"Over the Hill" Birthday Party Favors

(I have to preface this account by the following: If you are thinking of throwing an "Over the Hill" birthday party for a woman, think again. While many women are good sports and some - like me - have a deliciously wicked sense of humor, most would not appreciate an "Over the Hill" birthday party. That being said, these party favors are for the male of the species who might find themselves "over the hill.")

My husband was turning 40 when I threw him an "Over the Hill" birthday party. In addition to noting this milestone, I decided to make it a "surprise" party. Surprising someone for a landmark birthday isn't easy, especially if you are living in the same house. Besides the logistics of plotting a party with the surprise recipient right under your nose, there is a lot of hard work involved, much of which is not easily hidden. If you have young children, like I did at the time, it's difficult to maintain the secrecy of the mission. In my case, I decided to have the party in an upstairs party room of a restaurant we normally frequented, instead of trying to do something at home. That way, when we made our way to the restaurant, it wouldn't have looked too out of the ordinary to make a detour to the upstairs. Plus, there would be food and beverages, and no mess to clean up.

Hindsight is always 20/20. For my husband's party, I asked there be no gifts, only gag gifts, and everyone who attended were only too happy to comply. What I didn't think of at the time were providing party favors to give to the revelers in order for them to remember the night. It would have been very easy to come up with some neat gifts for the guests.

One thing that is easy to make would be little jellybean bags using netting and ribbon. Of course, there would only be black jellybeans in the bags. These days, you can replace the jellybeans with custom made M and Ms embellished with witty sayings like "Over the Hill" or "Geezer" or "50." Unfortunately, M and Ms do not come in black, but they do have a pretty sporty silver one. You can get more information about ordering your own personalized M and Ms at www.mymms.com.

Along the same lines are companies that will wrap candy bars in any saying you'd like. You've probably seen these as giveaways at your friend's wedding. The candy wrappers can be customized with the guest of honor's photograph and other witty sayings. A good web site for this is www.thecandywrappers.com.

You've probably seen the water bottles with similar labels. There's a web site that specializes in making the labels, and also has the plain bottles for sale. You can find all the particulars at www.bottleyourbrand.com.

You can also print out pages of newspaper from the year in question and wrap your favors in them. Even if you have to buy one paper or one page, that page can be photocopied to be used as goodie bags.

Actually, these days there are several websites that cater to the Over the Hill party crowd. One of these is Ziggo's Over the Hill (www.ziggosoverthehill.com.) This site contains the standard paper products and yard signs. At Plum Party (www.plumparty.com), there are a few items, but not more than what a person could find at your local Hallmark. There are plenty of ideas at Over the Hill Gifts (www.overthehillgifts.com).

No matter what party favor your choose, remember that it's all about celebrating another milestone with the Birthday Boy (or Girl).