This post may contain affiliate links. Please see my full Disclosure Policy for details.
Yesterday, we celebrated what my mom is calling her last day of being 59. NOT her 60th birthday. Which, as I’m typing this, still hasn’t occurred since she was born after 11:00 PM on September 2. She’s been experiencing a bit of denial with this milestone birthday. Because I knew she didn’t really want a “60th” birthday party, we decided to go with something funny I had seen around social media a while ago: a Generic Birthday Party.
My sisters-in-law and I got together and planned a simple BBQ with just a few close friends and the family. The party wasn’t a surprise, but the theme and the fact that there were friends coming was. We had so much fun putting this together, and I dubbed it the “Anti-Pinterest” party. If you want to see how a REAL party is thrown, you need to check out my blog pal, Britni, and her incredible Wizard of Oz party. THAT’s a Pinterest party. Seriously.
Anyway, back to our Generic Birthday Party! The colors were black and white, of course. Plain white labels with black letters could be found all over the house. 🙂 We all said that Mom taught us the value of a dollar, and there was no shame in buying generic!
Generic Birthday Party
I printed out the word “banner” on white copy paper and strung up a banner for the entryway. We adorned the room with white balloons labeled “balloon” and several 8×10 celebratory decorations on the wall. I bought a roll of white crepe paper and wrote “streamer” on it every six inches or so. That was probably the most labor intensive this party planning got. 🙂 Everyone wrapped their gifts in black and white and we ate off plain white paper plates and napkins. Even the cake was white with black lettering!
We didn’t get any actual pictures of the party festivities or attendees. Oops. I put the camera away and we were just happy to eat and laugh together. So I grabbed my mom tonight and we snapped a couple of photos to mark her actual birthday. (Which is now only 15 minutes away as I finish up this post.) 🙂 Happy 60th, birthday, Mom! We love you!
- Chocolate Orange Cookies - November 2, 2024
- Nutella Banana Bread - October 14, 2024
- Bacon Onion Dip - September 13, 2024
Marjorie Briggs says
My brother in law Dave is “Meh” about birthdays. I think he turns 65 next year. We’ll have to do this for him. It is awesome!
Nicole Burkholder says
Perfect! 🙂
Chris says
I love how people keep taking this generic birthday party a step further. I saw a mashup picture on Reddit of a dad throwing one for his teenage son. So I went with it and added in Party Game, Streamer, and Gift for my wife Cristy (mine hit the front page of Huff Post Comedy and Reddit). Then you saw mine and added even more to it. Fun!
Nicole Burkholder says
It’s the genius of social media! 🙂 The party was a hit!
Liz says
OMG, love this idea. I may have to steal this for my mom’s 80th bday coming up! Visiting from the SITS share.
Nicole Burkholder says
Thanks for stopping by! I hope your mom enjoys a good joke 🙂
Nicole says
Love it! What a great idea. We just celebrated my Mom’s last day of being 69 a few weeks ago. She didn’t want any big hoopla either.
Marjie says
That was such a cute party idea, Nicole! I love it.
Nicole Burkholder says
Thank you! We had a great time and it was so easy, it’s almost embarrassing 🙂
Britni says
Haha I love it Nicole and thanks for the shout-out. And p.s., I’m pinning this to my party ideas board so now it is a Pinterest party. 🙂
Stephanie Daigneault says
This would be so cute for a co-worker in an office. Love it.
Nicole Burkholder says
That’s a great idea! It would easy to decorate a conference room and the party planning committee would be pleased with how little was spent 🙂