Ideas for a 50th wedding anniversary party???

[MindyKay]

My parents will be celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary this July.  My sister and I are going to have an open-house for them at the fellowship hall of my Dad's brother's church.  According to my parents, they want an "elegant" style as far as food.  We are planning on a simple wedding cake, a small chocolate cake for Mom, decorated with kiwi and strawberries, and a "groom's cake" made of chocolate with the Green Bay Packers symbol on it for our Dad.  As far as other food being offered, we are thinking of cocktail shrimp, assorted cheeses and crackers, veggie trays, and mini-quiches.  It's also been suggested that we offer chicken salad on mini croissants (or dollar rolls).

Does anyone have any advice on what is considered "elegant" style foods?  We are southern-Indiana-born simple folk and have no idea on what "elegant" is.

Thanks!

[cheryl186]

How about a "Chocolate Fountain" and dipping strawberries, pineapple, honeydew, cherries, etc.  Also, how about fruit and berry crepes with whipped cream.  When my parents had their 50th Wedding Anniversary we all met at a fancy restaurant so I didn't have to figure out a menu but we did do something for them that was cute and they liked.  We gave them a "Money Tree".  I picked up a fairly nice sized branch" from a tree out of the back yard (about four feet tall), spray painted it all gold and hung fifty one dollars bills from it.  We had it in a small container full of sand. 

Hope your party goes really well.  Your menu does sound very nice.....and Congratulations to your parents on their 50th Wedding Anniversary.  That is quite an accomplishment!!!

[Teresa]

I think the chocolate fountain idea would be great. I love it that she wants "elegant style" foods. I have a feeling you didn't see that one coming!
We had a 50th for my parents in August, but just did cake, punch, sandwiches, etc. I did find a great site for coming up with the wording for the invitations and for some poems. It may have some party ideas, too.
Here they are
http://twopeasinabucket.kaboose.com/res.asp
Type in 5oth anniversary in the search bar

Verseit.com

Hope these help.

[PattyInAK]

Cocktail wieners, or sweet and sour meatballs in a crock pot.  I will post the recipes tomorrow.  Deviled eggs are good too.  When I plan an appetize party, I concentrate on stuff that people could make a meal out of.............veggies, dip, a main dish thing (the mini quiches, shrimp, meatballs, deviled eggs, etc.), and desert.  Rolls with the chicken salad sound great.  Can I come???  Sounds so good.  My sisters and I threw a 50th party for my parents.  It was great, we had a local grocery store bakery do the cake and we did all the appetizers.  We also had beer, wine and coffee.  Have fun!
A tip:  put those one-use cameras on all the tables and tell people to feel free to snap shots of everyone, you will get a lot of good pictures that way.

[lucylu]

When we had our parents 50th, we went straight to the source of elegant food... Paula Deen. Any of her recipes from the cook book Paula and friends would work nicely.
Good Luck. This is a exhausting ride but well worth it.

[sollysmom]

:thinik: Do your parents like Cajun food?  You could do a Mardi Gras theme.  Gumbo, crawfish, etc.  You could buy color beads and hand them out as people come in with the right music playing in the background.  It's just a thought.  Anyway I know you will come up with something good.

Darcel

[Brekkesmom]

My parents' 50th was in a private room of a buffet-style restaurant, because my parents wanted to make sure everyone could get what they wanted to eat.  The only exception was dessert, which was a choice of hot peach cobbler with ice cream, or carrot cake - Dad's favorite, and Mom's favorite!  My parents' friends were from Mom's computer job, and Dad's friends were former teachers and buddies from his model railroad club - but all of them played with model trains (HO scale).  My brother-in-law is a tv newscaster - and I think Rich may have seen him on-air - and he does awesome impressions. So John was enlisted to do the after dinner entertainment - and we were rolling in the aisles!  Anyhow, my dad had carefully picked out some HO train cars and reasons why each and every person should have the one he was "gifting" them with.  Mom and Dad totally enjoyed this anniversary, and even though it wasn't elegant, it was what we did, because my sister and I were both too far away to put things together.

Please give your parents my best wishes - 50 years is quite the milestone!