Turning forty--celebration suggestions needed

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leonie

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I’m turning 40 next month :extrahappy:

I also have three friends who have/are turning 40 this summer. So, we want to celebrate together. We need an idea that is

a little different (no tattooes), is limited to a few hours/or accommodates a tag along baby, isn’t too expensive, and doesn’t involve spa stuff (I hate strangers touching me).

help!!!

I wanted to go hiking or canoeing, but one of my girlfriends nixed that idea…
 
Forty! Still young yet!
Does your town have a “paint it yourself” pottery shop? You design and paint, they bake it in a kiln and give you back the finished product! Maybe you could choose a theme: teacups, coffee mugs, “special day” plates and commemorate your summer of Forty. It takes about an hour and a half to two hours and you could pass around the baby for a break, unless he/she is old enough for a kiddie project of their own!
Another thought might be to bring in other friends and make a huge celebration of the collective birthdays by doing something great for someone else. A community project or something like an Alex’s Lemonade Stand (especially for summer) would be a neat way spread the joy!

Happy, happy birthday!
 
Excellent idea, kgmmitt! I would also check into a cooking party…like maybe inviting friends over to learn how to cook different things together…share a bottle of wine, have fun music? Or maybe hire a local cook to come over for a few hours, and give you all a cooking demonstration? (and turn that into a party) I think that might be really fun? I turned 40 in December, and it really is an exciting time. I don’t recall ever being ‘grateful’ for a particular age, but I think you’ll find it to be quite a milestone…a time when you reflect on your life, and where God has led you. I wish you a wonderful birthday!! Wish I could celebrate with you, too. 😃
 
Oh, I thought of another idea…for a home type party…everyone could bring fruits, marshmallows…etc…you could buy chocolate (you need probably 5 or so pounds) and buy a small chocolate fountain…that is such great fun! I have been to home parties that feature that, and it really turns a so-so home party into a theme related good time. Just food for thought (pun intended. lol) 🙂
 
Guess I am not “different”, I got my second tat for my 40th BD 😃

How about a fondue party? Hire a sitter for all the kids…
 
I’d go for a weekend away.

Choose someplace you all find interesting and sightsee or just hang out. Eat out, enjoy a glass of wine at night, a good movie on cable . . .
 
When my wife turned 40, em err, had the 11th anniversary of her 29th birthday, she and several of her friends went to a chocolate tasting party. Similar to a wine tasting except it is chocolate and they consume the entirety of the “tasting”.

She enjoyed it quite a lot.
 
leonie said:
…Maybe I’ll get my hair colored. I’ve never had it colored. …
Click to expand...
You wrote “no spa” earlier, but what about all going to a hair salon (for new styles, new colors, or just basic maintainance and primping) followed by a special lunch?

Or maybe dinner and a play? If there are any dinner theatres within a reasonable driving distance, I think they are great ways to combine dinner and show. You might find coupons/internet specials or less expensive performances. Sometimes they even with comedies about aging.

And 40th Happy Birthday!!!
 
Congratulations!
The number 40 has such great religious significance that, since you asked, I would suggest that it be a particularly significant activity that is chosen to remember what the event marks.

The date of memorial celebration of the saints is the day of their “birth” into eternal life. Happy that you have not yet met the moment of your death, for which we pray for Our Lady’s prayers each time we pray the Ave, and so it is I suggest that you might consider planning to mark the event with something that reminds you and those with whom you choose to remember with you…and will help to keep you reminded…of your state in life and what is ahead.

Without much thought I would suggest something along the lines of:
  1. A day which includes prayer, most especially adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, service to others (you’ve a baby so that is pretty well covered) and the sharing of a meal with those with whom you share your day. Making the meal more about the celebration of friendship and less about the delights of consumption might put you more in mind of God’s Chosen People wandering for forty years in the desert and God’s gift to them of manna, the bread come down from Heaven. Finally, to end the day with prayer in all of its dimensions: adoration, contrition, thanksgiving, supplication. As this day is also an opportunity to remember your mother I would suggest that you make a particular gift to Our Lady and honour her with the promise of praying her Most Holy Rosary on that day and on every day. She is our Mother, Mother of all of the living, and birthdays are meant to celebrate the gift of life of the person having one.
  2. Pilgrimage: This could be as modest as a pilgrimage to a parish close by to invoke the patronage of the patron of that parish. It could also be a pilgrimage to a cathedral or shrine or a monastery. Make an event of planning it and learn about pilgrims and pilgrimage and I am certain that it will enrich your life far more than cake and ice cream.
  3. Make a plan for the next years: I know of people who choose the date of their birth to give gifts to others and, I know of people who, after a certain point, do not mark the date of their birth with any form of material enrichment.
  4. Patronage: I cannot imagine a gift more precious than that of a friend, one who walks alongside of me and helps me to live the life of Christ here and leads me to life with Him in heaven. So it is I would suggest praying now to ask for knowledge of patron(s) with whom you walk and turn for help in the year(s) ahead. This really worked for me recently. Something going on which I knew I was simply not understanding at the higher level of meaning. I looked to see whose feast day it was and recognised a saint whose blessedness was so magnificent that I had never dared seek from her prayer and intervention…and so I asked…and I got…and I got immediately and what I got was so not me and so much exactly what I needed and helped me in ways I could not have imagined.
  5. Fasting: Of the ways in which we can give gifts which last forever (prayer, fasting, and almsgiving) I believe that fasting is the least understood. Food and drink and not the only forms of fasting and, for some, not the most pleasing of fasting. Fasting from negative thoughts, fasting from unnecessary and frivolous conversation, fasting from focus on self, fasting from overactivity, fasting from tasking and immersing oneself in the glory that is God’s Magnificence in His Creation. Fasting that gives to others enriches us without doubt in ways we will not understand until that day when we shall no longer have the gift of temporal time to pray, fast and give alms.
whew…didna’ realise this lass would hae so much to offer,

in Domino, semper auspice Mariae, Mater Dei,
 
HAPPY 40th Leonie! :flowers:🍰:blessyou:

Since you are celebrating with others turning 40, maybe do something that you all like -
paintball, go kart, hair done, ceramics, mystery theatre, watch a play or opera…

Have been reading this thread…as I turn 40 next Tuesday.

Tuesday will just be dinner out with DH, DS, my Dad and Sis. My pick - Thai food.
However, we had a triple family celebration on July4, to celebrated DS’s 10th bday, his baptism anniversary and my 40th, as they are all a month apart (DS born June 4, DS baptised July 4 and I turned 30, Aug 4). Though being that it is summer, many were busy or at weddings, or could not bother to come because I had asked that people dress in Traditional clothes…40 were invited, we ended up with 12…was good… and fun.
 
HI
Try a religious day retreat, meditate and prepare for a prayer for the next ten years, then have a birthday get together:)
 
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