My 50th birthday is July 12th. I've made no plans as of yet, and have
gone back and forth between a big party to see friends I haven't seen
in years, and just getting a few closes friends together to do
something extravagant.  I can spend up to 10K.  I live on a farm with
my partner,after moving out of NYC a few years ago.  I have friends
from all over
the country, gay and straight, at this point. None of us are
"games/roasts/ice-cream
social" kinds of people. We're an eclectic group.  Time is running
out, though - I'd have to do it 4th of July to get people to come, and
it's getting late - must decide now!!  Thought about a big party in
the field, tented with a NY DJ, fireworks - but want to make it more
memorable.  Must be smart and clever.

Thanks.

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Request for Question Clarification by nenna-ga on 20 May 2005 15:19 PDT

You mention you're a diverse group, any ideas on what everyone likes to do? Not do?

Nenna-GA

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Request for Question Clarification by taxmama-ga on 21 May 2005 18:33 PDT

Ok Rick, 

I have a great idea that you can do from home and 
include all your friends, even if they don't travel. 

This first part can be as cheap or expensive as you want, 
depending on how many memberships you buy - even ONE will
work, believe it or not. And it's only $30 for a month. 

Join iPowerWorld and download the iConference Room
http://ipowerworld.com/ipowerworld/

You can invite up to FIVE HUNDRED people to your party
with live, realtime audio and video.

You might invite a few intimate people to your farm, 
and the rest - party with them live, online.
You can open up separate rooms for people with
differnt interests in common. (No additional charge.)

You can move from room to room. 

Use some of that money to send the partygoers their own
little cameras to put on top of their monitors, some
wine (or their beverage of choice) and some treats,
so they can celebrate with you. 

Create a theme in each room - and poeple can move
from room to room and get to know each other. 


If you need help, contact Donna Woodbury - she'll help you plan the party.
http://donna.ipowerworld.net/contact.aspx


At your own party at home, have someone cater the most luscious 
meal you can think of. It doesn't need to be expensive food - 
just good food. (I find that, usually, really fancy foods aren't
that great - and in the end, they're a little disappointing.)

But really good, hearty, tasty stuff - that's always satisfying and memorable. 

DJs can be good - but they tend to try to organize the party, 
or they don't feel they're earning their keep. 

Instead, have everyone tell you their favorite tunes and create
disks with all the tunes - and either let them play or, set up a
second player when you want to stop the feed and play specific tunes.

Definitely have a dance floor. 

And definitely get a pro to do fireworks - that you can pick up
with a camera and feed to your friends in the conference rooms. 

By playing the feed online, you can set each room to show that
feed all at once. 

If you want to explore this idea - and how to get the best of 
the intimate group and the everywhere group - let me know. 
I'll be happy to help you dream up ways to play, without so
much structure that you turn off your friends. 

Best wishes,

Your TaxMama-ga

Who also happens to be the Original GiftSurfer (tm)
and the OutrageousFlirt, among other silliness

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Clarification of Question by rick712-ga on 24 May 2005 08:14 PDT

What do we all like to do?  Well, it's  a very mixed group, so that's
difficult to say.  I would say everyone would agree on the fact that
they definitely like a lively party, great food and cocktails, good
location and music. And this is a group that has been to a number of
parties/events, so the same old routine would not work.  It's really
more about the people there, spending time with each other, dancing,
catching up - but providing a great back drop to do it in.

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Clarification of Question by rick712-ga on 24 May 2005 08:16 PDT

White water rafting, any kind of games, too much "structure" i.e., "
now we're all going to put on these hats and close our eyes....." -
any of those things won't work with this crowd.

Rent an enormous motorhome (or better yet, caravan of motorhomes) and
take them all on the road trip of a lifetime!

tutuzdad-ga

Wow, Tutuzdad, what a great idea! (another would be the opposite: to
take his parents for a trip accross the country to meet all of his
friends).

Parent will tire of friends, but real friends NEVER tire of one
another. Imagine waking up evey day in a different place with all your
friends. BBQ on the coast one day, sip wine at the rim of the Grand
Canyon the next day. Take over a ghost town in Arizona on Wednesday,
burst a piņata together after supper in Tijuana that night. Pan for
gold on Thursday and head out to a liesurely camp-out under the stars
in Texas followed by a long cool canoe trip down the Pecos River
tomorrow.

...and we haven't even gotten to Friday yet. Just image if we had two weeks.

Hmmm - now that I think about it, can I go too?

Just kidding;
tutuzdad-ga

Some places in the world people are superstitious about celebrating or
even congratulating before the birthdate has actually arrived.
You could have a "last of the forty-niner" party: costumes (oldest
Levis competition), tent saloon with a stage for guests' songs and
dances (at least one cancan number, girls! boys?), panning for gold
(ask a museum restaurator where to buy gold leaf, and you can practice
ahead of time to prove that you are the best of the last 49ers (: ),
and if you have a couple of friends with a bent for such they can
stage a shoot out over gold, girl, or game.  Looking for a 3rd G-word
reminded me that the saloon needs a poker table or/and a wheel of
fortune.

Geez, isn't it fun planning how other people can spend their money! :-)

Let us know what you decide ... after more suggestions

if your friends are eclectic as a group, a large party might be harder
to pull off. Something done really well among a smaller group of
friends would be easier to accomplish and probably more memorable. 
The bigger your party, the more you would also have to spread yourself
around....are you up to that?

here is an idea if you are interested in haute cuisine and history and
celebrating a major milestone - (this article struck me when I read it
- extravagant, excessive but what a way to go...) The article was
titled "A Really Big Lunch" and was in the last Food Issue of The New
Yorker magazine (sometime in 2004). Basically, an American living in
France (also celebrating his 50th) invited 20 or 25 friends to a
celebratory feast of a 50 course, all-day  meal in his honor. The host
researched famous menus from french history and reproduced his 50
favorites over the course of 12 or so hours.  The article gives the
names of all fifty courses if I remember correctly.  With wine,
catering, service, etc...done right, 10 K is not be enough to
reproduces what was done in the story (i think he spent closer to 100
K) , but, I imagine you could come up with a wonderful meal for a
group of close friends on your budget.  The 'famous meals from
history" seemed rather unique....

good luck on your search. perhaps you could post what you decide to do
after all the results are in....