Farewell To Jeff’s Youth

Happy birthday to this handsome guy of mine! 44 never looked so good! Jeff always likes to give me a hard time on my birthday about my age, but he can’t laugh too hard because I am quick to remind him that he is seven years older than me. I know, he doesn’t look it. He never ages! Look at that baby face!

As promised, I’m sharing this fun “Over the Hill” birthday party idea from his party four years ago, when he turned 40. There was some controversy between us about when “over the hill” actually is; Jeff argues that it’s 50, but I would say 40. I know you’re only as old as you feel, but I daresay that at 40 you aren’t exactly a spring chick anymore (I better be careful with my words…they will come back to haunt me in a few years!)

I didn’t want to do the typical “Over the Hill” theme, with pills and wheelchairs, so I had to put my thinking cap on. With October birthdays, it’s always fun to throw in a little spookiness to parties, so I decided to throw a “Farewell to Jeff’s Youth” party for him. I made a tombstone with those words on it and we all signed rocks to put next on top of the grave. Our guests came dressed in black and we bid farewell to Jeff’s youth. Maybe it’s a little morbid, but we thought it was funny and festive with the upcoming holiday.

I bought a Halloween backdrop at the Party Store for guests to take pictures. It made for a great photo, just in time for Halloween! Notice that we even had dead flowers for the occasion. Ha ha.

I made a really simple cake. It started as a rectangle and I cut the outline of a tombstone. Super easy! I always like to make cupcakes, too, in case we run out of cake. I printed off a picture of a skeleton, cut them out and glued them to the backs of toothpicks and then stuck them in the cupcakes. Easy peasy.

I think the best part of this theme was that I could use a lot of our Halloween decorations. Most of the time, I spend time and money on decorations that I don’t really know what to do with when the party is all over. For this party, we used what we already had and anything else I bought, I could reuse for Halloween (the background was definitely used for our traditional Halloween night party!) I wish I’d taken more pictures; that always seems to be my downfall when I’m busy playing hostess. Everyone had an enjoyable time celebrating Jeff and welcoming him into his 40’s.

Happy birthday Babe!