Organising a surprise 35th wedding anniversary party

C

collieb

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Hi,

I have been thinking of organising a party for my parents in 2 months time and am just looking for some general advice, esp from people who have experience of organising similar events in the past. I have been advised by some that I am mad because this will eat up every spare minute I have for the 8 weeks while others say it is not too bad an ordeal.

I am thinking along the lines of something in the local GAA club, with buffet or finger food for what could be up to 300 people with a band playing some tunes.

Any advice welcome on issues to be aware of as I have diddley squat experience in this area. Should we try to arrange food ourselves or go with caterers? Those are the type of issues I am clueless on!
 
Are you sure they want a "surprise" ? My mother made it very clear to me that for her 80th birthday she did not want a big fuss - i.e. a fuss, just not a big fuss.

If they would like it, then yes, its a lovely idea. It does take a lot of time ( and 300 people?) and there is a lot of organisation.

Food - I am of the RTFC brigade - that would be rite the ******* cheque to caterers rather than kill yourself but a lot depends on whether members of the family would all get involved.

mf
 
Forget about doing the food for 300 people yourself. Would you even have enough cutlery/crockery? Def. get the caterers in - doesn't have to anything too expensive - a lot of deli/butchers provide a catering service. Check with local pubs/venues for recommendations for bands.

Best of luck!
 
Probably ( well definitely) not what you asked but I came across a great idea for gifts for older people. A guy interviews and records on dvd conversations with them - just them talking about meeting up, general stuff from their childhood and growing up, and this would be interspersed with old photos etc. Saw couple of excerpts from a video - thought it was something nice to keep.

As if you ain't enough to be thinking about!

http://www.recordit.ie/thevideomemoir.html
 
We did it for my parent's 40th anniversary - It's a lot of hassle (wasnt my choice to do it) but both daughters in law did most of the work (both were off work). Parents enjoyed it - Escpecially since we dug up some "old" friends.

One thing we did that went down well was tell everyone that no presents were wanted (what would my folks need after 40 years of marriage - more crystal?), but that if people wanted to do something we would leave a collection box for a charity that the folks would nominate once we could tell them. We got a fair bit of money that went to a cancer charity.
 
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