85th Birthday

[kelbillug]

My grandmother is turning 85 in October and my family is looking for a way to celebrate. Does anyone have any unique suggestions?

We've talked about a family trip somewhere, but it's hard deciding where to go. In all there would be about 17 adults, 3 kids around age ten and two babies. Because of the babies, we're worried about doing a cruise.

Also there's talk of a big party, but I'm looking for any other ideas. Travel will have to be involved; half of us live in the UK, half live in the US!

Thanks for any suggestions!

[joko]

why not a theme party based on her life? pick an era such as the 40s when she was young.

hire a hall, and raid some memorabilia shops, - get some outfits and get your hair and makeup done.

a theatrical outfitters and prop houses, will be able to rent stuff to you and you could hire a makeup artist who does films and tv too

play 45s on a gramaphone, play old films - you could even hire a few lookalikes from the era - movie stars etc, to mingle with guests.

perhaps a live period band

a caricature artist could go round the room doing 'sepia' portraits.

hire or borrow a vintage car to take her to the venue

depending on your budget you could even hire a local film set designer to dress and organise the whole thing for you for authenticity.

if you like this idea, let me know because I am a film set designer and i may be able to give you some company names, websites etc

[angeldraws]

Personally, i feel that the presence of family is sufficient to folk of that generation, as, in their day, that's what it was all about. My worry would be that it could be just a little too much for an elderly person to be partying. Best to keep it local and low key, but as i said - that's just MY personal opinion..... Hope you have a good time with it.....

[kelbillug]

Wow, Joko, that's a great idea! Very elaborate, but lots to go on. I'll run the idea past my family, and if I need any other help I'll let you know, though the party would be in the States if we did that.

Angel, I see your point, though I should mention that she is very physically fit still for an 84 year old, you'd be very suprised to know her age if you met her. Mentally, she's still got quite a bit going on there, though expect to hear the same story about four times in a sitting!

She's off to Greece in a couple of months. I seriously don't think she's going to slow down anytime soon!

[joko]

thats a good point angel draws, which is why i think my party idea would be more about creating an ambience/atmosphere, rather than a big knees up.

kelbillug - if you are in the states I am sure you will find loads of things like i mentioned, probably more than here!

the net is full of suppliers etc. I expect you would have to get some one to do it, unless you have an arty relative or friend over there.

(you could even approach a local college and see if any of the students would like to make a project out of it...?)

[stokeace]

what about a parachute jump??????????????????

[MustangLady]

What about having a 'large' family portrait done professionally. You could all decide which side of the 'big pond' you all want to be, have a large portrait done with Grandma in the centre ... then arrange for you all to go to a restaurant for a meal. That way... anyone can order extra copies of the portrait for their own memorabilia and it would be a lovely keepsake for Grandma... whatever you decide I hope Grandma has a wonderful day and best wishes to her.