30, BUT STILL HOT!   We just had a really great party for my husband's 30th birthday. I decided to share the details because I had a hard time finding fresh ideas. 30 isn't really "over the hill" yet (we'll do that party in 10 or 20 years), so I wanted a more positive theme. Since he's a big fan of spicy food I decided on "30, but still HOT!". Here's the details:

Invitations-I used bright yellow card stock mounted on bright red. I used the computer to print "Jake's turning 30, come celebrate at a spicy-hot party, we'll be chippin', dippin', and margarita sippin', cause he's 30, but still hot!" I bought some die cut chili peppers and covered them in red giltter to embellish the invitatons, and they turned out very cute.

Decorations- The party was outside, so I started by hanging our red christmas lights along the roof. I also found chili pepper lights for the windows and bushes.  I made 2 huge banners on yellow butcher paper that read "30, but still hot!", and I also made several signs that just had the number 30 on them. I decorated the signs and banners with more die cuts, and large foil chili peppers.  I hung a huge chili pepper pinata from the basketball hoop, and I found chili pepper citronella torches to place aroung the yard. I set up 2 banquet tables, and 2 card tables all of them were covered in red table cloths, and sprinkled with chili pepper confetti.  For the food tables, I found chili pepper plates and napkins, picks, straws and stirrers.  I also hung tissue paper chili peppers from the roof and trees.

Food-  Of course everything was hot and spicy. We decided on appetizers and snacks instead of dinner, and served jalapeno poppers, taquitos, hot buffalo wings, peppers, pepper jack cheese, chips and salsa, guacamole, and several other spicy dips. I also had dishes of candy like hot lips, hot tamales, and cinnamon bears.

Drinks-  We had soda, water, margaritas and lots of beer, but to go with the theme we had Hot Damn shots, Flaming Dr. Peppers, red jell-o shots, and extra spicy bloody marys.

Games & Activites- I had a huge jar of hot tamales so guests could guess how many were in the jar.  The winner got to have the jar of candy.  I let the birthday guy break open his pinata, and it was filled with "hot" candy like atomic fire balls, cinnamon toothpicks, cinnamon gum and breath mints.  I was a bit worried about the guests thinking a pinata was too childish, but they loved it. I also had a chili pepper quiz to see who knew the most. The winner got a huge bottle of tabasco sauce. Everybody had a great time, and commented on how different everything was from the usual "over the hill" party.