Fun Things for 40th Birthday Parties

• Planning a 40th birthday party requires you to deliver many fun things. Jupiterimages/Creatas/Getty Images
  

  After living four decades on planet Earth, a 40-year-old deserves an exciting birthday party. When planning for the party, think of things the birthday guest of honor enjoys to come up with ideas for decorations, food, activities and more. That way, you can throw a party the birthday boy or girl will remember for years to come.

Invitations

• Invite your guests to the party by sending them invitations with the words "Climb over the hill to celebrate (so-and-so's) 40th birthday!" on the front cover. For a more creative touch, add a picture of a hill with a stick figure standing on the hilltop. Then, paste a small picture of the birthday boy's face onto the stick figure's head.

Decorations and Atmosphere

• Following with the over-the-hill invitations, decorate your party space with a mountain-top theme in mind. For example, hang pictures on the walls of hills and add green felt to your table tops to make the place look like a mountain top. Glue fake flowers held up by pipe cleaners onto the felt, as well. Hang the traditional birthday banner on the walls with "Happy 40th Birthday" written on it. Blow up 40 balloons and let them cover the ceiling. Play yodeling songs throughout the party to further convey your over-the-hill theme.

Food

• During the event, you want to serve foods that your party guests enjoy. Finger foods like pretzels, chocolate-covered strawberries and chips and dip. For the cake, you can simply carve out two layered cakes to look like the number four and the number zero. If you want to make a more unique cake, bake a dome-shaped or bundt cake. Frost the cake with green icing and add flowers using the same frosting. Place a small figurine at the top of the cake to symbolize the 40-year-old's climb over the hill.

Activities

• To keep your guests entertained, plan activities for the party. Apart from dancing to music from the birthday girl's adolescence and general socializing, games involving trivia questions work well. The birthday girl can even come up with a few questions of her own to ask the guests to see how much they know about her life so far. For one game, only ask trivia questions concerning the birth year of the guest of honor. If you want to integrate your party theme, play King of the Mountain, where two players stand on top of a small hill and try to push the other player off.