My parents are just about 20 months from celebrating their 50th anniversary and would like to do something special. I figure anything involving multiple parties traveling or potential big $$$ from my sister and I will take time to coordinate and plan for.
I’m not sure how a large party would play out. My parents best friends are widows/ widowers so not sure if it would invite awkwardness and likewise an invitation to uncles and aunts would require air fare/ hotels so some might not show or could be an awkward invitation (I remember mixed feelings as an invite as best man to a Hawaiian wedding). Lastly, while I think my parents would welcome a nice gesture, they aren’t really the center of attention type people.
I’m thinking either a destination type vacation with my sister and all grandkids. We’ve all have only been together once since my 4.5 year old was born. I think getting everyone at a resort or something would be satisfying for them, while I realize I’d get a vacation too. The other option, would be sending them to Europe, Alaska or another major vacation.
Depends on their interests but I would go with everyone to Europe for a week and then have a multi city trip planned for them by themselves to Rome Paris etc. The “romantic” cities. I’d make sure they have a couple of romantic dinners precooked and prepaid etc.
We too considered a big party with their friends and family but then decided against it for several reasons, the biggest of which is that my parents don’t see their kids and grandkids very often and getting a weekend of dedicated time (with a fancy Saturday dinner and Sunday brunch thrown in) is what we decided would be best, followed by a week vacation for just them in Maine.
We did the family holiday thing with my parents last year when they both turned 70 and it was great. Them, my sister and I with spouses, and the 5 grandkids. Keeping numbers small meant we could do a pretty special holiday. Though instead of a hotel or resort we opted for renting out a big house with a pool and an old barn that was set up as a giant playroom for the kids (lego, board games, Playstation, table tennis, you name it) and then getting in a cook to prepare dinner most nights. It was great, very relaxed, my parents really appreciated it. We live in the UK and the holiday was in the south of France, so not exactly a big destination holiday, but my parents have already ticked off the big destinations they want to see, the treat was being able to spend time with the family in a really nice place where there was plenty nearby to cater for all tastes. Vineyards, cycling, kayaking, plenty of cultural/historic attractions, good local restaurants, markets, etc. Or just a really nice pool area and a big garden to hang out in back at the house.
I guess the key is finding a place your parents will enjoy but that still caters well for young kids. I know my parents (my dad in particular) would hate a big family resort - he has times when he finds the noise and mess of our kids stressful enough, being in a hotel full of other people’s kids would drive him nuts! But equally the kids (age range was 3 to 11) need plenty of activities and exercise or they go a bit stir crazy, so needed plenty of space and stuff to do.