What to do for my parents's 65th anniversary?

On January 5th, my parents will have been married for SIXTY! FIVE! YEARS! I can hardly believe it myself, and I've been with them for 51 of those years!

Clearly, the occasion calls for major celebration -- but I need help figuring out what to do. Here are the ideas I've had so far:

1. Most of our family lives far away, and would not be able to travel here... but I believe I can get a dozen people to come.

2. I need to rent a private dining room at a nice restaurant where we could have the party... and there's a restaurant where my mom and I are regulars that I think would give us a reasonable price.

3. I want to put together a Powerpoint slideshow of their marriage to show during the party. My brother could run it off his laptop, so all we'd have to rent would be the projector and screen.

4. I'll ask everyone who couldn't come to send cards, so I can display them on a nice easel board.

5. Music would be easy -- my brother is a working musician and has a fabulous rig, so he could play, and he has friends who could come, too. His rig would also provide a PA for toasts and so forth.

6. My brother and I would have to do a song for Mom and Papa -- and I know just the one: "Blue Skirt Waltz," one of the songs they used to sing together when they had their own radio show just after WWII. They'd love that!

6. I'd have to have a fabulous cake made... and a corsage for Mom and a boutonniere for Papa... and a Happy Anniversary banner.

7. And maybe I could arrange for them to renew their wedding vows! When they got married in 1943, it was by a Justice of the Peace at the post where Papa was taking helicopter training, and they had no family present... and afterward, they just walked down the street for ice cream. Maybe I could secretly bring along a wreath of flowers for my mom to wear in her hair, and a minister to remarry them!

8. Finally: a few years ago, my father had a bad injury to his left hand and the hospital had to cut off his wedding ring. Around the same time, my mom's engagement ring was damaged, and she was afraid to wear it until she had it fixed. Neither ring has been fixed yet, but if I could get hold of them and secretly have them repaired, so they could re-present them to each other during the renewing of their vows... wouldn't that be lovely?

Do you see any problems with what I'm thinking of doing? Do you have any other ideas or suggestions? It's just suddenly hit me that I only have about six weeks to get this done! AUGH! Any advice deeply appreciated!

if your parents are anything like my grandparents or parents one thing you could do is mention that instead of gifts, the family might consider giving to a local charity in your parents name. We did that for my grandparents. They have several rocking chairs dedicated to them at several children's hospitals in TN. My grandparents would always say they have enough junk and not to waste money on them. Once they found out they were so happy about the chairs

carol, your ideas are just wonderful honey! You could probably make some flower arrangements for the table and maybe balloons too. it's going to be so beautiful and so much fun!

Why not have everyone contribute money and send them on a cruise?

I think all you are doing is GREAT. Those that can't come - try to get them to send some pictures for the slide show.

And the minister renewing the vows would be great too. Have you contacted their church minister or yours about this. You need to set up something with them soon as they need to schedule it ahead of time.

In our old church, the one pastor and his wife celebrated their 60th anniversary with the entire congregation. Their kids (one of whom also is a pastor too) put together a wonderful slide show for them. They invited the entire church and had it catered for food - very large sandwiches/sub-like in a few different choices.

There were not many dry eyes at the end of the party. And then they passed a microphone around for anyone to say what they wanted....I'm so glad we got to be part of that!

Conbrio, that's a wonderful idea! I don't know what it would cost, but if we can handle it, I know they'd just love that... thank you!

Arielrain, balloons, of course! Much less expensive than flowers, and very festive looking -- what a great idea! Thank you!

Linda, I would so love the cruise idea... but everybody in the family is struggling a bit, cash-wise... and anyway, my father's health is too poor. However -- if I can't arrange for any of the Ohio-and-Kentucky clan to come down here, I could give my folks a gift certificate for a trip back there to visit in the spring, and I could drive them and all. I know they'd love to do that -- thank you!

GK, wonderful idea about having current pictures sent for the slide show -- thanks! I'm not sure what to do about the minister, though... I said minister even though my mom is a non-practicing Catholic and my father is nominally so. None of us goes to church, so I was thinking in terms of a nondenominational kinda guy... maybe the chaplain at the hospital where both my folks have had surgeries. He's a good guy, and I've had a couple of heartfelt conversations with him... I suspect he'd do it for us.

This is so exciting! I feel like a spy, secretly plotting all this right here under my parents's own roof...

Awww, your ideas sound very sweet!

Congrats to them for 65 long amazing years

Congratulations to them, and to you and your family, as it sounds as if you are all very close, and that is not so usual these days, sadly.

When my parents celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary three years ago, we all debated what to do. There were no gifts they needed, in fact my mother was trying to give things away and declutter her house. And htere were people who couldn't come. I came up with the idea of me and my siblings paying for a studio portrait of our parents, and having enough prints made, at different sizes, to give to immediate family and to send to all absent family and friends. A special large framed one was presented to our parents on the day. These days, although we all take pictures, there are often no really definitive portraits, and as a student of family history, I love having good pix of ancestors. The picture taken for this occasion will be a treasure for ever, for all branches of the family.

Sounds great! Another idea, get a family tree together for them! It might be hard! Our family tree barely fit on the wall last year at the reunion!

As for the rings it should be too expensive.
I just took my wedding ring in to be repaired from when it was cut off in April and its only $20!!! But it did have to be sized-if he has another ring?????
Perhaps if you "get" the rings you could tell the story to the jeweler and they could give you a break on the price????

If you have a get together with family make sure you take lots of pictures of all attendees.

At my parent's 50th I had their wedding pictures displayed.

Thank you all so much, for your good wishes and great ideas! And Jenny, your comment about having a nice photo portrait made of my parents... it hit me like a grand piano: there's a fellow pilot in New Mexico who is a dear friend of the family, and also an extraordinarily fine oil painter. He does world-class portrait work! I could send him the the photos we just had done for my father's book (coming out next year), and he could do a painting of my parents! It's such a perfectly natural thing -- and I know he would love to do it, and I know he'll come to the party, too. I'm calling him tomorrow to see if we can work it out! WOOHOO!

Now I feel like this is coming together... thank you all SO MUCH!

Wow, the portrait sounds wonderful - and a great surprise! I really love the wedding ring idea. Actually, I love the whole thing, but those two stuck out!

Oh! Here is another idea!

You can a congratulatory message sent to them by a Head of State!

http://www.petermilliken.org/congratu.htm

http://www.etoile.co.uk/Rfaq.html#Q2

Congratulatory messages are also sent to couples celebrating their 60th, 65th & 70th wedding anniversary and every year after the 70th wedding anniversary. You may request an application form by writing to: Anniversaries Office, Buckingham Palace, London SW1A 1AA, United Kingdom.

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If they won't do it for someone in the USA, try and get the same service from the President. But I don't see why the Queen wouldn't send a congratulatory note to someone in the USA after all they do official visits to the USA.

Ha! That's a great idea, about letters from heads of state -- and darn right it'll have to be the Queen, or some Indian prince or Mongolian warlord... because this household has no use whatsoever for the current US president!

Originally Posted by kluchetta

Wow, the portrait sounds wonderful - and a great surprise! I really love the wedding ring idea. Actually, I love the whole thing, but those two stuck out!

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You have wonderful ideas, Wow 65 years, they deserve a gold medal

All your ideas sound so wonderful!

Don't forget to have someone there to take photos of the event Maybe a friend of yours, or someone else you know that could be the designated photographer Then after you get them all developed, you could make them a small scrapbook for their anniversary next year, a birthday or Christmas next year! That way they can have the memory of the party last a lifetime!

65 years wow! I hope DH and I make it that long.

ANy way here are a few other ideas.

My Grandma just turned 85 and my mom had all of her family and friends wright out their fondest memory of her, some of them were back from when she was a kid and others were from just this year. She also had everyone send a picture from the era of the story and had it all printed and bound into a book. My Grandma just loved it. It was something she would be able to look at every day. You could see if you could do that, especially if some people can not come. Just have everyone write something about them as a couple.

You could name a star after them.
http://www.starregistry.com/

I was trying to find out what the traditional gift for 65 years is but it appears that there is not one. What I did find though is the moderns gift is the Star Sapphire and the color grey. You could try to do something with those.

Keep us updated about the plans and I hope to see pictures.

You should be proud of your parents Isn´t Carol!.. ...

Originally Posted by CarolPetunia

Ha! That's a great idea, about letters from heads of state -- and darn right it'll have to be the Queen, or some Indian prince or Mongolian warlord... because this household has no use whatsoever for the current US president!

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hehe

You'll have to let us know what you ultimately decide on doing for them 65 years is a mile stone

That sounds lovely!

A suggestion that I can think of is to get friends and family to record on video happy memories that they have of and with your parents. Even the people who are not going to come for the event can do that. Get them a few weeks early and put them all together on 1 video or DVD that they can watch together, and you can show it at the dinner.

Also, instead of asking people to bring gifts, suggest donations to their fav charity in their name or donations of pictures that the guests have of your parents.
Congratulations of the big anniversary to them!