The $100 Question: Tell April from Coal Creek Farm About Your 40th Birthday Plans To Win

It's 11 years away, but hopefully with some traveling & alone time with the husband who is still hot for me. Maybe?

My 40th was exactly what I wanted. A big party with all of my local friends at my house. Everyone brought a appetizer to share and the evening was filled with fun, food, friends, margaritas and music. We even had a pinata! I highly recommend going big on your 40th! Who doesn't like to be celebrated?

My birthday is on December 24th. Sooooo every year it's spent the same whether I'm 20, 40, or 90. With family....me cooking and cleaning and doing ALL my other Christmas time mommy duties. But when I turned 40 my unbelievabley sweet sister through me a surprise party on the 20th and I was completely surprised, TOTALLY caught off guard. It was AWESOME. Great food, all my friends and she even hired a piano player and a bartender to serve yummy fun drinks! So I did have a memorable 40th, thanks so my Sis!

It came. It went. And I have absolutely no idea what I did. But living on an island, I'm pretty sure it was simple, quiet and meaningful time spent alone. Or so that seems to be my answer to everything (I can't remember).

 One Friday night, I loaded up my life and headed out... ( http://isledance.blogspot.com )

I wanted a party at home and party at home I did. It was a lounge cocktail theme, people dressed up. We had a ball, and I was up till dawn - someting I hadn't done for a long time. Even better, my friends took my son home with them and brought him back late the next day.

Jen at Semantically driven ( http://www.semanticallydriven.com/ )

I want to relish forty and I will do it with a Private villa in Tuscany with my closest family and friends. I imagine enjoying the views, the food, and the wine.

Oh, and my friends are flying in my sister from upstate NY.

~Julie / extraordinarygirl1970.blogspot.com

Partay, baby!!! I'm celebrating the beginning of a new decade and a new chapter. It's all uphill from here!!!

~Julie / extraordinarygirl1970.blogspot.com

sandy vincent

I really don't remember what I did on my 40th birthday, that was 11 years ago....I'm sure it involved eating of some sort! Probably at Fazoli's - my son shares my birthday and we take turns picking where to eat on our birthday - we both like Fazoli's so that was probably it! Maybe involved brownies and ice cream too....

By then, I hope to be living in Washington State and I hope to have a HUGE party with my family surrounding me!

Hugs!

Angie

I think a day all to my self, including a good book a mani/pedi and laying in the sun by the pool sound great! Follow that up with a nice meal at my favorite place with my Husband and boys. Perfect day.

Stacey

I think a day all to my self, including a good book a mani/pedi and laying in the sun by the pool sound great! Follow that up with a nice meal at my favorite place with my Husband and boys. Perfect day.

Stacey

My thirty tenth birthday was yesterday!!! I unfortunately had to get a new drivers license (I was in & out of the DMV in 9 minutes with my new license) and I had to work so I celebrated with my husband on Saturday night. We broke out the wok & got some fresh shrimp & tuna steaks along with some veggies & rice. We had a candlelight dinner and watched a movie. We spent the entire day together on Saturday. I had to keep a crazy schedule yesterday so that I would not get "rolled" by my immature friends. My son Alex turned 18 2 days ago. NOW THAT makes me feel old!

I decided in my late 30's that I would quit waiting for someone to read my mind and began planning for my 40th birthday. Had a small family celebration with the kids and hubby. And then went out to a special dinner with 17 women friends. It was a blast. Hosted the apps. and drinks before dinner, then everyone chipped in for their meals. We had private room at a great restaurant and kept the waiter moving. After the dinner a few of us went dancing. Have decided to plan something special for the 45th, 50th, etc. It is to much fun.

I will be spending my 40th relaxing on the beach with my husband and daughter. Amazing!

Was supposed to be on vacation that day but ended up stuck in training at work ALL day--my coworkers were sweet and brought party food, however forgetting that I would be stuck in a class in another building and not able to enjoy it. After work, was my daughter's championship game of her summer league basketball team which my husband co-coached, so afterwards we went to eat (I believe at Wendy's--whoo-hoo!) with the other coach and family. I think my husband considered that to be my birthday celebration--that's how he thinks! My mom was always the one who made a big deal about birthdays and it was a tough one knowing it would be my last one with her--she passed away one month later. 41 wasn't much better--first year without Mom, painted my daughter's bedroom, had the house exterminated, went to DQ for lunch and on to another basketball game, but got Jason's Deli for dinner rather than Wendy's and hubby actually said "oh yeah, happy birthday". This year for my 42nd, I may just have to take matters into my own hands! LOL!

My sweet husband took me to Paris for my 40th. I was hugely pregnant, but we saw the sights, and on the actual day, we went to the top of the Eiffel Tower. It was a memorable birthday that I will re-create when I kick off my mid-life crisis at 47. Yes, I plan to live to at least 94, and I figure that if I control my crisis, it will be less of a shock to my family, and I can get through it easier. :o)

My husband planned a trip to my favorite beach with our closest friends and their families. There were a total of 10 kids running around like crazy around the house we rented. It was a wonderful experience and I had a photographer there to capture it so I can remember it always.

Katherine Stone Postpartum Progress http://postpartumprogress.typepad.com ( http://postpartumprogress.typepad.com/ )

I spent My 40th Birthday at dear friends wedding last summer - A Day to Remember! Read About it: http://michellehankins.wordpress.com/2009/07/18/a-...

I will spend my 40th in two years telling people I am celebrating my 39th. It used to be my 29th but I guess I'll need to be realistic. My daughter's teacher had to break it to her that I probably wasn't 29.

www.thehighlandviewpantry.blogspot.com ( http://www.thehighlandviewpantry.blogspot.com )

I watched "Gone With the Wind"! I do that every year on my birthday!

I threw a huge party for myself. I invited everyone that I knew - and it was a total blast.

I have been thinking about this for about 3 hours... I am having a really hard time remembering, so I'm thinking it was really forgettable.

I think that I went out to an Italian restaurant with several family members. I was married at the time, and I am quite sure that my (then) husband did not give me a gift, because he generally didn't give gifts.

So, I don't recall it being bad, I just don't really recall anything at all!

is nearly 10 years away. I'm guessing, though, that I'll spend it the way I've spent all of my birthdays. I rarely celebrate, beyond perhaps a dinner out with my husband. It's really just another day, past a certain age (like about 21).

No idea really what my life will be like 13 years from now. Hopefully, I will be surrounded by friends, family, and wine!

In Paris, eating copious amounts of cheese. And chocolate. And bacon.

40, humm....it's still a few years away, but it will be here before I know it. I would like to spend it with my hubby at a good restaurant.....some place where I don't have to cook!!!

Won't tell you how long ago I had the 40th but it was an awesome Birthday. Hubby and I went for a ride in the mountains- he came upon this meadow and a surprise party awaited me! Tons of friends and 3 girlfriends flew in from out of state! It was a wonderful way to turn 40!

Not there yet, but I hope to be on a beach somewhere warm!

I made no plans.

40 came and went, and life went on.

And then sneakily, crazily, a few weeks AFTER my actual birthday, I was surprised. My husband - who could NOT have done it without my sister's help - pulled off a major surprise party coup.

Catered, in a hotel banquet facility, with lots of my Internet friends there, and my BFF from grade school (he flew her in 'cause she couldn't afford the airfare). Purple roses, a chocolate fountain, carving station, sushi. And he even hired several friends of my older daughters to babysit up in one of the hotel suites. Oh, and the suite my husband and I stayed in - executive suite, sauna, bidet, full bar, beautiful view. My entire family was spending the night at the hotel - parents, siblings, spouses, nieces, nephews, my own kids. We all had a great breakfast the next morning, and went home.

It was the biggest thing I've ever seen, and for my 40th. It was pretty incredible. (He still won't tell me what it cost him. LOL)

JustLinda

fabulously imperfect Nothing to See Here... Just Linda ( http://justlinda.net )

Twitter @JustLindaSTL

I planned several months ahead and asked my boyfriend if we could have a catered party at his house - he had to work so a friend agreed to let me have it at his new house. I decided not to have it catered but rather scheduled some vacation time and planned menus and ordered cupcakes.

A month before the party my friend I checked with my friend who said he would let me know if Friday (my actual birthday) or Saturday worked better for him. I checked every week and finally told him two weeks out that I had to know one way or the other. He said that neither really worked and he'd forgotten to tell me.

So I sent off email invites to some friends and coworkers to join me for happy hour on Friday. I took the day off and got a massage and then drove back downtown to meet my few friends who could make it on such short notice for drinks and cupcakes. Since it was our regular hangout, the waitstaff comped all our appetizers!

I will spend it with my closest friends and family drinking champagne and bowling!

I'd like to go on a cruise with hubby, no kids when I turn 40.

I said earlier on your blog a big ol' party, but I think I've talked myself out of that and into a nice long girls only vacation! Took one when I was barely pregnant with my first kid and I'm sooo ready for another one!

I have a few more years to go before I hit the Big 4 - 0. I'm just guessing I'll celebrate it just as I do every other birthday. It'll come and it'll go. I completely ignore my birthday. I rather spend my time, money and energy on my family. They don't need to worry about a such a little birthday for dear old mom. Plus, I'll never really be 40. I've been 25 for years now.

I was unemployed and homeless on my 40th birthday! It wasn't quite as bad as it sounds - we had lived overseas for a few years and just moved back to the states so we took some time off to travel & visit friends and family for a few months.

I plan to have a portrait taken, in the buff of course. I may just stay that way all day.

I hope to spend my 40th birthday on an "adventure vacation", heading somewhere I've never been, where I preferably don't speak the language.
I would love to drink a little too much local brew and come home with a tapeworm of some sort.

More likely that I will go to the wine country for the day with a gaggle of my friends.

www.jennyalice.blogspot.com ( http://www.jennyalice.blogspot.com )
www.CanISitWithYou.org ( http://www.CanISitWithYou.org )

I planned ahead and decided the best way to celebrate my 40th would be to get out of town. I had 5 children, the youngest was 3, and I was sick and tired of being ignored on my birthday, Valentine's Day, and other special occasions. I refused to be around to let it happen again.
I took a plane from the midwest to Portland, Oregon and spent some time with my three aunties who spoiled me. Then I went to a cabin in the woods for a while to be by myself.
There was a huge freak blizzard at home that started when I left, so I also avoided all the headaches that come with long-term power outages. I made the right choice!

Mine is this December and the plan is to rent an RV and travel around the country for 3 weeks with my husband and our motorcycle. We've planned starting in L.A. through Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, to South Dakota. Not sure where we'll go after that.

Major blowout at our country house. Pulled pork (yes we make that here in NYC), all the trimmings, loads of great friends and a few coolers full of beer. Bonfire at night with wine and song. For me, it doesn't get much better than that.

When I turned 40 (that was a dozen of years ago) it was a ongoing process for a few months.

1 - got a tattoo.
2 - bought a snowmobile
3 - bought a GMC Truck.

I didn't like it. I didn't like it at all.

I intentionally flew low under the radar so that no one would be reminded that it was number 4-0. I'm still in denial.

Paula Lynn
http://paulalynnsbin.blogspot.com/

My sisters and hubby always do something embarrassing to me, you know like the singing happy birthday in a restaurant gig. So for my 40th I am secretly planning a "run away from home" cruise with my son who will be graduating high school that year. SURPRISE!

Crying. I had originally had BIG plans for my 40th birthday.

My 40th birthday was on a Saturday - I KNOW - the PERFECT day for a birthday celebration. We would celebrate with our boys on Friday night, and then my husband and I would leave Saturday morning for an overnight getaway.

A few weeks before, an announcement was made at church that there was a shortage of teachers in the preschool department. "What's that God? You really want us to teach a 4-year old class. Really? And my birthday weekend would be the 3rd class of the new session. Uh huh. And you want us in class and not on a birthday getaway. Oh....okay."

On to plan B - Dinner with friends Friday night and birthday celebration with the boys on Saturday afternoon. Okay - totally doable.

But wait, soccer season is upon us and our team is scheduled to practice when. Of course....Friday night. And the day of my birthday - first game of the season.

At that point, I just gave up any and all planning.

And if Momma don't plan it, don't nobody plan it. Which is why I found myself crying Saturday afternoon as I washed dishes. No grand birthday surprises...no dinner out. Just a (very lovely) birthday cake and dirty dishes.

(Note: for my husband's 40th one year later, I threw him a fabulous surprise party, just to show him how it's done. I have high hopes for my 45th next year.)

I got together with two close friends and visited coastal NC. We had a great time laughing about the past, and just enjoyed our break from husbands and kids. Such fun!

Although I might not bother waiting for 40 :)

The Circus is in town! ( http://www.threekidcircus.com ) Kid Vs. Produce ( http://www.kidvsproduce.com )

drinking champagne & eating cake :)