Milestone birthdays are an excellent opportunity to flex your party decorating muscles and make every effort to impress.  As we live longer and healthier, a 50th birthday is more middle age than senior citizen so joking references to the Grim Reaper, nursing home reservations and being “over the hill” no longer ring as true as they did even 10 years ago.  We have replaced these images with more celebratory themes and more ambulatory activities.

Only your budget and imagination limit how far you go with 50th birthday party decorations.

Only your budget and imagination limit how far you go with 50th birthday party decorations.  As children, we were thrilled with party plates, streamers, balloons and a cake.  Adults appreciate a more “put together” event and anticipate these decorations as well as invitations, party napkins, party hats, flatware, glassware, guest favors, tablecloths and runners.  Take it even further and you are looking at sign-in books, wall hangings, and backdrops, ceiling accessories and costumes.

When planning decorations 50th birthday, start with a theme.  Consider standard 50th birthday themes but keep an open mind for alternate party themes that might suit the birthday celebrant even better.

If you cannot afford a DJ, then create your own “party mix.”

Decorations 50th Birthday – Standard Themes
50th birthday decorations bring to mind themes like “Mid Century Milestone,” “Solid Gold” (not just for anniversaries!) as well as 70’s and 80’s retro parties.  For example, a 70’s retro party must include some disco accessories – disco ball, disco music and strobe or black lights.  Add posters of the birthday celebrant’s favorite disco artists.  If you cannot afford a DJ, then create your own “party mix.”

A Mid-Century Milestone theme is cause for celebration.  Be sure to include that theme on invitations and party accessories like tablecloths or table runners, hats, favors and napkins.  Sprinkle the table(s) with confetti and hang colorful streamers and balloons.  For a few dollars more, personalize the napkins for the event, or string a birthday banner across the room.

You need not limit yourself to strictly 50th birthday decoration themes.

Decorations 50th Birthday – Themes of Interest
You need not limit yourself to strictly 50th birthday decoration themes.  Customize a popular party theme with the 50th birthday elements in a few details.  Some popular party themes include Pirates, Western, and Casino Night.  Alternatively, choose a theme from the guest of honor’s favorite pastime like golf, movies, or team sports.  Dress up the guest of honor and even the guests in hats, armbands, or vests that reinforce the theme.  Include blanket “Casino Night” tables with green or red felt, including fake chips or coins.

You can have a lot of fun with 50th birthday decorations using a Pirate theme.  Hang a backdrop that simulates a pirate ship or Caribbean island beach, supply the guests with pirate hats, make centerpieces from fake parrots, suspend fake skeletons around the room, and make the guest of honor “walk the plank” as a party game.  Set the tables with fish netting and faux gold doubloons.  Supply a “treasure chest” to display birthday gifts.  Get napkins emblazoned with the skull and crossbones and look for illustrations of Jack Sparrow and his crew on paper plates.

A Western party can be generic or dedicated to a Western legend like John Wayne.  Use action figure horses as party favors and red paisley kerchiefs as napkins.  Hang a backdrop reminiscent of an old time saloon or just hang a similar banner over the front door.  Guests may eat off chuck wagon plates with crude metal spoons.  Of course, cowboy hats are necessary.  Let the guest of honor wear a sheriff’s badge.  Inflate a few fake cacti as floor décor and you’ve got a tooting’ swell birthday party, Pardner!

If your budget and guest list are limited, consider making some decorations yourself.

Decorations 50th Birthday – Do It Yourself
If your budget and guest list are limited, consider making some decorations yourself.  Print invitations and banners on your computer.  There is no shortage of templates on the Internet.  You may also print thank you notes for the birthday guy or gal to send after the party.

Decorate streamers with themed stickers or make armbands and vests yourself.  Buy plain hats and add your own feathers or hatbands.  Make party favors that fit the theme.  Paint the backdrop yourself on a bed sheet.  Prepare a sign-in book on your computer and organize it into a ringed binder.  It can double as a 50th Birthday Memory Book if you leave room for acid-free photo pages that can hold pictures the guests take at the party.

Whether you spend a little cash or a lot, buy all you need or use your own labor, the 50th birthday party decorations you devise will be fabulous as long as you keep a sense of fun about them.  Party hardy, Garth!

Tags: 50th, birthday, gift, present