50th birthday party and no friends! 😭

Honestly I have 1 really good friend and 1 good friend. My 50th was in covid and I was so pleased cos I knew people might 'try to organise a party and I REALLY didn't want one.
I'm honestly happy with my family and (2) good friends.

OMG, what an awesome idea, can you imagine? It's Tracy's 50th - bring a gift, wear pink, in that nice pub in Birmingham 😀

https://tastefilm.co.uk/

This is a good night out. I went to a Dirty Dancing one with my Mum and sister

Also worth noting, I’ve been invited to a few 40th birthday parties recently, they have without exception been a bit shit 🤣

the friends and family you do have will probably be grateful not to be invited to another 🤣

You don't have to have a big party. Even if you have friends sometimes they don't gel if you know them all from different parts of your life. Do something nice with your family and maybe something with a close friend like a spa day.

I had a lunch for my 40th. My DH and our kids. One extended family member. My in laws and a few couples. I thought I would enjoy it. But one of my friends, her husband and child left early because they had something else on / something better to go to that night. It was a 3 course meal and they didn't even have 2 courses each as they had a restaurant booked for later. I paid for everything but came away feeling so silly. MIL kept going on and on about how none of my family were there.

If I could do it again, I would spend the money on an amazing experience with my husband and children and just accept that some people don't have the friendship groups for parties. You can still enjoy your birthday even if you don't have a party. How about using the money to do something you would never usually do / pay for?

So for my fortieth I had a meal with family including my dh, kids, parents and siblings
A meal out with my dh, my two oldest friends and their husbands (one of who is my dh best friend) and three of dh closest friends and their partners.
A night out with my mum friends from playgroup, (known2 years at that point)

I could only have done a party if I'd invited all my aunts and uncles and cousins and even then it wouldn't be massive

I would not bother with a party.
I would simply have a really nice meal with your DH and DC or a long weekend somewhere with your DH or a trip to see Abba Voyage or whatever floats your boat (I'd see the Inside no. 9 play if not sold out) or a tasting menu like off The Trip. Happy birthday!

100% this! @AnotherBillyNoMates I'd go with a holiday to make memories! Far better than a party!

I organised a SMALL surprise 50th party for my DH and invited 9 people (plus 5 of us) for tea and cake at our house. His sister was working so couldn't make it (& her partner doesn't do social stuff without her so wouldn't come) his brother refused to come as he is an antisocial twat, another friend was away that weekend, another said he didn't like large social gatherings so declined. That left his parents, and his best mate and his wife. The night before his birthday, DH was phone surfing and commented that his best mate was abroad yet again on holiday yet always moaning they were broke. Er.... so he's back tomorrow? No, he just flew out today... WFT?!? I was so pissed off! So it was just his parents who came in the end. I felt quite gutted for my DH. With hindsight I wouldn't have bothered and just done a family day out instead.

I LOVE going to other peoples parties but would never have one of my own! Too much stress organising then half of them probably wouldn’t show up.

I’d do a weekend away somewhere amazing - or a holiday of a lifetime for your honeymoon.

My dad tried to organise a surprise 50th for me last year. he had even arranged to get my son's band to play but I put the kibosh on it because I knew it wold look so sad with only my immediate family, a couple of neighbours and a bunch of teenage band members there.

I just had a small gathering in my home instead.

How about booking a holiday somewhere with your immediate family.

Why don't you do away for the weekend or do something less partying?

Why not book a bottomless brochure or afternoon tea?

Don't ever regret not having a big party. I had one for my 40th (I knew a lot of people then), everyone who went tells me it was fantastic and they were expecting me to do it again for my 50th. Except it wasn't great, it took months of stressful planning, caterers, outside bars, etc., huge expense and then on the day itself I couldn't enjoy it at all as I was so busy making sure it all ran ok and everyone was doing what they were supposed to do to keep guests happy. I didn't get to speak to half my guests, and those I was able to speak to it was a brief "thanks for coming". As other people have said many people don't show up without letting you know as well. For me it was a nightmare, I enjoyed the day after when it was all over! Never again. Your camping trip idea sounds fabulous, do that, make your birthday about enjoying yourself with the people you love, not organising things for acquaintances.

One of my friends (by which I means someone I worked with about 10 years ago and maybe talk to once a year) decided for her 60th that she was basically going to invite everyone she'd ever known (and liked) that she was still in touch with.
She ended up with quite a good turn out, lots of people met folks they'd not seen in ages, and everyone said how good an evening it was.

I think you will have to expect a fairly large proportion not to come if you want to do similarly though - so perhaps have a small core of "definites" you can fall back on, and accept this in advance.

Most of the big celebration parties are really mainly acquaintances. Who really has dozens of close friends, that is ones you see often, go to dinner with, share your darkest secrets with, have a real laugh with, etc. Most so called friends would hardly notice if you dropped out of their lives completely. Just enjoy your celebration with close family, so you can just relax and have a great day.

I hate parties. For my 50th, I took myself off, on my own, on a long holiday abroad. It was fab.

I can understand why you feel like you should be able to get the numbers together to have a party, whether you ultimately chose to or not. For my 40th I felt exactly the same. I have such a small social circle and it’s an area of my life where I have really struggled. I have two close friends from school (who both have loads of friends) but don’t see them often due to geography. I have a great family and am super close to my DM and Dsis, and I know I’m lucky in that respect. But I worry about a lonely future.