Adult Birthday Parties Tips

Five Great Drinks For A Cocktail Party

If you're throwing a cocktail party for your next birthday, having great drinks are essential for your soiree. Try these great drinks for an upcoming adult cocktail party:

Ginger Vanilla Vodka-tini – Vanilla Absolut with candied ginger and vanilla bean make a delectable cocktail concoction.

Grapefruit cocktail – Simply refreshing, a grapefruit cocktail contains grapefruit juice, gin, lemon juice, and an orange garnish.

Pomegranate Champagne Cocktail – This cocktail drink is part sparkling wine and part pomegranate juice – sweet and crisp!

Cherry Gin-gria – Cherry syrup and gin gets splashed with a generous mixture of club soda. Pour it all on the rocks and add a touch of red wine on the top.

Chile flavored Vodka – Take a regular bottle of vodka and add 2 ancho chilies and 2 jalapeño chilies. Let it chill in a dark place for 7 to 10 days in a tightly sealed bottle.

Unique Adult Birthday Cakes

You could order a standard cake with cream and colored frosting, but when there are so many more options for unique adult birthday cakes, consider trying one of these interesting choices. These unique adult birthday cakes almost look too good to eat.

Picture On A Cake – Have a photograph of your choosing reproduced on the adult birthday cake for the party.

Scenery Cake – Have an entire landscape, such as a rock cliff with waterfall, reproduced onto a cake.

Three-dimensional Cake – Does your birthday guest of honor like classic cars? Have a reproduction made into a cake, complete with chrome fenders and retro style seats.

Character cakes – If you're throwing a party with a character theme, have their image reproduced on a cake. Have one designed three dimensionally, make a cake in the shape of the character, or reproduce a photo on the cake itself.

Architectural Cake – Got a favorite building or getting a new house this birthday? Have a scaled down reproduction made as a cake.

Theme Cake – Want to create a scene from a blockbuster movie like Spiderman or Pirates of the Caribbean? A skilled cake decorator can do the job for you.

Animal Cakes – Have a cake made of a koala in a tree or a bird about to take flight.

21st Birthday Party Ideas

The 21st birthday is such a big milestone. It is the day that children officially become grownups in many parents' eyes. For such a special day, there should be an equally special birthday celebration. Try one of these popular 21st birthday party ideas:

• Throw a casino themed party. Print out currency with the birthday guest of honor's picture on it and hand out a stack of "dollars" to each guest. Have tables set up for different card games. For guests who don't want to gamble, you may want to provide tickets for prize drawings in exchange for the birthday dollars. If you like the idea, but it sounds like too much work, there are party companies that will come set up the whole theme and provide dealers for the different tables.
• Set up a party centered on the future career choice of the 21-year-old. For example, if he or she is about to graduate with a major in premed, set up tables to look like exam tables, use medical bags to hold centerpieces and ask guests to bring medical supplies or money to be used to help pay for med school as gifts. Of course, if he or she plans to be a rock star, the party will probably be a bit more lively!

Entertainment For Adult Birthday Parties

Hiring entertainment for adult birthday parties can be as straightforward as finding a DJ or band. However, there are alternate ways to entertain during adult birthday parties that can be just as engaging if not more so. Take a look at our suggestions for off-the-cuff entertainment for adult birthday parties.

Laser Light Show – Turn your home or party venue into a laser light show that moves to the music.

Hypnotist – Hire a hypnotist to turn guests into willing participants of the entertainment.

Live Acrobat Show – Entertain your guests with a live acrobatic show that will flip, twist, contort, and juggle their way around a birthday party.

Murder Mystery Dinner – Get birthday guests involved in crime solving with a murder mystery dinner. Guests get to mingle with the characters over cocktails and the scene unfolds during the course of the meal.

Etiquette For An Adult Birthday Party

If you're attending an adult birthday party, it's all the more reason to make sure you mind your manners. Following proper etiquette is not only good protocol, it's a way of showing your appreciation for the hosts of the party. In case you're a little rusty on what's appropriate and what's not, we've put together some etiquette guidelines for an adult birthday party:

• Don't come empty handed. Do bring a gift for the birthday guest of honor.
• If you receive an RSVP on the invitation, do respond according to the instructions in a timely fashion.
• Do compliment the host on the party – especially if you really are having a great time.
• If you're going out for a birthday dinner, unless it is a formal affair, do offer to pay and don't assume it's covered.
• Don't linger long after a birthday party is clearly over unless you've arranged to help the host clean up.
• If you'd like to bring a guest to a birthday event, do check with the host if the affair is informal, but don't bring extra people without making sure if it is okay.

Adult Birthday Parties For The Young At Heart

Young at heart grownups will enjoy birthday parties free of fancy sit-down dinners at upscale locales. If you are planning adult birthday parties for the birthday guy or girl who'd rather be at play, we have some ideas for you:

High-tech scavenger hunt – Have a game the big kids will love. Participants play in teams, racing around the city to find items with the latest in high tech gadgetry, like cell phones and GPS systems. Actors come into play to make the game more realistic and fun. This is one adult birthday party event that won't have a boring moment.

Water sport party – Have a picnic by the lake, rent a boat, jet skis, water skis, and a wakeboard. You'll be in for an afternoon of water soaked fun.

Retro theme party – Take a step back a few decades or two and throw a retro theme party. Guests get dressed up in the decade of your choosing. Think poodle skirts and bowling shirts for the 50's or bell-bottoms and psychedelic prints for the 70's.

If you're throwing a 50's birthday party, make sure you have the appropriate gear. For ladies, try black stretch pants and an off the shoulder top a la Grease, the hit 1978 movie. Accessorize with a black sheer scarf and coordinating studded sunglasses. For men, dress up in rolled up dark blue jeans, a white t-shirt, and black leather jacket for the birthday party.

60th Birthday Party Themes

Sixty is one of those birthday years that often gets overlooked. The major bash for the 50th birthday was 10 years before and the retirement party is still a few years off. However, if you like to throw parties, a 60th birthday party is a great opportunity to squeeze another one in.

It may not be time to retire yet, but most people retire when they are in the 60th decade, so why not throw a pre-retirement birthday bash? Get the birthday recipient ready for the day he or she walks out the office door for the last time with a party that includes plenty of ideas for spare time pursuits. Ask guests to bring how to books, hobby supplies, or gift certificates for golf lessons or knitting and crochet classes.

Another 60th birthday party idea you might want to consider is choosing to throw a birthday bash that helps a local cause and still lets everyone have a good time. Rent space at the zoo, in the local boys and girls club or at the library. Then, have all the guests bring a cash donation to add to the fund instead of a big birthday gift. Make sure there is good food and music so everyone has plenty of fun. At the end of the event, ask the birthday honoree to present the donation to a representative for the cause.

Birthday Song Guide

You're all set to start singing "Happy Birthday" when someone asks whether you paid the fee to the copyright holder. Fee? Can't everyone sing "Happy Birthday" whenever they want? Actually, it is true that this song is not allowed to be performed in a public place without permission of the copyright holder for several more decades. However, at home, you can sing away to your family without any worries. If you are singing the song in a public place and don't want to worry about possible problems, there are plenty of other things you can do.

• Make up a song and tune of your own. After all, the original only has a few words and the tune is very simple. Try putting birthday words to "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" or a similar childhood classic.
• Sing "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow" instead. This song is more traditional for retirement situations, but you will just have to start a new birthday tradition with your friends and family, instead.
• Recite an ode to the birthday honoree that someone poetic has written. It can be silly or serious. Just don't forget to have a keepsake copy made for the birthday boy or girl!

Make That 30th Birthday Special

Many people feel that their 30th birthday marks the beginning of their lives as adults. They spend more time working or hanging out at home than they do partying with the old gang from school— usually because they have a new gang to spend time with in the under the age of five! However, while the party may not be quite as wild as it used to be, 30-year-olds still like to have fun. Try one of these ideas for a 30th birthday party:

• Rent a hall and hold a traditional grownup cocktail party, but invite all the kids. Hire several child care providers to entertain the children with child appropriate food, entertainment and craft projects. Parents will be able to enjoy the party without any worry, since they don't have to find sitters and they can quickly check in on the kids, who are just a few feet away in another room in the same building.
• Throw a practical party. Have everyone get together and finish up a project the birthday honoree has been trying to complete. Ask the guests to bring practical gifts, such as office supplies or that new toilet bowl gizmo everyone's talking about. Serve simple food, like hamburgers and hot dogs.