One of the best ideas for a 50th birthday party is to throw a “barbecue” for the guest of honor. Done right, it will be a lot of fun and a very memorable way to celebrate 50 years. This is how to prepare the perfect barbecue for the 50th birthday party.
The first thing to keep in mind is that your guest of honor should have a sense of humor. At a barbecue, people will share funny and often embarrassing stories about the guest. Everything will be offered in a fun way, but if the guest of honor is not okay with this kind of thing, it would be better to convey this idea. The best idea here is to include the birthday honoree in his plans; make sure they approve. This is not meant to be a surprise type birthday theme.
Second, you need to find someone to offer to emcee the event. It is best if this person knows the birthday person quite well. If this person knows how to tell jokes and is comfortable speaking in front of groups, that helps too.
When you invite guests tell them that you are having this party as a barbecue. Ask them to think of funny or embarrassing moments (or both!) that involved the birthday person at some point in their life. Encourage them to really think about theirs and not hold back. Ask them to send you their notes well in advance of the party so you can get everything organized. Encourage everyone to submit a story to you, even if they can’t make it. The story can still be read by the emcee.
Once you’ve collected and edited all the funny moments and embarrassing situations, go over them with the emcee so they can prepare.
On the day of the party, the emcee will need to be prepared with some of his own fun situations given to him about the birthday person to start. The more fun, the better, so that the guests “warm up” and feel comfortable.
Now the emcee will invite each guest to come up and share their story. If a guest is reluctant to come up and tell the story in front of everyone, no problem. The emcee should be prepared to share the story in advance.
Of course, make sure the honoree is seated at a table in the front of the room with the emcee so everyone can see their reactions as the stories are shared. As guests come to tell their stories, they will stand next to the birthday person.
Here’s a fun twist to consider. You could do this as a completely different theme for your 50th birthday or include it as part of the barbecue party. Here’s the idea: the subject would be called “Everybody’s Dave” (just substitute the correct person’s name). Invite all the guests to come dressed to resemble the birthday person at different stages of their life. If you’ve included the birthday person in your barbecue idea, just don’t tell them about this part, it’ll be a really fun surprise!
