weekend Review AND a new story called "B12, Baby!" first thing Tuesday morning!

Take care, and I'll talk to you tomorrow.

Sincerely,

The Enchanting Belinda