My fiftieth birthday party

An observation of July 31st 2010, submitted by Theresa, a 50 year old Finance Manager from Newington.

My fiftieth birthday year I had been planning my fiftieth birthday party since last year (2009). Some of my friends, who have got to 50, have not looked forward to being 50. But my view is, some people never get to that age, so I should rejoice that I have so much to be grateful for.

And I do have so many things to be grateful for. My health, happiness, my partner, my friends, enough money, a roof over my head, and most importantly a mind that is happy with who I am.

Whilst I am, like many in our society today, married for the second time….I am lucky that I am still friends, good friends in fact, with my ex-husband. He even came to my second wedding celebrations, as did my ex-mother-in-law. Life is too short to loose friends you are fortunate to make along the way.

I work part time – 3 days a week. And whilst my journey is horrid, round the M25, through the Dartford tunnel, I am fortunate that I do a job that is almost what I make it. I look after new business initiatives for a financial firm in Basildon that looks after the administration of financial products for other Financial Companies. So new things are happening all the time.

I have chosen not to have children, too scared to bring them into the world, or am I too irresponsible? My family consists of my Mum & Dad who I helped move into a retirement apartment last year, my husband, who is a retired policeman and works part time in Emergency Planning. I also have a brother and sister-in-law who live in Somerset. I also have three nieces, Nicole, Alisha, and Emily, and via Nicole a grand niece Dion.

So I wanted to capture all the people I love and give them a party to remember. It took so much organizing, that my poor husband nearly went mad. The party was on 31sy July, the week before my actual birthday.

There was a printed programme of entertainment, as there was so much going on. Around the room were 50 photos of me throughout my 50 years, with as many other people as I could bring into the photos. This was a competition of guess which year the photo was taken. My brother had organized all the number 1 hits from each of my birthdays from 1960 to 2009 and there was a competition and prize to guess the year as the music played. In the hall was a simulated surf board (great fun, but very difficult to stand on), a Black Jack and roulette tables, a Race Horse Competition, a Wii challenge (manned by my 72 year old Mum, who is an ace Wii fiend – and has a Wii age of 20), a wandering palm reader, a lucky dip, and an ice-cream factory. And at 10pm we even found a slot to have a bit of a disco dance.

To help me manage all the games, mark the competitions and give out the many prizes my two youngest nieces (both 12) Alisha and Emily wore a sash with their names to show they were in charge. They gave out name badges, competition sheets and announced the winners at the end of the evening.

The evening went so fast, but I am glad that I live in an age where I have so many photos of the evening to help me remember it. And to help me spread the fun out, I asked to not have a birthday present, but to have a memory of an event. So many of my friends did just that, so I still have so many things to look forward to – from learning to make Pavlova with my neighbour to having a photo shoot with my girlfriends.

A great party to remember!