25 Years Anniversary Party Theme - 25 Years into the Future
My husband, Neil, I have a lot of happy memories our lives together for the past twenty five years. When we mentioned to our kids we were thinking about having a party and if they had any ideas of what to do we were surprised to learn they had already started planning a party for us.

Sammy, Melanie and Eli got together and made a list of everyone we knew. They sent out invitations to about forty friends and relatives. The theme of the party was "What will Neil and Jill's 50th Anniversary be like?" The idea was for everyone write a prediction for what our life would be like in twenty five years. It sounded like a great idea.

I could tell the predictions were going to be good when friends and relatives kept calling to ask us questions, like "Didn't you once say you wanted to have a nose job?" or "When did you go grey?"

The party was held in a small banquet room at a hotel. A lovely a Sunday buffet brunch, was over two tables long. There was coffee, orange juice and Champagne to drink so I made myself a mimosa. The tables had futuristic looking centerpieces with lots of tiny toy spaceships, plastic aliens and futuristic toy cars. A poster sized photo of our wedding day hung on the wall, but at the time I saw it I didn't realize the podium set up was going to be used. Little did I know kids had planned for all the guests to read their predictions.

After everyone had mostly finished eating, Eli went to the podium to welcome everyone and said it was time to begin the reading of the predictions. Of course, Eli and the girls went first. They predicted that within the next ten years and Neil would be mostly grey and I would go back to selling Avon, like I did when they were little and one (though they all claimed it would be one of their siblings) would be married with a grandchild on the way.

Some of the predictions were very sentimental and almost made me cry. It was so nice to have friends who could express their wishes for our happiness. Most, were humorous though no matter how outrageous none seemed beyond all possibility. Well, all except the one about Neil winning a huge lottery jackpot and us moving to Fiji. Eli was took photos of our reactions to each of the speakers. After the readings were finished all the predictions, the papers were folded up and put into a printed envelope with our names embossed and the date on the back. "In case you forget when the twenty five years started.," Eli added. Now, that was funny!

The wait staff brought out a giant sheet cake with a caricature of Neil and me as George and Jane Jetson riding in their family vehicle. When I noticed we looked a little older in the caricature than we did now Eli told us the picture was made by a computer portrait artist who enhanced a photo of us with an age simulator. Neil and I thought the portrait was very creative, but I hoped my chin really wasn't going to sag like that in twenty-five years. While Neil and I ate cake and chatted with our friends and family I was overwhelmed by the tremendous feeling of love we had for for each other as well as that from those around us. I was glad my kids threw such a great party; it was a perfect way to celebrate a quarter of a century of marriage.