A 70th Birthday to Remember

Last week, we celebrated my father-in-law’s 70th birthday, and I think this will be one of those family memories we talk about for a long time.

I was so excited about this party because I knew my father-in-law had never really had a party like this before. He’s a quiet, humble guy who would much rather celebrate someone else than be the center of attention himself, and I loved the idea of having an evening set aside simply to honor him and make him feel special.

The one thing I was nervous about was the weather. The entire week leading up to the party was HOT, with temperatures in the upper 80s and 90s. Since we were hosting everything in our backyard, I spent several evenings watching where the shade fell and realized that by the time the party started, almost all of our tables would be covered. We planned appetizers that could handle sitting outside in the heat and decided we were just going to make the best of it.

And then, the day of the party, a breeze picked up. It knocked over a few decorations and even sent some of my flowers flying, but I didn’t care one bit. The breeze was heavenly and made the whole evening so much more comfortable.

I borrowed round tables and floor-length linens from our church and layered in the things I had purchased for the party. I found dark green and mustard printed fabric napkins and bought an abundant number of white, green, and burnt-orange flowers from Trader Joe’s. I arranged them in small vases around bamboo lanterns at the center of each table. We also set out bottles of wine with custom vintage-style labels featuring photos of my father-in-law from his childhood, which ended up being one of my favorite little details.

For appetizers, I intentionally avoided anything with dairy since I knew it would be sitting outside for a while. I made antipasto skewers with mostly pickled ingredients and salami, and they were a huge hit. I also made marinated olives, which might have been my personal favorite thing on the table.

One thing I would absolutely do differently next time: BUY MORE ICE. I had purchased one bag for dessert and had a countertop ice maker running, but our refrigerator simply could not keep up with the amount we needed for drinks. I wish I had bought at least one more big bag so I could fill the drink pitchers with ice, too. Learn from me: for a summer outdoor party, there is basically no such thing as too much ice.

For dinner, we kept the Italian theme going. I made a salad using some of the leftover pickled ingredients from the appetizers, put together a couple of Caesar salad kits, and served spicy sausage rigatoni with Trader Joe’s focaccia and baked garlic bread. The rigatoni was perfect party food because it was filling, fed a lot of people, and was surprisingly affordable.

Dinner was honestly such a hit. Everyone complimented the food, which made me feel wonderful, but the only review I really needed was seeing my father-in-law go back for seconds. He LOVES Italian food, so two helpings felt like the highest possible praise.

For dessert, I ordered a custom cake from Sam’s Club and put together a simple ice cream bar. This might have been my favorite party hack: I bought a large aluminum tub from Walmart that could hold three containers of ice cream. Before the party, I put ice in the bottom, nestled the ice cream containers into it, packed more ice around them, and put the entire tub into the freezer.

When it was time for dessert, I pulled the whole thing out at once. The ice cream stayed nice and cold even sitting outside in the heat for more than an hour. I was genuinely impressed with how well it worked and will absolutely do that again.

I also wanted some way for everyone to honor my father-in-law without doing traditional toasts, because he specifically did NOT want to sit through an evening of everyone giving speeches about him.

So once I had our final RSVP count, I came up with a phrase that had one letter for each guest: A LEGEND WE ADORE.

Near the end of dinner, I handed everyone a letter and explained that we were going to go around the tables and each person had to come up with a word describing Glen that began with their assigned letter. Everyone stood briefly and shared something sweet or silly about him, and as we went around, I challenged everyone to figure out what the letters spelled.

It ended up being exactly what I hoped it would be. Everyone had an opportunity to say something about Glen, no one had to give a long speech or felt too put on the spot, and he didn’t have to sit in the center of attention for too long. It was funny and meaningful and gave the evening a little focal point without making it overly formal.

More than anything, I walked away thinking about how worthwhile it is to celebrate the people we love.

This party was certainly an investment of time, energy, and money, but it was also a memory maker for our family. My father-in-law doesn’t get to be the center of attention very often. He is much more comfortable quietly loving and serving everyone around him. Getting to gather his family and friends in one place and say, in all sorts of little ways, we love you, we admire you, and we’re thankful you’re ours felt incredibly worthwhile.

So if you’ve been thinking about throwing the party, inviting everyone over, making the dinner, ordering the cake, or doing something a little over-the-top to celebrate someone you love: go for it.

I’ve never regretted taking an opportunity to make someone’s birthday special or to honor them in a way they’ll remember. The flowers eventually wilt, the dishes all have to be washed, and the tables get folded back up and returned.

But you get to keep the memory.