50th birthday party details…

I can’t believe I am married to a 50-year-old!

The Husband’s birthday was this last weekend. I planned a party too large for our small house. Remember when we were young and living in an apartment. Back then no one cared how many people you crammed in…the more, the merrier. But now that we are older, we care. Total guest list was 22 adults and 11 kids.

The Food: My goal was to feed 33 people for $150. I did it! That was only because I got the cake for half price because of the “mishap” (see below). The food included crock pot pulled pork sandwiches with a (1) Chinese orange glaze and (2) BBQ sauce. Both were a huge hit. Crock pot Sesame Ginger Chicken sandwiches. Another hit. Potato salad, chips/salsa, rolls, shrimp cocktail, veggie tray, humus and the cake. The shrimp was on sale at Sunflower Market weeks before. Pork Shoulder is usually cheap (like $1.59 lb. or less). I had the chicken breast in the freezer. Because of the good heart of my good friend Mary, I was able to get the veggie tray & a jumbo tub of potato salad at Cosco for cheap.  The price also included various 2-liter pops (Walmart brand) and Capri Suns for the kids. I chose convenience over price on the juice pouches so I spent a little more there.

You know you are getting old when… your menu is planned around everyone’s dietary needs. No pork (so there was a chicken option), no ice cream (so there was no ice cream), no pineapple (no fruit either).

We had a little cake mishap. I designed the cake centered around an editable black and white image of Glenn as a baby. When I picked up the cake, the photo was purple/pink/blue…it looked like when your ink jet is running out of ink. Yuk! So, the bakery girls at King Soopers tried to fix it.

Their not-so-brilliant-idea?

Slap another editable image on top of the one already on the cake. But first they had to find the dullest scissors in the bakery to cut out the image…around his head…then add a little bit of icing to hide the edges, like a halo! (He is far from an angel.) The cake was still editable but stupid looking. Doesn’t everyone know the cake is the finale of every birthday party! The planner in me was disappointed. {sigh} I guess there really is a reason for everything because the bakery girl sold the cake to me for half price, which kept me under-budget; or maybe it was because of the hissy-fit I was about to throw and she just wanted me out of there!

The Decor: The Dollar Store is a life-saver! I kept the decor to a minimum. Usually I go overboard, but budget, budget, budget. The kids and I made 2 posters showcasing Glenn as a child (above). Friends got a kick out of seeing the bell-bottoms and long bangs (he looks a little bit like Justin Bieber, don’t you think).

The finale was lighting the ugly cake on fire! Yes, 50 candles…from the Dollar Store (a box of 80 is only $1).