Ideas needed for a 40th birthday celebration for dp please

[bodiddly]

dp is 40 next month and I want to organise something fairly inexpensive but not a run of the mill dinner or party. We can't afford to spend too much but want find a way to mark the occasion - does anyone have any ideas or have you done something for your dp/dh?

Went to a fun one at the weekend that ended with a huge camp fire and sausages

its actually in october so it may be a wee chilly by then!

fire was VERY warm

(excuse me I am just namechanging for fabio thread)

I did wonder about the name

Oh yes
I am just pretenting to be Cod's fanjo (bored at work you know)

rather you than me (in being codsminge that is)

you could be one of her norks

What is he into?
How many people are involved?

I am not bothered how many people .. could just be us, or family or friends or all of the above.

Dh hired a village hall for me and we had a live band. We bought enough booze for first drink and asked everyone to also bring a bottle. We had crisps and dips on each table, ate fresh baguettes later and put bowls of sweets on the tables and fairy cakes for pudding. It was fab. about 80 people came

we're going to a back garden party on Saturday for friends 40th complete with BBQ and Bouncy castle for the children.

(only slightly in shock that my friends are turning 40!!)

bbq is an option but wondered whether to do something just for family. dilemmas dilemmas .. dont know what to do.

bbq is an option but wondered whether to do something just for family. dilemmas dilemmas .. dont know what to do.

If you are near to a Hotel Du Vin they do private dining rooms and wonderful food. You could book a room for say 12 people and ask everyone to pay for their own meal- would cost prob £60per head including wine for an AMAZING meal. There are loads of thema round the country. no I do not get paid by them just am a massive fan!

My DH loves Derren Brown and all things magic. So I hired a hall, and a fabulous caterer, and also a magician to come and do table-magic and a floor-show. All the guests came in black tie (to match the magician!) and the helium balloons and table confetti etc... were all in black, silver and gold. Great evening.

this has all come about because we have had 2 40ths on my dp's side of the family recently. The first was a great success where they paid for a coach to take us all to a lovely restaurant and then paid for the meal etc and back to theirs so people could drink. Lovely day but obviously very expensive for them and we couldnt afford it (even if we could I would rather spend the money on a holiday!). The other was a meal in Zizzi's where at the end of the meal they split the bill .. and then got so ridiculously picky as to what precise drinks, starters, bread etc we had ... for 30 people! It was soooo embarassing and protracted - I have never seen anything like it since my student days!

lovely idea intolerant .. if only we had the money!

How about a Casino night? Relatively inexpensive - two tables (+ croupiers) will cost you around £300 and will stay for around four hours. You could also have fireworks too if your budget will stretch.