I am plotting a 70th birthday bash and have a tentative theme - 70% chocolate. (Because there is so much chocolate made and eaten here, and 70% is about right for most people, including the guest of honor.)
So, how do I turn “70% chocolate” into a full-blown party theme? I am thinking about having everyone bring a food that is related to 70 somehow, then donate it all to the local homeless shelter or food bank. That means the food must be prepackaged and suitable for donation. In addition to 70% chocolate bars, I am guessing that there are types of single-serving snacks/protein bars that come in 70 calorie servings. Or boxes of stuff that say that one serving is 70 calories.
Is this realistic? I would give all the invitees a list of possibilities so that they wouldn’t have to skulk through the grocery store looking at calorie counts.
Or is it too weird/difficult?
Input and additional ideas welcome. Especially if you want to look in your pantry and see if you’ve got any 70-calories-per-serving goods in there (Or maybe 70 fl oz or 70 grams, or …?)
Your title said “(not what you think)”… what did you think we’d think?
I think if you picked one food, say… 70% (dark) chocolate!, the party would be a great idea, but I’d feel cheated if I didn’t get to eat it.
Dark chocolate over ice cream and sorbets, a chocolate fountain to dip strawberries and pineapple in, chocolate-coated pretzels, dark chocolate ganache, even chicken mole. Yum.
Then donate some 70% chocolate to whomever you like (though that’s not the point of a birthday party… YOU are!).
Oh, OF COURSE the food served would involve lots of chocolate. I guess I should have said so. All I meant was the “in lieu of gifts” gimmick. (Like, at a 50th birthday party I asked people to bring 50 of anything, and we put it all on the table with a sign that said “This is what 50 looks like.” People brought 50 matches, 50 pennies, 50 rubber bands, etc, and some people got creative – one person brought 50 crab shells!)
Mole is a great idea, BTW.
If I saw a thread titled “need food ideas for 70th bday bash” I would assume the OP was looking for food ideas for what to serve the party guests.
What did you think I’d think you would think?
Not for me, for my SO. I’m just the party planner/host. (Eek, I would HATE to have a big bash thrown for me. My idea of a good birthday celebration is a nice dinner out with a couple of friends who don’t even know it’s my birthday. But, my spouse happens to love a big party when a big birthday rolls around. I don’t get it, but I don’t have to.)
I’m not sure 70% chocolate would be a good thing donate to a food pantry. I would guess most people who get chocolate from donations would be expecting a more traditional milk chocolate and would think it’s too bitter. If you’re not used to it, it’s almost like eating baking chocolate. But if this crowd likes it, they would probably take it all home with them.
I’m not sure it’s going to be that easy to find 70 calorie foods. Too bad the guest of honor isn’t 100. There are tons of 100 calorie foods. To get some ideas, go to the shopping app for your local grocery stores and do a search for 70. You’ll get a bunch of things that have 70 in the name or description, like these bars:
There are other things that would make good donations, like a 70-pack of diapers, 70-pack of paper bowls, etc.
Oh, absolutely. I just don’t want to impose on guests to spend much money (they can if they want to, knowing that everything will be donated, but some of the guests are on really tight budgets).
But I like the idea of broadening the theme to saying “bring 70 of something to donate,” as long as there are inexpensive options. (More ideas welcome.)
On whether 70% chocolate would be welcome or not, I agree that’s an issue. (Though in these parts, 70% is pretty mild. Our grocery stores and chocolate outlets offer a lot of higher-dose products, not that the homeless are indulging in any of it.)
My plan is to talk to the food bank/Hope Services (whoever ends up being the “donee”) and find out what they say before making suggestions. Obviously, anyone who wants to donate $70 should choose that option! But more affordable stuff is good too.
I think it’s awesome though I hope the guest of honor is into dessert and mole. I am sure there are other chocolate based main courses but I can’t think of any
I would buy a 70% chocolate bar for every guest, from as many different brands as possible. Wrap them all and do a Yankee swap. Then everyone eats their chocolate.
And let your spouse give 70 of something valuable to the food pantry or homeless shelter. Don’t ask the guests to come up with a gimmicky donation. You’ll end up either with a lot of inappropriate donations or a certain number of grumpy guests. (Probably some of each.)
If you want to encourage your guests to donate, just ask that they donate something in honor of the birthday in lieu of gifts. Then they’ll be thinking “what’s nice to give” rather than trying to come up with a 70-themed gift. I think that’s just too complicated.
I think this is a great idea. The guest of honor would have been in their teens and early twenties during the 70s, so would have a nostalgic connection to that decade.
Nah, that wouldn’t happen. I can’t imagine anyone we know well enough to invite being anything but delighted with a chance to participate in something that involved giving back to the community (especially since I’d provide a list of options that included things easy and cheap to do). Aloha is a real thing.
Seventy swans a-swimming? Naw, that wouldn’t work.
Seriously, I like the idea, but I think you need to ditch the subtleties (I have never heard of 70% chocolate, for example). “Seventy cans of soup for the food bank, not all from one person, but we’re shooting for being able to donate seventy cans from everybody. Bring what you can; we’ll take all kinds, and if we top seventy, so much the better.”
That kind of thing. I’m sure that the food bank would love that, and you could embellish it: “Seventy cans of soup! Now, how about seventy boxes of saltines for them?”
Regardless, no matter what you do, I think you are doing a good thing.
Love it! Thanks. The goals are to make it easy for guests to contribute and to make sure the donations are actually convenient and useful for the food bank; you nailed it.
That sounds much more workable than “bring a food that has something to do with 70”!
I didn’t think your friends would be cranky about contributing to a community gift, just about having to find weird stuff that may not even be useful to the charity.
TBH, food banks would always prefer the cash…they can get better deals on the items they actually need and that they know people would want. They probably wouldn’t have much use for 70-calorie Fiber One bars, say.
I do know that. There was a huge thread on the topic here not too long ago. But I’ve also volunteered there and I know they can make use of the right items. As I have said, I plan to coordinate with them first, not just dump random products on them.
