Help..25th Wedding Anniversary Ideas Needed

Hi Aarti!
Me (23) and my brothers(22,16,13,6) are also throwing our parents a surprise party for their 25th anniversary! My theme is a patriotic carnival theme. I wanted this to be a fun and casual atmosphere so I thought back to when they first met, at a local carnival. Ebay is a great source of finding supplies. I was able to get 5 boxes of Icicle lights on ebay for $20 to give a bit of elegance look to my carnival theme. I am making a faux canopy , as well, using lights and was able to find swag lights at Ebay! I was thrilled! Also, you can find MANY great items that can give you a perfect theme! (And its fairly inexpensive.) I`m not sure what your budget is or what you have in mind already....You can also order fun foods (its a carnival supply site) and is also another good party theme site. For food i`d keep it simple. Hotdogs/ Hamburgers, chips, punch, maybe potato salad, baked beans and cupcakes. If you check out your area see if there is a GFS store, they usually have quality bulk food for cheap, or check out Sam`s Club, Bj`s or Costco`s. (Some of these stores you do have to be a member of, but some offer one day passes) And, if you want music you dont have to break the budget for a DJ, just make your own CD`s and keep them as background music. Also you can get pictures into postersize for fairly cheap , which could be a good focal point/as well as a gift to them! I hope this info helps some!

Also, check out your local Dollar stores and Party supply stores. I try to make a round of these stores every 3 weeks or so (since February), and I have hit some fantastic deals. For instance, at a party store that had a clearance sale recently, I picked up a 25th Anniversary banner, silver cardboard decoration, and "bride" and "groom" plastic shotglasses on beaded necklaces for $6.50 total! We`ve also been buying some of the non-perishables (soda, chips, pretzels, etc) when they`ve gone on sale. Those 2/for sales are fantastic at grocery stores. Watch your local store fliers and you should be able to get some nice bargains.
Above all, don`t feel that you *have* to do this all on your own. My brother and I are also throwing a surprise party. We`ve recruited our aunt to help with some of the storage and cooking, friends of my brother`s for help setting up, my brother`s work for use of some long tables and chairs, and friends of mine for decorating help and supply spotting (when they`re shopping and see something, they call and find out if we need it - we just reimburse them). You can print invitations from your computer; Office Max stores are closing. If you have one in your area, you can get greeting card envelopes there for 50% off (or even more % off!) I`ve also learned that if you use the "bar code" feature on your MS Word when you`re printing addresses on envelopes, you can save a few pennies on mass mailing. Every penny helps.
Also, don`t feel that every little piece at the party has to reflect the "theme" - that is, not every plate has to say "25th Anniversary" or even be silver. Those things get expensive. Buy the "essentials" (plates, napkins, silverware) in bulk - why pay $4 for 25 silver forks when you can get 100 clear plastic forks for $1.00? Point is, you don`t have to buy everything the weekend before the party. Start picking up the things that won`t go bad whenever they go on sale or go down in price. You`ll save yourself some headaches later on (and there`s less of a chance of forgetting something crucial!) Hope this helps, good luck and feel free to contact me at any time!

It`s not cheap...Me(23) and My brother (21) are throughing a party in the backyard...Barb-Q style. My parents already know about it so it`s not a surprise...but they will spend the entire day at a day spa while we take care of all the details...We are going for casual, but are still planning on white table cloths w/ silver center pieces...Also I am in the middle of making a cd-rom slide show out of their old pictures then taking it some place that will add music and make it into a nice little film...sure to make my mom cry.