Naturally you will use search engines to find ways to improve the 60th birthday party you’re planning, and you’ll spend time on the Over the Hill family of websites for the greatest ideas. (See bottom of page.) But why not use the Internet itself to make your party a success?
Create a Facebook page for the occasion. Create whatever Over the Hill theme makes sense for your guest of honor. Slide along the scale from insulting to congratulatory as needed.
Get people to “Like” your page and encourage them to make a comment or two. Let non-Facebookers know that you’re not looking for an ongoing commitment to social media. Just sign up, do your thing, and get back out. Then check into the page during the party and let the guest of honor enjoy.
Create a Tumblr website page and/or a Flickr account, then post a batch of photos of your guest of honor. Not all of them need to be flattering. For even more fun, update with new photos during the party.
Buy a crazy domain name and a year of hosting, then build a fast 60th birthday website. The can be something like: Sally is so old she thinks the internet is something you use to catch fish.com. (without the blank spaces) You can have up to 63 characters for the domain name so go nuts. Then turn the whole mess over to Sally and she can do whatever she wants with the site.
Just remember that whatever you post on the internet lasts forever, so give your victim a break and don’t post anything that will cause lasting harm or embarrassment. A good joke that costs someone his job isn’t really that funny.
Put a Photo on Any Item
Don’t want to post anything on the internet but still looking for some good modern ideas? Use the Web to create photo items that will make everyone laugh and that can become part of the party theme and decorations.
First, assemble some really great pictures of your guest of honor. By great, we mean that one look at the photo makes you smile, if not laugh right out loud.
Now think of ways to use one or more of the best photos on these items:
Mugs
Glasses
Water bottles
Coasters
Decorative plates
Photo books
Calendars
Blankets & throws
Pillows & pillowcases
T shirts
Sweatshirts
Boxers
Necktie
Serving tray
Placemat
Clipboard
Wall décor
Notecard sets
Stationery paper cards
Photo sculptures
or just about anything else that can hold an image.
There’s lots of choices on where to get these products. We’ve had good luck with sites like zazzle.com and snapfish.com, so look into those if you’re not familiar with the process.
You will not be expected to be a computer genius to create a beer glass with the guest of honor’s picture on the side. But if they were not digital photos, they must be scanned. If you or your go-to techie doesn’t know how to do this, take the prints to almost any store that handles photos, which these days includes chain drugstores, supermarkets, scrapbook hobby stores, and a million other places.
Get as many people involved as possible and have them use different photos so that there’s an interesting mix of decorative items and gifts at the party. Quantity discounts aren’t going to make a big difference in price so go for variety. This can get expensive so encourage planning and self control to keep the fun flowing without things getting ridiculous. A king-size bedspread featuring the guest of honor’s bathing-suited body will not get used very often, so is it really worth $250?