50th birthday ideas needed for DH - present; food; enertainment

[tootiredtothink]

DH is 50 in June. I have absolutely NO idea what to get him, currently thinking an 'experience' would be a good idea as anything to to do with his hobbies is too expensive.

Would also like to do a party in the house but having only done kids parties I'm totally clueless!

It would be for around 60 adults and 20 kids, starting in the afternoon and going on til late.

BBQ or buffet? Would love to do a pig roast but far too expensive sadly.
Do I do a mixture of the 2 with possibly a curry/chilli/lasagne in the evening?

Any idea how much alcohol I'd need in? Although most people will bring a bottle it wouldn't be enough to keep them going all day/night.

And finally, do I have to have any entertainment apart from music? Was thinking of a bouncy castle for the kids if it'll fit in our lopsided garden.

TIA if you've managed to get through essay and you can give ideas....have only just realised I've got less than 3 months and I'll need to be buying things in dribs and drabs as not to bankrupt myself in June!

Buy drink over the next few months and don't forget soft drinks. Start stacking up on nibbles ( nuts, crisps, etc) BBQ are quite easy. Keep it simple, sausages and burgers. How about a photo album for his birthday. Photos of him over the last 59 years . Can be quite cheap but great.

I like the idea of photos, will do a little album from kids perhaps. Will see if MIL will let me look through photos of him growing up.

Thanks for reminding me about nibbles too. Had forgotten about those.

Any idea how much alcohol I should be looking at?

We did very similar for my 40th a few years ago- had a BBQ and made lots of salads to go with it. Bouncy castle and paddling pool to keep the kids busy. can't remember quantities but we bought loads of alcohol - lots of cava, wine and beer. Was great but downside was that DH spent hours stuck at the BBQ. Went to another 40th last year who got local Indian restaurant to cater (veg curry, meat curry, nan bread and popadoms). Everyone thought it was fab and my guess is it didn't cost much more than buying all the food we did. Def going to go down the curry route for DH's 50th this year (although as his is October a BBQ is out anyhow).