Ideas for my 50th plse

[bigteethandlips]

I'm female in the UK.

I don't want:
SPA day
an experience
party
museum/art/bowling/cinema/shopping/theatre
London
concert
city break

We go out for meals all the time and tbh, nothing locally is that special any more in terms of restaurants. There are no specific restaurants that I have ever wanted to go to, not in UK anyway.

All i know is that I love going away/on holiday but we cannot afford a holiday for my 50th as me and DH are having a joint one a year later.

What to book/organise/do ?

I have no interest in anything ! the only things on my bucket list I have already done.

Stay overnight in a folly. Turreted tower, mock-temple, or Georgian pineapple-shaped retreat.
Commission a tiny oil painting of your own hand. Mourning portrait style. Very Turn of the Screw.
Hire a vintage caravan on someone’s private land for one night. Just you, a portable record player, a tin of sardines and a bottle of laudanum.
Take a solo funeral tea for your former self. Go to a country tea room, wear black lace gloves, and quietly toast to 25-year-old you.
Book an afternoon in a sensory deprivation tank and emerge a minor deity.
Take a train to a town you’ve never heard of and spend the day in costume, pretending you’re researching a novel set there in 1901.

Night in with a takeaway.

Wait until your holiday to celebrate.

Clean your house, it’s probably really dirty

Picnic for 50 friends and neighbours, with school games like sack race, three-legged race and egg and spoon race.

WTF @CakeBlanchettthis is all bonkers but I absolutely love it!!!

I got Lego for my 50th (and 40th).
I also ordered some secondhand books but they sent the wrong editions 🙁

Yes and all of those eccentric ideas followed by ‘night in with a takeaway’ in the next post! 😆

I will be 50 years of age in a few years. If i didn’t want to do any of the things you listed, I would maybe…

• go to a secret cinema evening
• attend a speakeasy event and pretend I was in the Jazz Age
• do a cocktail making session
• do a guided waking tour of a place I love

Out of interest, just put your criteria into Chat GPT and this is what one of the things it came up with:

🎯 Option 1: A Solo or Duo Retreat-Style Day, Close to Home
Not a spa. Not a wellness centre. But maybe you rent a beautiful, peaceful place in nature (a shepherd's hut, riverside cabin, or coastal hideaway) for just one night. The goal is stillness, beauty, maybe some walking, journalling, just being.

• Places: Northumberland, Norfolk, Cornwall, Yorkshire Moors — even off-season it's affordable
• Look on: Canopy & Stars, CoolStays, Kip Hideaways, or even quirky Airbnb stays
• Budget: Under £150 for 1 night in many cases

It did five options but i couldn’t copy and paste them all in for some reason. It’s trying to convince you to go away for the night… but there were other great ideas too.

Hire a narrowboat for the day.

Go to the zoo to see some polar bears.

Borrow a tent and camp out in your garden for the night.

Oh I just noticed you're the same person that has another post about "not liking anything" - no wonder you can't think of something you would like for your birthday.
Do you feel you "have" to celebrate it in a big way? (ie family pressure)
If you are having to force yourself to do something you really aren't that interested why do that?

@CakeBlanchett this is the best post I have ever read on mumsnet, bravo!

😍

@bigteethandlips what is your idea of the perfect day?

Dh and I had a joint 50th at home with 100+ people.. I was so bloody stressed with it I’m not doing that again. Most people I know are having girly brunch/lunch for their 60th’s but I know I wouldn’t enjoy that either!

If I didn’t want to “do anything” I’d have a day off work, a lie in, breakfast in bed with t’other half (he’s cooking obviously cos it’s my birthday), long slow morning sex, followed by more coffee in bed, a snooze, a walk or run somewhere scenic, shower, nibbles and fizz, more sex and naked snoozing in bed, and then he’d cook me a steak and chips with red wine for dinner.

I’d like to go to New York for mine…
or a hot air balloon breakfast

Go out for the day to somewhere lovely eg National Trust Garden and take a picnic. Did this on Sunday and it was really nice. Or spend the day at the beach with sandwiches and wine.

One day workshop on something interesting - watercolours, pottery, first words in Japanese

A big mountain trek. I did Snowdon for the 4th time for my 50th. I never get tired of reaching the top!

Doing Ben Nevis this year for DH’s milestone birthday.

I’m going to do one of @CakeBlanchett suggestions at the earliest opportunity. But for you - how about setting aside however much money you would normally spend and researching a grassroots cause or charity you would like to support? I used to work in a tiny charity dedicated to helping adults with learning disabilities. Something like £250 (which is what I’m guessing a night away would cost?) would make a real difference