When my husband turned 60, my adult children and I threw him a Surprise Tribute Birthday Party.  The theme was 60 Years of Memories" and because he had adopted my children from a previous marriage they wanted it to be a public tribute to all he had sacrificed to help raise them. We rented the ballroom of a local hotel and decorated with a banner that read "It happened 60 years ago Happy Birthday Mark aka Dad aka PopPop" and silver and blue balloons covered the ceiling. The centerpieces on each table were blue and silver fabic cut in a triangle and vases half full of blue and silver pebbles with an unscented candle in the center at the corner of each piece of fabric we also place a votive unscented candle.  As the night wore on the candles flickered making the room very magical.  Favors were small clear bags with "Hershey's Kisses" and chocolate "Treasures" tied with ribbons from www.wrapwithus.com that were printed on one side with "Mark's 60th Birthday and the date on the other. Very lovely. We created a program of the Celebration Events on the front we printed 3 pictures one from childhood one from teen years and one current. On the inside left was a short autobiography on the inside right were the "Celebration Events and on the back a Thank You to everyone for coming and making a donation.  Also special thank you's to those who had helped out in a special way.  While everyone waited for the birthday boy to arrive we served appetizers of fresh vegetables and fruit, cheese and cold meats in cubes and a party mix.  Drinks were bottled water, lemonade, coffee and various soda pop. A friend of ours who is a talented artist drew a large charcoal drawing, from a photo, and we had that displayed on an easel. When he arrived a big surprise" was yelled by all the the DJ played "For He's A Jolly Good Fellow"...He was completly surprised.  He took a few moments to go from table to table to greet everyone personally and to recover from the shock. His best friend opened the festivities with a blessing over the food which was served buffet style. We took the opportunity to honor his parents who had given him life and had been married for 61 years.  We hired a singer to sing them a special song "Thanks Again" and after a short tribute speech he sang the song it was very touching. On the invitation we had put "Cards are welcome but in lieu of gifts a generous tax deductible gift to "his favorite charity" was requested. Over $1000.00 was donated in honor of his birthday! We also showed a video slideshow set to music with photos of his life from birth to current.  It was the hit of the party as we all laughed at him in his teen years and saw him become a man before our eyes. It included photos of each of our children and grandchildren.  I read a prepared autobiography entitled "Mark's Journey" and each of our adult children had prepared a tribute speech that had everyone in tears. Our daughters husband who is a talented saxaphone player did a sax solo of his favorite hymn "It is Well with my Soul." A friend from our church who has a bakery had baked 60 cupcakes and a medium size Birthday cake that read "Happy 60th Mark...It's all easy flying from here on out.  (My husband is a pilot.)  As people left for the night we were told it was the best birthday celebration they had ever been to and that our family was a real testimony of love.    "