Did your parents have a big 50th Wedding Anniversary celebration?

[Donald's Fan in PHX!]

My parents have been married 51 years now . For their 50th they took a 12 - day Hawaiian cruise from Los Angeles. They really enjoyed it, and brought all the kids back some professional photos they had taken from the ships photographers.

 

[marenian]

My parent's 50th anniversary is this december. I am one of 6 kids and we are planning a cruise for my family. All the kids are splitting the cost of mom and dad's trip, so they will have no expenses.

My parent's 50th is this May and I'm sending them on a 14 day Alaskan cruise in August. I know it is something my Mom always has wanted to do but they would never do it themselves. I would have loved for it to be a surprise but because of the length and needing to find their passports, I told them recently. I'm one of 6 kids too but so far none of my brother and sisters have offered to pitch in (which I find pretty sad considering my parents give us all cash every single Christmas..you'd think once they could give it back. But that's for another thread...)

We thought of doing an open house in the church for extended family and friends but my Mom says she just wants to go out for a nice meal with just the immediate family. We may still have the open house...noboby's really moving on that too fast.

 

[allie_to_you]

I have no idea what is the 'norm' for grown kids to do for their parents' celebration. I thought my mom wanted a small (just family, and extended family and the very closest of friends - less than 30 ppl) for their celebration. Turns out she wants to invite 100 people, and have it be a renewal of vows with us as the honor attendants!

So, as one of the daughters, I'm beginning to think we're expected to be the hosts of this event, and work out the details for her. This is completely news to me - and she's decided this needs to happen in the next 6 weeks!

Did anyone host a 50th for your parents, what is the norm for the celebration level of formality, is this like a mini-wedding kind of thing all over again? Is it the kids who are the hosts? OMG, I am so behind in all of this!

My 2 sisters & I planned a big surprise party for our parents 50th. We invited many of our extended family from Pensacola (we're in Mobile) and we reserved a room at one of our favorite restaurants in town. Also, my sisters & I took tons of photos & memorabilia from years past and made a huge scrapbook to give them as a gift and then of course everyone else brought gifts as well. It was a lot of effort, but it was fun planning it and especially keeping it a surprise from them...they just thought we were taking them out to dinner...they had no idea we'd be inviting so many people.

 

[donac]

My in laws are very quiet people who keep to themselves so for all theiir big anniversaries we only took them out to dinner. I guess that is what we are going to do next year when they hit their 60th. Hopefully my MIL will make it that long.

My parents had a renewed their vows at 25 so we didn't think anything was going to happen for their 50th. Some friends from church convinced them to do it at the church hall (which was free). Parents paid for it. We all brought food and some of it was catered. 4 out of the 5 girls set up for the party and we also cleaned up. brother and 1 sister never want to get involved. They also had a mass said with them renewing their vows again.

 

[TheLittleRoo]

OP here. So my sis and I put our heads together and decided $1000 each is our max. We have another sis we haven't heard back yet from. Anyway, so that would put us around $2-3K for chipping in. That would probably cover the reception or a cruise for the pair of them.

So, then we tell our mom that we'd like to either host the reception or pay for their honeymoon, and my mom digs her heels in that we aren't paying for it. Wha?? I can't tell if this is a little "the lady doth protest too much" act, or if she really never intended on her kids chipping in. She says all her friends paid for their own, none of their kids hosted the 50th anniversaries.

So now what? My mom is a little dramatic, and I guess time will tell if she is acting or really doesn't want us to host the party. It's not like we're going to follow her advice that an appropriate gift would be to split the cost of her and dad's hotel room for the night three ways!

Thanks for the tip on the White House and Governor's greetings! I ordered one of each for my parents! They'll love it!

 

[graygables]

Thanks for the tip on the White House and Governor's greetings! I ordered one of each for my parents! They'll love it!

Yes, thank you! MAYBE I can get one thing right with this whole 50th deal!

(I told hubby if we make it to 50, we're skipping town...)

 

[vsimeone]

Wow! Thanks for the ideas about the White House and Governor stuff! We are busy planning a 65th wedding anniversary party for my grandparents. Their anniversary is May 5th but we are celebrating over Memorial Day weekend to allow some extra time for family members to travel. It will only be about 50-60 of us. We have a rather small family and sadly most of my grandparents friends have passed.

My grandfather has been scrimping and saving for this and while he wants the kids (I'm the oldest grandkid so somehow I got lumped in too!) to plan it, he insists on paying. We settled on telling him that the party cost about $200 eventhough it is really about $2000. He'll never know the difference and we're going to use his money to buy them onboard credit for a cruise that they have planned so in reality, he'll just get the money back!

We are renting out an old movie theater in town. The Lion's Club that DH belongs to owns it so we are getting it cheap. We are putting various poster size photos of my grandparents in the "Now Playing" frames and announcing it on the marque outside. We hope to play a movie from the early 40s but we're not sure what yet. We are having food catered and paying some friends of the family to operate a small bar.

I sure hope they enjoy it! While it was mentioned how few people get to celebrate 50 years of marriage, even fewer make it to 65! I am so lucky to have them!!!

 

[jakoky]

Next year is a huge $$$$$$$ year for us...not only do my inlaws celebrate their 50th, it is my 40th the same day, my dh and i have our 20th, my mother in law turns 80 , and my oldest dd turns 18 and graduates -cant believe this one, it makes me sad...2009 is huge!! I know my mil is planning their party all ready and is planning on footing the bill, i dont know what the 4 brothers have plannned...i just know that grad is 3 weeks later and we are taking a huge family trip...oh yah, last year for my fil's 80th, we sent them both to denmark!!! good luck to all in planning
sharon

 

[HALEYSMOMMOM]

Yes, they are taking all of us -3 daughters, plus husbands and Gkids, to Disney this September!! There will be 16 of us! Very generous and unexpected!!

We are trying to think of something sooo special to do while we're there, for them. I definitely want to do the diver/menu at Coral Reef, and maybe have a cake delivered to their room. Maybe more if I can think of something else! Oh and they want to do the 50s PTC, because they got married in the 50s! Still thinking though....

 

[ncbyrne]

DH and his two siblings paid for a 50th party for their parents - however, there were only about 50 guests, not 100. We all had such a good time planning! Two things that I thought were the hit of the party was...(1) we had her wedding gown (that she actually still fits in!!) on display on a mannequin and (2) I interviewed my m-i-l as well as her sister, and one of the bridesmaids (only one still living) to get the complete story of how they met, and their two year courtship before they were married - I wrote it in story form and made it up into booklets to give out as favors to the guests. I used a photo of the wedding party on the cover and titled it, Mae and Ed's Love Story.

 

[bdcp]

Ooh, I had forgotten I requested a letter from the President for my parents. They got it a couple of weeks after their party really close to their anniversary. They really enjoyed getting that.

 

[can]

My brother, sister, and I hosted my parents' 50th anniversary celebration four years ago. They got married in a courthouse on my dad's 29th day of a 30 day military leave. While we don't have a large family, we invited the family and friends that have been involved with my parents over the last 50 years. We ended up having about 80 people at a local restaurant on a Sun. afternoon (a request from my parents as most of the family and friends were seniors like themselves--no night driving). I ordered blank ivory and gold wedding invites and response cards off the internet and printed it with our own wording. One of the things we asked from our guests was that there would be no gifts, being there to celebrate with us was a most wanted and appreciated gift they could give them.

We made our own place favors and floral centerpieces for each table. It was a fabulous afternoon and everyone there had a great time. My parents were overwhelmed at the guests, as they knew we were hosting a dinner but we would not tell them who was invited. All we told them was that everyone in the room would have a connection to them one way or the other. The stories, laughs, and tears were an afternoon none of us would ever forget. A friend took tons of pictures for us and later on put them on a cd to music that was special to them. We had pictures of them on their wedding day and each "momentus" anniversary after that (25, 30, 35, etc). and pictures of the three of their kids and their weddings. The three of us paid for this, what else could we give them that would the meaning that day had for them?

My suggestion is you do what you can afford. So much can be done in such a tasteful and classy way with access to the internet. I think you will regret it to not do anything. We had started to plan my in-law's 50th wedding anniversay and my father-in-law passed away suddenly before they reached that special day.

Good luck with whatever you decide. Even if you do something with just your immediate family, the important thing is to celebrate this very special and once-in-a-lifetime occasion.

 

[Took]

DH and his two siblings paid for a 50th party for their parents - however, there were only about 50 guests, not 100. We all had such a good time planning! Two things that I thought were the hit of the party was...(1) we had her wedding gown (that she actually still fits in!!) on display on a mannequin and (2) I interviewed my m-i-l as well as her sister, and one of the bridesmaids (only one still living) to get the complete story of how they met, and their two year courtship before they were married - I wrote it in story form and made it up into booklets to give out as favors to the guests. I used a photo of the wedding party on the cover and titled it, Mae and Ed's Love Story.

This sounds just wonderful. I wish I had written something for my parents' anniversary, but I didn't think of it then. However, when dad turned 80, I did put together a memory scrapbook with pictures and letters from about 40 of his friends and relatives. He loved it, and I'm sure the same would work for an anniversary.

 

[vsimeone]

Thanks for the tip on the White House and Governor's greetings! I ordered one of each for my parents! They'll love it!

So, I've looked all over the White House website and can't figure out how to order these greetings! Can someone point me in the right direction? Thank you!!!

 

[Sandi]

For my parents 40th, we had a big party at a local hotel. I have 2 brothers and a sister. My mom insisted on paying something, so we split the cost of the party between me, my sister, and mom (dad was clueless on everything). Sister and I could afford it. One brother and sister-in-law did decorations and the other couple set helped with addressing invitations, etc. So, each of the four kids contributed somehow.

A couple of neat things we had included:

Two cakes with photos painted on. One had their wedding photo, the other a more recent photo.

A big off white tablecloth with lots of fabric paint pens for guests to write personal congratulatory notes to my folks. (In the invitations, we included information about that so that people could think about it and that those who couldn't make it could let me know what they wanted to say and I wrote that out in advance.) Mom and Dad use that tablecloth even 8 years later.

We're a couple of years away from the 50th -- I'm looking forward to that, too.

 

[bdcp]

So, I've looked all over the White House website and can't figure out how to order these greetings! Can someone point me in the right direction? Thank you!!!

Here's the link: https://app1.whitehouse.gov/greetings/home