50th Birthday Party Ideas and Games

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a post about my dad and how he’s one of the main reasons that I love music. Over the holidays we celebrated my dad’s 50th birthday as a family and I, being the party planner, got to put together the little shindig. Before the party, I did a ton of research and found the best 50th birthday party ideas out there! I’ve included the 50th birthday party games we played as well as some other great ideas for you to use!

50th Birthday Party Ideas

50th Birthday Party Ideas: Decorations

For our party, I used 50th birthday party supplies as the base for my party decorations and added in some other fun elements like striped straws (of course), straw toppers, and colored balloons that I picked up. These other 50th birthday party decorations are some of the cutest I’ve ever seen!

Use photos to create a number backdrop like this idea from Martha Stewart.

Go all out and create the number 50 out of colored balloons like this one.

Or go super simple and just order balloons with the number 50 on them.

Print out a bunch of pictures of the guest of honor and set them up with funny sayings like these fun centerpieces.

Get a personalized printable sign with facts about the person or the year they’re born.

Or better yet, write it up a large chalkboard like this flashback sign.

If you’re feeling crafty, use tissue paper to create colorful numbers like these ones.

50th Birthday Party Ideas: Food

You can either use your guest of honor’s favorite foods like we did with candy sushi and cheese coneys, or you can do 50th birthday party themed food like these cute ideas!

For dessert, serve funny insult cupcakes.

Or skip the insults and just shape the cupcakes into the number 50.

Or maybe these older than dirt cups.

And if you want a standard cake, try a tombstone one.

Or maybe tombstone and over the hill cookies.

Add number 50 toppers to any party food to make it 50 birthday party themed.

Don’t forget the chocolate – chocolate 50s that is!

50th Birthday Party Ideas: Gift Ideas 

Fill a jar with Red Hots and label with a “50 and hot sign” like this cute idea.

50th Birthday Party Ideas: Games & Activities

The first game that we played was Name That Tune.

I put together a playlist with one song from the past 50 years (plus ones from the past few years since we played this back in 2013!) and we played my dad versus the rest of the family. My dad beat us but only by a few points.

Here is the full list of songs that I used as well as detailed instructions on how to play Name That Tune. You could also try out one of these fun games or activities!

Play The Birthday Party Board Game

Try your hand at 50 years of Trivia with these 50 years trivia playing cards.

Play 50th birthday bingo with cards filled with words that describe your guest of honor.

Play some of these minute to win it games for groups. I’ll be the first to tell you my dad loves minute to win it games!

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