This last week was my husband, Vince’s 40th Birthday. I had a heck of a time figuring out good men’s birthday party ideas. So I did what any suburban housewife does – went on Pinterest and googled away until I found some ideas that struck me. I didn’t want it to be cheesy or “over-the-hill” themed. I had asked Vince if he wanted us to rent out a restaurant or throw it at our house and he chose our house and asked that I cater in his favorite meal…Chipotle. (He is so easy to please!) I didn’t want to do a whole theme around Mexican food figuring that seemed too much like a Cinco de Mayo party, so I went in a different direction. Let’s get to it!

Where to buy men’s Party Decorations:

Etsy:

I knew I wanted to incorporate blue since that’s Vince’s favorite color. Rather than tossing in white as a neutral to go with it, I chose gold so that it would look more festive. I also wanted some humorous yet personal touches, so the first thing I purchased were these drink stirrers. I just sent the shop a photo of Vince and told them I wanted the hat to be navy and white with the number 40 on it.

The next item I bought was this poster. I chose a cute photo of Vince from Christmas, sent it to the shop and they had the digital file to me almost immediately! It is $15 for the digital copy! So you still need to send it off to any place that prints posters. Shutterfly shockingly didn’t have the poster-sized dimensions I was after, so I chose Vista Print. If you don’t care about it being personalized, there is a great sign on Amazon here with all fun facts about the year 1984.

This next item was not on trend for my theme by any means, but I had to have it nonetheless. Vince and I are huge fans of The Office. We always crack up at the episode where Dwight and Jim forget Kelly’s birthday so they throw her an impromptu party. Dwight is in charge of decorations, so he makes a plain white sign that says, “IT IS YOUR BIRTHDAY.” Not even deserving of an exclamation point in his book. So naturally, I had to get the same sign through this shop on Etsy.

Then, I purchased this banner to hang over our fireplace. It wouldn’t be a party thrown by me without a few obscenities tossed in there. If you don’t want to go this route, I found a couple other great options here and here.

For my last Etsy purchase of men’s birthday party decorations, I wanted some fun napkins. I got this set and this one – both from the same shop! (Bonus for saving on some shipping!) I just mentioned for both orders that I wanted the napkins to be navy with gold font.

Men’s birthday party decorations from Amazon:

Party stores sure are great. But what’s fucking better than that? Amazon. Because you get the same shit on there, but it gets shipped faster and for free if you’re a Prime member. I purchased navy blue dinner plates, gold dessert plates, and gold silverware, first. Or you can get this fun combo pack here. I wanted some fun cupcake picks and found these and loved them so much, I decided to incorporate them in a few places.

Next, I made a quick balloon garland. If you are going to take the time to do this, save yourself some breath and buy this inexpensive balloon pump. It goes SO MUCH faster! You pump up the balloons and just hang them on this strip that is totally reusable! I’ve used the same one for years! I bought gold, navy, and glitter balloons for it. Hot tip: When it comes time to take it down and you pop the balloons, pop the glitter ones over a trash can. Those gold circle glittery bastards far! Don’t ask me how I know…

Then, I wrapped the banisters in crepe paper, and hung the strip of balloons off our banister. Next, I taped crepe paper to the doors, tossed up the poster on an easel I already owned, and hung up this dot garland. It was long enough I was able to cut it in half and hang it over our main counter where I stationed the Chipotle bar.

The last two decorative touches were easy. I got these giant balloons that you just blow up yourself with a straw and they stay inflated. And then I bought gold foil table runners to throw over the disposable navy blue tablecloths.

Centerpieces:

I wanted some unique centerpieces for the tables, but didn’t want them to be too girly. So I bought these gold gems off Amazon. I tossed them into these clear beer mugs, and topped them with white roses to look like beer foam. Side note: One bag of gems filled up three mugs! Additionally, if we are being real (which it’s me, so we fucking are,) I actually wanted white carnations for the “foam” but our local stores didn’t have them, so I opted for white roses.

Party Favors for Men’s Birthday Parties:

You absolutely don’t need to have party favors at an adult’s party. I just love an excuse to have a little something to give to guests. Since Vince wanted Chipotle as our meal, I thought these mini bottles of hot sauce would be perfect favors. I then wrote on a chalkboard a cheeky statement saying, “40 and still HOT!” Vince appreciates a good double entendre.

Other items you could give as party favors for a men’s birthday party: 40th birthday bottle openers. The ones I linked come in a pack of 50! Or buy your man’s favorite beer and put them in these can sleeves. Vince threw me a surprise 40th Birthday and enlisted my mom to decorate the restaurant. She got mini bottles of champagne as favors and had labels like these made for each one and they were a huge hit!

Dessert and finishing touches:

Vince is not big on sweets but loves Dairy Queen ice cream cakes. The largest size they offer only serves 20 people (I got 24 slices out of it though.) With us having around 40 people over, I was afraid we would need another dessert option. So I went ahead and got a sheet cake from King Soopers too. It was a basic bitch, but made me feel better that we had two choices and plenty of dessert.

To be honest, if it had been fully up to me, I’d have gotten fancy gourmet cupcakes in gold and navy made at a local bakery. But Vince doesn’t care about cake or cupcakes so I went for cheap and easy. (We all need to take shortcuts so this was one of mine.) And of course I got these candles for the ice cream cake. I used leftover picks to put on the cake to spruce it up too. And I got some fun “Aged to perfection” glasses to keep by our bar for mixed drinks.

All in all, I felt like the party was classy yet masculine. All of our friends complimented the theme and decor, which meant a lot! Men’s birthday ideas on Pinterest are either filthy, hokey, or over-the-hill. And that’s just not our vibe over here. If your husband isn’t into blue or gold, you can still buy all this same shit in a different color scheme of your choice! I hope you enjoyed these men’s birthday party ideas! I did set up an Amazon storefront here so you can easily access all of the items I used for Vince’s 40th. To see how I hosted my daughter’s classroom Valentine’s Day party, check out my blog here. As always, thanks for reading!