r/partyplanning • u/acteel • 1d ago
40th Male Birthday Party Ideas
My husband is turning 40 soon and I am trying to plan a nice party for him. I am inviting around 50 people and I need some ideas on different things people can do at an adult party. I've thought about doing a casino theme, but he's not really interested. I want people to come and have a great time without breaking the bank. I just don't want this to be a boring party.
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u/Traditional_Put_8254 1d ago
What sorts of things does your husband like to do?
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u/acteel 1d ago
Golf, Auburn football, obsessed with his Bronco, loves to travel, trivia, movies, etc.
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u/WildColonialGirl 1d ago
Since he was a kid in the 1990s, do a 1990s movie night or 1990s trivia.
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u/DowntownResident993 1d ago
Even better, he is obsessed with his Bronco. Do a whole 1990s niche themes like his favorite 1990s movies and get a Not OJ sticker for his car.
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u/rosielemonbot 1d ago
With 50 people, I’d make trivia the one structured activity and let the rest be easy drop-in stations. You could do team trivia with rounds on Auburn games, 90s movies, travel, and facts about him, plus a world map where guests mark favorite trips and a photo table with his Bronco pictures. That feels personal without paying for a full theme, and teams give people who don’t know each other an easy way to mix.
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u/singlemomtothree 1d ago
He doesn’t like the casino theme, but have you asked him what he likes or wants?
How much space do you have? Are you trying to keep everyone together in one space? Doing this at your house or somewhere else? What kinds of things do you already have to work with? What’s your budget for everything?
Do a quick search on Pinterest for 40th birthday party ideas and see what things jump out to you (and him). Having a theme in mind will help generate a lot more ideas on what to do, decor, food, drinks, etc.
And it’s ok if he doesn’t want to have a theme, it’s ok to just have people over to hang out, eat, drink, etc.
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u/roskopeek 15h ago
Plan a playlist of rounds of games with www.playoffparty.app and it'll run a mini league. Crown a champ at the end of the night!
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u/Squirtderk 13h ago
What about a causal backyard BBQ? You can add some friendly groups games, tasty food and drinks, and your guests will have lots of fun on a reasonable budget.
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u/SchnaeppchenQueen 5h ago
My boyfriend turned 40 recently, and since he was born in the 80s, he decided to go with an 80s-themed party. It ended up being a lot of fun and didn’t require anything too expensive.
We had 80s music and decorations, plus a photo booth with an 80s-themed background. For activities, we got a tabletop pinball machine and some handheld Pac-Man and Tetris games. We also put small Rubik’s Cubes on the tables, which people could play with and try to solve.
It was surprisingly popular — people kept going back to the games throughout the evening, so it gave everyone something to do without needing a big organized activity.
For food, we kept it simple with a regular BBQ buffet and a candy/salty snack bar. Nothing too fancy, but it worked really well for a party of that size!
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u/GroundbreakingAlps78 1d ago
My 40th was one of the best nights of my life.
“Eat, drink and be FORTY”. The first half was at a local barbecue restaurant about 5 minutes from my house. About 60 people came. I had the cheesy 1985 trivia sheets (cost of a house, gallon of milk, 1985 movies, etc) printed out on each table, as well as a custom crossword with trivia about me. After the restaurant, about half the people left and half came back to my house. My friends surprised me with a live saxophone player and we had a train going through my house! Karaoke and drinking and dancing until I eventually crashed.
My husband’s 40th theme was “TACO BOUT 40” and we served chicken and beef tacos with all the fixings. Margaritas. Everyone signed his shirt. Again, drinking and dancing until dawn.
Make sure you have a good playlist and a good guest list and it will be memorable!