The 50th birthday is a big deal! After all, you are 1/2 way to a hundred and that is 1/2 a century!!!
For my husband, the first thing I did was create a secret Pinterest board for 50th Birthday. From those ideas we got many of our own and incorporated it into our party.
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Taco Bar
The taco bar was a perfect idea, because he loves tacos! I believe this is where I got the beginning ideas from and then made it work for us.
I wish I had better photos with the food uncovered! There was a lot of smoke in the air from forest fires and ash kept dropping from the sky! Not to mention the bugs, flies and wasps.
Everything is covered to keep the bugs, bees, flies and ash out of it for as long as possible.
We put some basil plants on the table to try and help with the bugs. My daughter also wiped the table with almond extract to help keep the bugs down. It did seem to help, some.
Our taco bar included: pulled pork, hamburger cooked with taco seasoning, refried beans, sliced olives, jalapeños, cheese, sour cream, onions, tomatoes, corn flour taco shells, and crispy corn flour shells. We also had nacho cheese and corn chips.
The Details
It’s the little things that people may or may not notice that make it fun!
At this end of the table, we have a favorite photo that he took of our daughter when she was 2. He loves Snoopy and Woodstock. The book on the table is one to give him a hard time. It is Dr. Seuss- A book for obsolete children.
Here we have a computer reference in the decorations, a book about a family vacation and other things to celebrate aging. Very large TV remote a chalk sign and the 50 candles
Don’t forget the black balloons! (Clickable links)
Having your own helium tank helps, it is hard to transport all those balloons once they are blown up!
Creating a Timeline
We gathered photos from his life and put them in categories of the decades from when he was born to present day. We added a few more categories like: “Why We Wait”, “Our Dad” and “Favorites”. Everyone enjoyed looking at the photos and seeing him the way we see him. My youngest daughter made the category signs and we hung them on the volleyball net. It isn’t to it’s full height, so it would be easier to view the photos.
This last section was called “Our Dad” because no one knows him the way we do.
This takes us to present day.
We had photos for every decade of his life.
My husband doesn’t have a lot of photos from before we got married. We recently reorganized the house and I couldn’t find his high school photos, so there aren’t many of those.
The time line photos were fun to gather and put together. It turned out to be everyone’s favorite part of the celebration. It was a great way to honor him, his life, the father and wonderful husband that he is!
The Candles
This was by far my favorite decoration and thing to do at the party!!! I got the original idea here.
They were more challenging to put together than I had anticipated but it worked out great! Check out the instructions here.
Thank goodness this was an outdoor event! I had not anticipated such a large flame!
He huffed and he puffed and he blew them all out with one great big breath!
The Music
One of my daughters was in charge of music. She organized a play list that included songs from 1968 to present day. It was a lot of fun to hear the old songs as well as more current music.
The music really added to the ambiance. It was played from a smart phone to a sound bar speaker.
Birthday Attire
This was one of the hardest decisions! What were we going to make him wear?!
The Cake/s
Because our party focused on Dad’s favorite things. We ended up with two cakes. The first one is his absolute favorite and my youngest daughter enjoyed making it for him: Applesauce Spice Cake (gluten free, of course) with cream cheese frosting. Recipe here.
The second cake, my oldest daughter enjoyed putting together, with help from the other sisters. It had to be chocolate. Dad’s favorite story to tell is about when he was in 1st grade and put ketchup on his chocolate cake. However, before he could taste this anticipated deliciousness, the janitor came by, looked at the ketchup on the chocolate cake and said, “We don’t put ketchup on chocolate cake.” and the janitor threw it away.
They thought it would be funny to put dinosaurs on because now dad is so ancient
My daughters conspired a trick to play on him and for a moment he was tricked into thinking they were putting ketchup on his chocolate cake. 
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