Tell me what you did for your 50th

[Spondoolie]

Tell me what you did for your 50th!

Trips, parties, get togethers, adventures

What went really well?
What didn’t go well and why?
Anything you wish you’d done but didn’t?

Thank you!

Mines in a couple of weeks. I had breast cancer a few years ago and have just managed to slip a disc and have sciatica, however, for me birthdays are a privilege!

I would hate a big party. So on my birthday, I’m having my hair done first thing then into town with DH and he can treat me to something nice and lunch at Harvey Nics then home, kids will be back from
school so I’d like a couple of glasses of Cremant, chip shop tea and a cake from Bettys! The next day my besties are taking me somewhere, it’s still a secret and then the evening after we’re going to a local Italian for a meal as a family. Then in the summer we’ll have a bbq (hope the sun shines in Yorkshire!) for the larger family!

My DH has also been holiday planning and we’re going to Cambodia and Vietnam over Easter and then Italy over the summer! Eek.

DH asked what I’d like to do. As I hate being the centre of attention I didn’t want any fuss or a party and opted to go to our favourite place in Greece. Spent my 50th lazing by the pool, then drinks and dinner at our favourite restaurant with various friends who used to go to our hotel at the same time as us. We’ve known the lads in the restaurant for years and they produced a lovely meal and surprise birthday cake with fizz. We fell out of the restaurant into the bar next door and spent the rest of the evening drinking, chatting and generally enjoying the perfect setting. It was fabulous.

Went for an Indian at our local BYO restaurant/takeaway. Just me and DH. Had a few pints/glasses of wine in the nearby pub first and a game of snooker. It was a nice evening. I'm a girl of simple pleasures and we've never had much money anyway.

I had a party at home and went on a cruise with my children to the Mediterranean. I'd been widowed just over a year so was lovely to do something special.
My friend cooked all the food as her gift to me.( I paid for the food but she was a professional cook so it was amazing!)

Two nights at a lovely hotel in the Highlands. Had to leave sharpish after breakfast on the last day as the snow was getting so deep and we had to get out before the snow gates were shut.

Had a joint 50th with dh at home which was so stressful, then took whole extended family for a week on a friiend’s boat in south France.

I was not expecting the brompton part!

Squashed twenty friends into my sitting room, plied them with drink and M&S canapés and they all fell out the front door about 10.30. There were fifteen taxis lining the road and a shameful number of bottles in the recycling.

@Allisgoodtoday how did that work? Was it a suite like in pretty woman/ home alone 2? How many people are you allowed to host. I think it sounds amazing so was looking on their website but it’s all wedding venue/conference type rooms which sounds less fun!

That is a lot

I’d have loved to be able to do just one of those things, except the weekends abroad.

We went to Barbados for my 60th. A colleague’s birthday was the day after mine and she’d always insisted that she HAD to have leave for her birthday, never mind anyone else, so for once I got in first with leave and the booking.

Mind you it was February, so the place was full of oldies (even older!) escaping the cold - I wouldn’t go at that time of year again. Previously we’d only been in summer or autumn - in Feb it was noticeably cooler, the sea wasn’t as warm, and was a wee bit rough compared to the usual. Still worth it, though!

Nothing. We were in lockdown.

When we were eventually allowed to travel and stay overnight and all that I rented a cottage for a week in the middle of nowhere and went hiking every day.

Off grid. Off radar. No internet.

On my own.

Bliss.