• Celebrate half a century.Number 50 image by FJ Medrano from Fotolia.com
  
  A 50th birthday is a major milestone worth celebrating. Ring in a half-century birthday with a festive occasion. Celebrations for a 50th birthday are limited only by your imagination. It's helpful to consider basic needs of the occasion first, such as how many people to invite, location and budget. Then you'll be able to make the best decision about how to create a memorable event for the guest of honor.
  
  

Roast

• People can be so serious about aging. A roast is suitable for a lighthearted guest of honor with a lot of funny and outgoing friends. Search online for videos of celebrity roasts. Contact several friends of the guest of honor and ask them to prepare a brief speech that pokes fun at the birthday boy. A roast can be performed in a formal venue such as a banquet hall or theater, or even more casually by asking guests to stand up from their tables in a restaurant to speak. For more entertainment, plan variety acts among roast speeches. Enlist friends who can perform a parody song about the birthday boy, or singers who can perform his favorite song.
  
  

Timeline

• A birthday celebrating a large span of time gives the planner opportunities to use history as part of the festivities. Gather some information on the 50 years that the birthday girl has lived. Choose several events in her life and compile photographs to go along with them. Use newspaper clippings from events during the last 50 years--big news stories, presidential news and celebrity mishaps. Present a brief timeline of the past 50 years on a projector or compile the presentation onto a DVD for all of the guests to see.
  
  

When I Grow Up...

• Bring some youthful energy to your crowd with a "when I grow up" theme. Encourage guests to dress as the most outlandish thing they ever wanted to be when they grew up, whether it's an astronaut or a rock star. Put a large piece of butcher block paper on the wall and make markers available so guests can write things they still intend to accomplish. Decorate the party with juvenile decorations--cartoon cups and plates, streamers and things found at children's parties.