Birthday Ideas -- Mine

Schedule it for like 7:00pm so everyone will have already had dinner. Then you can just have some drinks and appetizers. Do a 70's, 80's or 90's theme.

for my 40th i sent out a hand made invitation 'come celebrate my 40th" bring a plate of food to share instead of a pressie and bring a memory to share too, lets take many photos and make more memories for years to come.
It was the best birthday party ever! there was so much food. I supplied the venue, plastic plates, cups, knives, forks and spoons and of course the birthday cake. (WHICH I MADE MYSELF)

Everyone had a great time and didn't want to leave! They all borrowed the idea for their 40th birthdays and i can't wait to do it all again on my 50th.

Friends understand how hard it is these days to make ends meet and its cheaper for them to bring a plate of savoury or sweet and Bring Your Own Drinks to share too then to buy a pressie.

I thought only 30 people would attend - 70 attended!!! what a day and night it was!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY

We just attended a friends 40th. His sister organized it at a local bar/ restaurant. About 30 of us split the restaurant bill. We paid for our own drinks in the bar. We did not have the birthday"boy" pay. It was a great time! Happy birthday.

Happy birthday!! :-)
Send out your invites with the message 'your presance will be present enough' please bring a dish to pass and your favorite beverage. I will provide the cake, ice cream and coffee, tea, or soda. Providing alcohol for 25 can get really expensive. How about a people scavenger hunt? List questions about your friends like find the person who's favorite color is purple. Find the person who loves (name a TV show or song). ect This way they have to mingle and talk to everyone and you can pick up a couple of inexpensive prizes at a local dollar store, candles, coffee mugs ect. for 1st and 2nd place. Board games might be fun, or cards or dominos, you might also set up 2 game areas some people don't like to play cards. But would play a board game. Twister might be fun.

Have a potluck-have three people bring apps-2 bring salads-you buy the cake and the drinks-have someone bring paper supplies and "plastique cuttlery" --one can do a veggie platter, another a deli platter-some can bring a casserole or sides, etc-it's your family and friends-I'm sure they would love to do this for you!Happy Birthday!

If you have a "pitch-in" you can just provide drinks and a few appetizers or a dessert. There are lots of things to do at home for little money...play cards, Wii, karaoke, "adult" board game, in leu of gifts do a white elephant exchange...

Hi, L.:
Invite your friends and family for snacks.
Play some old fashion games like sharades.
Happy Birthday.
D.

love jane's idea -and you could save some $ by making your own cake/cupcakes. or having a friend or relative do it as your birthday present :)

We used to have people over-if it was adults only we would start at 8pm and we would have Rock Band parties. It was always a good time and while we didn't always play rockband we would sometimes end up just playing cards or whatever-we always told everyone to BYOB and I would just have some snacks on the table of whatever I had at home.

You have to pick something that you enjoy though since its your birthday!

I like the idea of having all your friend bring their favorite plate (and recipe) to the party. send the invitations onf evite.com (free) or you can make your own for very little cost. If they are real friends, they wont care why your getting together or how much you did or did not spend....they will come and have a great time
My hubby adn I love being outside, so we like playing cornhole or if your bday is in the wintery months, do you all play cards (like Euchre or POker) you can make it a tournament party too :)

When I turned 30 I invited a bunch of friends out for drinks at a bar that also serves a full menu. We reserved a large space, but didn't pay for a private room. I bought really really yummy cupcakes from a local bakery and put them out on a bunch of tables. It seemed pretty clear to folks that they would need to pay for their own drinks and dinner, and everyone was okay with that. It was a really fun get-together, and I think it cost about $100 for invites and cupcakes (not including our own dinner and drinks).

Happy Birthday!

Potluck appetizer dinner - or - wine tasting party, where half bring a bottle of wine under $15 and the other half bring an appetizer/snack. Play fun adult games. Have your husband find some of his favorite childhood pictures of you for display. Have pre-written questions on folded paper in a bowl - thru the evening, folks can pull out a question and everyone has to answer (it can be random, like how many siblings to you have or what kind of socks do you hate to wear). Good luck!!