manderguy

:notworthy Hah! That'd be great! I wish I'd thought of that for the wife's 30 last Jan. She woulda loved it. (She still had a pretty great party, which ended with drunken people in the hot tub at 3 am giggling about hair freezing in the winter cold.)

prollyrong, you gotta give us some help... does she like parties? Romance? You in that "special outfit"? A case of beer and a football game? With some cleverness, you could combine them all.

scarmig

30th.... send her back to childhood.

Give her a "kiddy" party, with funny balloons and funny hats and a big 3 color cartoon cake and a treasure hunt, and a pinata, pin the tail on the donkey and, and a magician! But not a clown. Clowns are scary.

Godless Dave

Another fun party idea is a "This Is Your Life" show. You could contact her friends and family ahead of time for funny and/or touching stories and pictures. Then put them all together and stage something like the old "This Is Your Life" show, with anonymous people in another room telling stories over a speaker (or record them beforehand and play a tape at the party) and a slideshow of funny/embarrassing/cute pictures from her childhood, your marriage, etc.

prollyrong

I'm having an anxiety attack just reading all these great ideas!

She's not much of a partier. I mean, she does enjoy the odd party, but she'd rather just chill I guess.

I think I've figured out what we're going to do though.

1. Take her to get a massage. Actually, both of us. I said I was selfish.
2. Play some pool, drink some beer. She loves pool. And she likes beer. (and she said she'd like to spend the day a-buzzin')
3. Eat dinner.

Yeah, I don't make it sound very romantic, but, after getting information round-about, I think she'd enjoy this. We'll probably eat downtown and take a stroll through the city, too. She used to love that when we were dating.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Worldtraveller

My wife's birthday was the first of July, and I took hor for a hot air balloon ride. She said it was one of the best times she had ever had her whole life!
And for $200/person, it was a lot of fun, and very worth it!

That's my idea!!

Lane

BigJim

I like the Logan's Run theme party idea. I'll have to remember that one.

Clarice

I guess I'm a bit late, but I wanted to add something.

I think a great gift is to do something you don't particularly care for, but you know your mate really likes. Generally, my husband and I don't go out to fancy restaurants because he hates dressing up and says he always has to go to Burger King afterward because the portions are too small. As a girl, I do like getting gussied up on occasion, and I'm a gourmand, but usually I don't want to do something unless we both actively find it fun. But birthdays are an exception. It would have been really cool to have him secretly make reservations at a great restaurant and surprise me.

Caveat: don't do it unless you can participate in the activity with 100% gusto and at least convincingly pretend to enjoy yourself. Otherwise it goes from potential delight to torture.

In a way I have it easy on this front - rather than doing what I would like in his place, I try to force myself to do what he really prefers, which is nothing.

TomboyMom

I made reservations at a nearby mountain retreat. I arranged for overnight childcare for the kids. I knew she was meeting a friend for dinner. At about the time they were finishing, I arrived at the restaurant unexpectedly, had a drink with them and got her into the car. Drove her to the Inn, where I had some good scotch, champagne, candles, chocolate cream, massage oil, romantic CDs. Ran a hot bath, lit the candles, put on the CD and generally treated her to a night of pampering. Let her sleep in in the morning and brought breakfast up to our room. She loved it.

Also on my 40th she threw me a huge bash and without telling me arranged for an old friend whom I had not seen in years to fly out and surprise me. I was so happy I burst into tears.

Yes, we are a very happy couple.

Rene

PopeInTheWoods

Throw her a surprise party about 4-6 weeks ahead of her actual birthday. That should pretty much guarantee a suprise. Then the two of you can do the "romantic thing" on her actual birthday.

Andy