We are having a party for my husband's parent's 50th wedding anniversary. The banquet hall supplies the tables, chairs, tableclothes, plates and napkins. I really feel like we should make centerpieces for each table. Does anybody have any suggestions? I would like it to be something that we can make or buy inexpensively since there isn't much left in the budget. Also any other decorations that you can think of to make the place nice would be great.
Thanks!
We used candles and confetti for table decorations and we had a baker recreate their wedding cake. We also had a US flag flown over the US Capitol on the date of their 50th anniversary and then had it on display at the party.
You could make each table a different decade of the marriage with decor to match. Pictures of them from that decade, flowers that match the color scheme of the decade, some candy from that time period, trinkets, etc... you can find fabric that represents the decade and just get half a yard cut. then cut into a circle or square for the center of the table. You can even type out info about the decade as place cards at each table just for fun reading entertainment. I did a decades themed scavenger hunt and party for my parents 60th birthdays. if you want more details about candy i used or what type of info i found for the info pages i would be happy to share. just shoot me a message.
I love Sherrys idea. Always good to have old pictures.
When we had our parents 50th anniversay all the children wrote a letter of thanks to our parents and read it out loud. not a dry eye in the house!
A few years ago I went to a party where they had really cool centerpc's. All of the centerpcs were food items (boxes of cereal, cans of soup etc...all different sizes) they were wrapped in white wrapping paper (I found out later it was christmas wrap turned inside out) and on each of the cans boxes etc were photo's that had been scanned of the couple. some black and white, some color etc with a little blurb written about the photo. the boxes and cans were just sort of randomly piled in the center of the table. all the food was donated to a local pantry after the dinner. It was a cool thing and it has stuck with me. I actually used the idea for one of my kids confirmation parties. good luck
Pictures! Those are the best. If each table has different pictures everyone will up and visit each table too.
For my parents 50th wedding anniversary we enlarged the invitation to the party (it had their wedding picture in one corner and a current one in the other) and then had it mounted in a HUGE picture frame (no glass) and asked the attendees to sign the mounting.
For centerpieces, we used gold confetti and gold chocolate coins - keeping the Golden Anniversary theme. They were cheap and easy and minimal clean up!!
You could put recyclable cameras on the tables asking the attendees to take pics throughout their time at the party and develop the pics later - post to shutterbug (it's free) and then everyone can pick and choose if they want to get pics.
Put gold paper on the tables with pens and ask the attendees to write a memory about the couple.....we did this for our parents 40th wedding anniversary - however we did it BEFORE the party (it was a surprise party) and put it into an album for them - they still cherish it!!!
Some of the other responses are very creative! If you want to go a little more traditional, you could find inexpensive vases at the dollar store. Or even from Michaels using their weekly coupons. Then buy the flowers at Costco. They have really nice roses that are inexpensive. You could do bud vases or larger bunches. You could also put tea light candles around or tulle down the center of the tables. You could also buy small glass bowls at the dollar store and fill them with m&m's, mints or trail mix to put on each table.
Check the dollar stores they have all kinds of decorations now. I got a bunch of over the hill ones for my FIL. They do have wedding so they my have 50 year stuff.
My husbands niece had this at her wedding, I thought it was a great idea....for the centerpieces on the tables they had a picture of the bride and groom laminated (you could have this done at Kinko's) and submerged in a glass vase full of water with rocks or colored glass at the bottom of the vase. You could do this and use a wedding picture of of the anniversary copule or various pictures through the years of the happy couple. You could get inexpensive vases at Wal-mart or the Goodwill store. Have fun.
