My brother’s 40th birthday is 2 1/2 years away. It may seem a little premature to start planning for this but my sister-in-law really wants to start planning this now and asked for some ideas.
Here’s how my brother’s friends and co-workers do things.
One of the guys recently turned 50. The group got together, flew up to Oregon where this guy lives and works for the company. They put together a huge party and presented him with a $25,000 Harley. They all got Harley jackets to wear to the party etc.
The president of the company just turned 40 a few weeks ago. As a surprise, he and his wife flew to San Diego. A group of them flew separately and surprised him. My brother chartered a boat for a couple of days and the kicker was to present him with a brand new 2000 Corvette. Yep free and clear.
So, not that she wants to outdo anyone or anything, but she wants it to be completely unique and a time to remember for the rest of his life.
The people that would be included would be our family (probably 6 of us), his swim buddies and other buddies from college (possible 10 people) and the guys at the office (14 of them plus the wives.) This is far more people but my brother has a diverse group of friends and loves his family dearly.
As far as the large gift, I am not sure that kind of thing would be a big deal. He’s not into Harley’s or flashy cars. He’s pretty down-to-Earth.
His birthday is in March and doing a group trip to someplace like Mexico is far too ordinary.
Any ideas? Or have any of you turned a major milestone in life and had a memorable birthday that you will never forget?
(BTW, they like to have fun but like I said my brother is pretty much down-to-Earth)
I think the smartest thing to do here, would be to introduce me to these people so I can make them my new best friends. Jeez, I got a new Playstation game for my birthday. It’s fun, but not quite a 'Vette.
But enough about me.
If he likes soccer, bring him to Japan for the World Cup in 2002.
When my father turned 60 we (1) got our hands on as many pictures of him as we could, from baby pictures to recent ones, (2) made a “This is your life” type video, narrated by his brothers, sisters, wife (my Mom) and his kids, with scenes of various places that he’d lived in, worked at, visited, hung out, went to school, including the county fairgrounds he’d met my mother at, interspersed with shots of the photos taken around the time of the narrated events that occured at each location, (3) made a collage of the photos after the video was complete and (4) set up a surprise party for him, inviting his friends and family.
We told him it was a surprise birthday party for my brother, whose birthday is 2 weeks before my Dad’s, and made him bring beer to his own surprise party.
A friend was turning 50 and her husband decided to REALLY surprise her.
He invited about 30 of us (friends & relatives) to her party, explaining where we were going & what we would do, since there was a dress code.
We all met at the beach and boarded a plush band-touring-type bus. Nancy met the bus and freaked out when she saw everybody. She had been told only to wear something nice.
We went up to LA to the horse racing track at Hollywood Park. We hung out in the Gold Cup club, all dressed up, & ate, drank & lost money on the ponies. The husband had chartered the bus & paid for everybody’s admiison, etc. He even had the track name a race for her, so she got to present the winning jockey with the prize, etc.
If he’s big into sports, one of those fantasy camps might be cool. I’ve known a couple of people who would never have spent the money themselves, but had the time of their lives at those things.
Dig up a bunch of his old buddies he has not seen in a long time. Everone gets tshirts, customized “i went to XX’ 40 B-day and all i got…” Rent a BIG suite in a nice hotel. Have a great buffet, all his faves. If he has no sig other, arrange for a BJ. No guy could want more.