So my hubby turned 40. Not just a regular 40, a Leap Year Baby 40 and he wanted a 40th Birthday Party! Two months before the big day I was taken by surprise when he said he wanted a blow out 40th birthday. I didn’t argue with the birthday boy and just got to work. Literally, the next day started event planning on the budget he gave me and I am sharing the 40th Birthday Party Ideas For Him. To put this whole shabang into perspective, I had a very tight budget. Honestly, I was scared I wasn’t going to be able to pull off a killer party with only a couple grand. But I got to work and somehow managed to stay in budget with a rocking DJ, amazing caterer, full bar with two attendants, and of course, designing of the space.
40th Birthday Party Ideas For Him
Check out this crazy process below.
This is what the party room basically looked like 1.5 hours before the event. AAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!
YUP, I needed to make this vast open space feel inviting, fun and manly in record time. Luckily, the great caterers of Fancy Food Catering arrived and took over setting up the food stations. I also did not have to worry about setting up the bar as Schaefers sent over two amazing bartenders who took over their very important task—The Bar. Also, a great local DJ had arrived, and kept me laughing while he set up too.
I just had to worry about everything else. But, I thought to myself, if we have food, drinks, music, we will be okay!
Well, I knew we needed a theme, and being a man’s party we would go with a beer, vintage, rustic theme. The great aspect about this theme is that I can do a lot of it with crafts/DIY materials. For instance, the centerpieces. We were going to have three large tables for those that needed to sit, rest, eat, chat, and three high-top tables. Plus all the food and bar tables needed some flowers too.
I contacted my girls telling them I needed amber colored beer glasses, and I needed a lot of them. Well, within hours I got a text from one of the hubby’s that stated, “Challenge Accepted.”
Love it! He took on the challenge of supplying me with over 36 bottles over a two month period.
When I got the bottles I would soak them in warm soapy water
I removed all the labels and then placed them in the dishwasher at high heat to make them shine. In my basement (for quick storage so my husband wouldn’t find them – 98% of the party was a surprise to him) I played around with different ideas. I finally decided on the one below. Wrapping three bottles in a burlap ribbon and tying a black chalkboard tag to it.
So now I needed some florals. Remember, I’m on a tight budget, I couldn’t spend more than $50 on florals, which is not impossible if you go for the greens and a pop of one color, which for me was going to be white. I walked into our local flower shop, Morning Glory, and showed them a picture of the bottles. I explained I wanted a rustic barnyard type feel with a lot of greens and a pop of white. They were so kind to help me play around with some ideas
I knew what look I wanted and after some playing around we decided on the final greens. Hours before the event I picked up 2 large buckets of greens. Thirty minutes before everyone arrived and spread them out all over the dance floor and then had my 10 year old son bring me each bottle one by one as I staged the florals myself. I couldn’t believe I was able to pull it off.
I couldn’t be happier with the turnout, it literally took the tables/decor from “hmmm” to “oooohhhh.”
I placed the bottle grouping on top of a tree bark platter and added some voltive candles to finish it off. Oh, and I used the 6-pack beer carriers too! Those came free with the bottles. I printed birthday logos on them and then filled them to the rim with chips. All of this was on top of a kraft paper runner
Okay, for the other tables I needed something to place the straws, forks, knives in, but that stayed with the theme. I took simple mason jars, super glued another style burlap ribbon on them and tah-dah.
See them in the lower right corner. Forgot to get a picture with the silverware in them, of course.
At the buffet, I added chalkboard paper table runner to have little messages written on them like “eat-up,” “happy birthday,” or to list the types of foods that were being served.
To give the buffet area some personalization, I added a large 4 – 0 black and white photo collage of the birthday boy through the years. Keeping with the rustic theme I didn’t want to do a video slide show, I thought this fit better with it all.
Okay, so you need some entertainment. I had the music taken care of with a great DJ, but, I wanted the guests to remember the night with a photo booth. Of course I did not have it in the budget to get a photo booth so I copied the idea being done at many weddings. Using “step and repeat” banners as a background and adding props.
I found this great website, Stickers and Banners, that made me a HUGE personalized 8 x 6 vinyl banner for around $50.
You can’t have a photo booth banner with no props. One thing I did not have time for was to design props, luckily that is what etsy is for. SurpriseINC is a great etsy shop with props for all occasions. For $16 I was able to get over 40 different props.
I also found etsy shop Down Emery Lane to make the beer signs for our beer table. I knew I could make all the smaller print out signs for the centerpieces ,but I just needed more guidance on the beer signs.
Well, I got music, I got food, I got a “photo booth”, I got drinks and centerpieces. OH, and I got some of his great buddies to ROAST him. It was a riot. I loved looking over at my husband and see tears in his eyes from laughing so hard at the roasting. My husband is a good man, but, he roasts his co-workers and friends EVERY DAY, so this was their time to get even and they sure did. Now, it was just time to enjoy the party and boy did we!
If you have a party coming up here is a link to all the services and items I shopped from to pull off this Big 4 – 0
Fancy Food Catering // Shaefers // DJ Rick Loiben // SurpriseINC Etsy Shop // Stickers and Banners // Micheals (for all ribbons and small craft paper) // Down Emery Lane Etsy Shop // Tree Bark Platter // Kraft Paper Runners
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Lucia says
Was great to see him so ecstatic happy surrounded by his friends and so happily relax, looks like everyone was in a fun spirit
You did the most amazingly job, congratulations !
Lovely bartenders, too much great tasty food, and great DJ
Surprise Inc. says
Congratulations! It look awesome!
It was a pleasure to be a part of this fun and special day! 🙂
Thank you so much for taking the time to share your experience!
Kind regards,
Tatiana Z. – Surprise Inc.
mark lawrence says
Your 40th birthday party ideas are awesome and glad that you shared about it here. I am looking for few affordable venues in NYC for my mom’s 40th birthday party. Really want to host a surprise party for her but not getting anything in budget.