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Original poster

How did you celebrate the big 40?

41 replies

PuffTheMagicDragon · 30/11/2004 09:18

Mine is looming (next spring)!

I'm looking for ideas really and just wondering how others marked this most special event.

Please tell all.... well, perhaps not all, but enough to inspire me .

OP posts:
Marina · 30/11/2004 09:20

I would not recommend being 39.5 weeks pregnant in a heatwave, Puff. MI will agree with me on that I think.
If I had not been practically spherical and bathed in sweat I might have booked a Landmark Trust castle and done a Cold Feet-style weekend away with my best friends and all their nippers.

Original poster
PuffTheMagicDragon · 30/11/2004 09:32

lol Marina! Yes I managed to do the "beached whale heavily pregnant in a heatwave" for the LAST time last year.

OP posts:
mumbojumbo · 30/11/2004 09:38

Big 4-0 was this month.

On the day - took the ds1 and ds2 (nearly 3 and 1 years) to London Zoo. Went there on my 30th for a laugh! Thought we'd go back 10 years later!

Still to come:

  • Trip to Nirvana Spa for the evening with a couple of girlfriends (paid for by dh).
  • Couple of days away at swanky hotel with childcare (maybe Calcot Manor or Woolley Grange).

Enjoy yourself whatever you do!

motherinferior · 30/11/2004 09:43

Yep, Marina and I are as one very large rolypoly birthday girl on this one.

Had I been in a state to wear a slinky frock and glug champagne I would have thrown a party (which in fact I did this year). Attentive friends bearing gifts and flattering you on how young you look, that's what you want, I find. Mind you, am trying to persuade DP to go down that route next August, with no success at the moment!

aloha · 30/11/2004 10:11

I try to be abroad for my birthday as I think that birthdays out of the country don't count and I'm not good at parties. I was in France with my baby son, stepdaughter and husband and we had a surprise picnic in a cornfield with champagne and cake, and dinner out in the evening with a babysitter for ds. Lovely, apart from darling boy waking us up at 5am!

dottee · 30/11/2004 10:19

Well we all went on a booze up 'round town' and then onto a nightclub. Everything was going well until one of my mate's ex fella turned up and it all kicked off. I ended up bundling her into a taxi and taking her back to our house and dp acted as a decoy but then found out he hadn't any money for a taxi so he ended up walking back home.

There was a civilised meal planned for the following evening but I was soooo knackered when we got to the restaurant. We ate but I didn't have the energy to go on anywhere afterwards. The spirit was willing but the body was feeling its age!

welshmum · 30/11/2004 10:21

We hired a big room in a Chinese restaurant - kind of art deco, shabby chic with a big chandelier. Told the 40 or so guests to dress glamourously and then had a sit down Chinese, loads of wine and a karaoke evening. It was noisy, daft and over-dressed - bit like me on a big night out (in the old days). I loved it.

MarsLady · 30/11/2004 10:37

Not quite there yet but this is what different friends have done:
James Bond party. Lots of cocktails served and house decorated in JB theme
70s disco party. Because she loves disco
Black tie Party. Formal dresses for the ladies
Masked party. Also black tie. Best one of them I thought.

otto · 30/11/2004 10:43

I went out with dp for dinner. My birthday is just before Christmas so it's always a massive hassle trying to get people together and find a venue that isn't already booked. I was also 6 months pg. We'd had a party earlier in the year for dp's 40th and had lots of nice food and champagne in the garden, so I sort of counted that as my party too.

When a friend turned 40 his wife hired a juke box and asked us all for our record selections. The juke box was then stacked with them and we could dance the night away listening to the music that we wanted to hear, not what some cheesy dj wanted to play.

msann · 30/11/2004 10:53

oh my god! ive only got 15 yrs to prepare.........

soapbox · 30/11/2004 11:06

I had a huge party with marquee in the garden. Had champagne, big buffet, characeturist, dancing etc. Also had a children's party which ran similtaneously to the adults one, with magicians and bouncy castle etc. It really worked well as the adults were left completely in peace to enjoy the evening while the children were being taken care of in the house.

DH and I waiting til everyone had left or gone to bed then spent a couple of hours sitting in the marquee chatting which was a perfect end to a perfect day.

Oh and mumnetters helped me compile a suitable play list for the music - which was a tremendous success!

Lonelymum · 30/11/2004 11:06

Puff, I am 40 this New Years Eve. I have arranged to take dh and all four children [roll eyes!] to Paris for a couple of nights. I don't like New Years Eve anyway, going back to when I was a child and wanting the day to be special to me only, so I decided it was best to be out of the country. Also, better to be doing something rather than dwelling on being 40. Final reason: they say life begins at 40 and I have started wanting to take the children abroad, so this seemed a good time to actually do it.

Hope you come up with a great idea for yourself. It only seems fair that you treat yourself, I think!

unicorn · 30/11/2004 11:13

I went to Barcelona with a school pal, and had a fab time... then the weekend afterwards we had a gathering of pals and kids at the house here.. so kids could feel involved too.

Think it is nice to do something you have always wanted to do, or go somewhere you have always wanted to go..
We couldn't get a babysitter for the weekend so I went with my pal instead of dh but had a really great time.

birdsong · 30/11/2004 11:17

Hi lonely mum , my mum is 60 in december and we are going to paris tomorrow also with 4 kids. Don't know whether to laugh or cry - but at least I get out of making costume for ds6 nativity as it is next tuesday - the day we get back. Don't exactly know how we are going to keep them all happy.
Me and dh will be 40 within 2 wks of each other ( in 5 yrs ) and oldest ds will be 18 same month so big celebration looming !

Lonelymum · 30/11/2004 11:22

Birdsong, is there any chance you could send me a quick email after you get back, telling me what you did with the children when you were in Paris? I have some ideas, but it would be nice to know what someone else actually did. Mine ar aged 21 months to 8 years so they are quite young for art galleries etc.

Kayleigh · 30/11/2004 11:29

My best friend and I were both 40 within 2 weeks of each other. We went to New York for a long weekend. Her boss (the lovely, lovely man) let us use his airmiles to upgrade to business class which really made all the difference.

It was something we had said we would do for years and it was absolutely brilliant.

birdsong · 30/11/2004 11:35

lonelymum , yes I will do that - I sat my ds6 down today and told him sunglasses tshirt and shorts were not going to be needed. He just associates the word holiday with summer. I don't think we will be doing many galleries either . Will let you know!

Gingerbear · 30/11/2004 11:40

just had an invite to friends 40th bash - a Celidh (sp?) in village hall with BYO booze. We are all dossing down in a Marquee in her garden afterwards.

Mine was a v quiet affair. I was depressed about the whole thing, so a quiet meal with 2 friends suited me fine.

OldieMum · 30/11/2004 11:55

Dh and I had a long weekend in Florence - we were still childless after 5 IVF cycles, and depressed about it, and felt we needed cheering up. We had a magical time. It was early January, so there were very few other tourists and we were able to get a good look at paintings that are usually surrounded by dozens of people. It reminded us that there is more to life than fertility treatment. And then the next IVF cycle worked .... I spent my 41st birthday giving birth to dd.

motherinferior · 30/11/2004 12:07

OldieMum, that's so lovely.

jabberwocky · 30/11/2004 12:13

Glad you started this thread Puff, I will be 40 this spring as well.

I love the James Bond theme that MarsLady mentioned!

Cam · 30/11/2004 12:46

My family, initiated by dd1, threw a genuine surprise party for me by hiring a restaurant in Brighton. I thought I was having a little lunch with my dd1, her boyfriend and my dh (then dp). As it happened I walked in to find lots of family and some old friends sitting there waiting for me! Only problem for me was that I was 10 wks pg with dd2 and hadn't yet told anyone so I had to make the announcement and have no champagne. (Made up for it since though)

Cam · 30/11/2004 12:47

....But, cannot think of better way to not feel your age than to be pg at 40

Tinker · 30/11/2004 12:51

Wow, lots of pregnant 40 year olds. Celebrated mine with lunch out and then a meal out at the weekend. And had to revise! . Must say, if I'd not been pregnant and not had exams , I would have arranged to go abroad for weekend.

Rhubarb · 30/11/2004 12:54

How are you Tinker? Cab't believe you are 40! How's the pregnancy going? You had just found out when I left so you must be nearly 7 months gone now?

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