# Celebrating Friend's 30th Birthday - Suggestions?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrating-friends-30th-birthday-suggestions/529098>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [February 15, 2010, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrating-friends-30th-birthday-suggestions/529098 "2010-02-15T18:51:51Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![fessie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@fessie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fessie)\
**Post date:** [February 15, 2010, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrating-friends-30th-birthday-suggestions/529098/1 "2010-02-15T18:51:51Z")

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It’s on a Wednesday night and she’ll have to work the next day, but can probably coast a bit ;).

I think I can round up a gaggle of friends and a noisy restaurant. But I wanted to add a special touch or two - girlfriend only turns 30 once!

The pickle is we live in a small town & there’s no raunchy candygram - stripper gram - male revue club around here.

Black balloons and flowers are an option, but not all that “festive”. Pulling off a surprise is pretty doable. Just want to do something WITH the surprise. Looking for something clever…

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**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\
**Post date:** [February 15, 2010, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrating-friends-30th-birthday-suggestions/529098/2 "2010-02-15T19:36:11Z")

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I’ve never been a big fan of the “I’m thirty, I’m old” mindset - it makes no sense. Years ago, a friend of mine cried when she turned 30 - apparently being married to a great guy and having 2 really sweet kids wasn’t enough for her. :rolleyes: Just the other day, a coworker was whining about being “old” because she was almost 30. Gee, I’m 56 and I don’t consider myself to be old. Grouchy, sure, but not old! 😃

So why not just have some fun. Make up a list of “Top Thirty Factoids about \<Birthday Girl\>” or “Thirty things to do before you’re 40.” When my husband turned 30, I asked that anyone who wanted to bring him a gift tie it in with the 30 theme. So he got 30 Hershey kisses, a yardstick cut off at 30 inches, a bouquet of 30 balloons, silly things like that. Parties should be fun, not insulting.

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**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\
**Post date:** [February 15, 2010, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrating-friends-30th-birthday-suggestions/529098/3 "2010-02-15T20:14:33Z")

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On my friend’s 29th birthday we all got together and went to play “zombie putt putt” which is just indoor putt putt at this place that is all black lights and glow-in-the-dark animatronics.

For his 30th he threw a party. For my 30th I had my 2 closest friends take me to a baseball game. I also went to a concert at a small club, which is something I never do anymore. For our friend’s 30th in California, a bunch of us got together to Skype Video with him. Nothing too last-minutey, I’m afraid.

But something totally silly and kid-like, such as the putt-putt, is a fun way to spend your 30th I think.