55th Birthday Party Ideas

55 and feeling alive? Go big and celebrate with our fun 55th birthday party ideas! Check out some of the best 55th birthday party ideas below.

1. Cooking Class Party
   Love to cook and want to learn some new tricks? Take the party to the kitchen! For an at-home celebration, hire a chef to come and teach the group a new recipe. See if you can customize it to the birthday boy or girl’s liking— Mexican? Asian? Greek? It all sounds delicious! Give everyone a chefs hat as they arrive and set them up with a seat around the kitchen island to watch the lesson. Afterward, have everyone feast on their new favorite meal. Keep the cake simple by going “naked”— serve a cake with whipped frosting and preserves in the middle. Or, take the party to a favorite restaurant or cooking studio. As a gift to the guest of honor, get a special recipe card box and have each guest bring their favorite recipe to contribute. For everyone else, ask the chef ahead of time for the recipe that will be cooked and print it on a nice card stock for everyone to take home to add to their own recipe box!

2. 50s Party
   Honor your 50s with a retro 1950s fete! Have everyone dress in their 50s best— skirts, bold lipstick, hats, you name it! Transform your space into a 50s diner. Hang a blue and white menu with items like hamburgers and hot dogs for 15 cents. Behind the table, hang records, music notes, and cars. Use a pink tablecloth with a black and white checkered runner. Serve diner fare like burgers, fries, root beer floats, and banana splits! Bake cupcakes in red and white striped paper cups and top them off with blue icing and a cherry. Create a “soda” bar with different liquors, sodas, juices, and garnishes, and don’t forget the old-fashioned Coke cups and striped straws! Rent a vintage juke box and set up a dance floor with black and white tiles. For extra fun, set up a 50s photo booth with props like big glasses, wigs, and diner hats!

3. Wine Tasting Party
   Kick back and celebrate 55 with some vino. If you live in an area with wineries, get a group together for a day out on the vines. Rent a party bus so no one has to worry about driving home after the festivities. See if there are group rates for tasting rooms, or if you can get a tour rate by visiting more than one winery in the area. After your taste some wines, purchase a bottle or two and enjoy a picnic! Bring picnic blankets and a basket full of goodies that pair well with white or red— cheese, charcuterie, fruit, and veggies. Don’t forget a baguette and some preserves! Instead of a birthday cake, bring cupcakes with a flavor based on the birthday boy or girl’s wine preference. For red drinkers, bring dark chocolate cupcakes with chocolate fudge frosting and a raspberry filling. For white drinkers, bring lemon cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. Purchase a bottle of wine and have everyone sign their name and a birthday message for the guest of honor to enjoy at home.

4. Mexican Fiesta Party
   Ole! Celebrate 55 with some Mexican flare. Give everyone a sombrero as they arrive. Decorate with bright streamers and use an aztec print tablecloth. Get green balloons and use green markers to draw on spikes to look like cacti. Set up a tasty taco bar with soft and hard shells and tons of toppings— don’t forget the guac! Make individual seven layer dip cups and serve with tortilla chips. Refresh with green Kool-Aid (“cactus juice”) and pitchers of margaritas and sangria! Instead of a traditional birthday cake, get a tres leches sheet cake. Accompany it with churros and Mexican hot chocolate cookies. Play a classic but festive party game— pin the tail on the donkey! Hire a mariachi band and have everyone hit the dance floor. End with a piñata shaped like a donkey or taco! Send everyone home with a jar of gourmet salsa. Taco ’bout a party!

5. Game Night Party
   Feeling like some friendly competition? Throw this fantastic game night bash! Keep the group small so everyone can get in on the fun. Ask guests to bring a game they love to play and don’t mind giving away. Hang a “Game on!” sign near the front door. For a tablecloth, use a twister mat, and get red, yellow, blue, and green serving platters. Serve easy to eat snacks like pigs in a blanket, nachos, and sliders. Arrange brownie squares into dominos and use white icing to draw on their lines and dots. Bake dark chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting and use white chocolate Scrabble pieces to spell out “YUM” on the top of each. Set up some fun bean bag chairs or cushions around the game area so everyone can sit and play through as many rounds as they like! For a guest book to remember the special night, have everyone write their name and a happy birthday message on Jenga pieces. Instead of favors, have everyone swap the game they brought with someone else so they can take home a new favorite!

6. Paris Party
   Does the 55 year old in your life love Paris? Bring the city of lights to you with this cosmopolitan celebration! Decorate with paper cutouts of the Eiffel Tower or Arc de Triomphe. Create a treat table with a light gray tablecloth, a ruffled pink cake with an Eiffel Tower on top, and pink pedestals with macarons and eclairs. Serve Parisian food like ham and cheese on baguettes, crepes, and croissants! Set up a Parisian photo booth with the city in the background and give everyone a beret. Use props like mustaches on sticks, sunglasses, and boas. Send everyone home with a bag of French kisses (hershey kisses in pink foil). Everyone will say merci beaucoup!

7. Karaoke Party
   Does the birthday boy or girl have a solid set of pipes? A karaoke party is sure to hit a high note! Create a tablescape with a black tablecloth, paper stars, and glitter confetti. Forgo the cake for microphone cake cones! Bake chocolate cupcakes in a bright colored cake cone. Frost them with chocolate frosting and add silver sprinkles on top. Don’t forget rock candy and guitar-shaped sugar cookies! For the karaoke stage, use metallic hanging garland to create a backdrop. Use a black roll of paper to create the stage and a small runway. Have a box of rockstar accessories by the stage with feather boas, sunglasses, and wigs. Let everyone take a turn singing their favorite hit! If you’d rather take the party out, make a reservation for stage time at your favorite karaoke bar and bring the cake and props with you! As favors, give out iTunes gift cards so they can download some music and keep the party going at home.

8. Art Party
   Feeling artsy? Bring the birthday celebration to a paint night! Between local art studios and restaurants that host, you’re sure to find a local paint night! Your guests that are over 21 can bring their own wine to enjoy as they paint! Pass favors out at the beginning so everyone can use them during the party— custom paint aprons with the birthday boy or girl’s name on them! Keep the group small enough so that you can sit together and talk while you create your masterpiece! See if the location has a small area that you can use after you’re done painting— ask ahead of time if you can rent it out or borrow the space. Bring a colorful fruit and veggie platter along with Rice Krispy paint brushes— put a rectangle Rice Krispy treat on a popsicle stick, and dip the tip in different colored icings to look like paint! Since cupcakes are easier to transport, bake vanilla and chocolate cupcakes and frost them with 5 or 6 different colors from the color wheel for an artsy treat.

9. Magic Party
   Abracadabra! A little magic will make you feel like a kid again. When each magicial guest arrives, hand out top hats and magic wands (plastic versions can be found at most party stores). Get a rabbit in a hat birthday cake and set up a treat table with chocolate dipped pretzel wands or even Trix cereal! Hire a magician to come put on a show for the group. Set up a stage in an area where everyone can fit, and use a black sheet to set a stage backdrop. After the show, play a tricky game of rabbit toss. Buy 3 beanbag rabbits, and set up upside down top hats to throw them into. If you’d rather splurge, get tickets to a magic show nearby or fly a small group to Vegas and see a show of the masters at work! That’s one way to celebrate 55 in style!

10. Backyard Rodeo Party
    Yeehaw! This 55th rodeo bash is no bull. Tell everyone to arrive in cowboy and cowgirl attire— jeans, boots, plaid shirts, and cowboy hats! Transform your backyard into a barnyard by setting up hay bales around the perimeter as seats, along with tables dressed in red checker print tablecloths. Get a cow-print cake and set up a table of treats with pigs in a blanket (lil hot doggies), pulled pork sliders, and wagon wheel pasta salad. Stack Rice Krispy treats to look like mini hay bales and cut brownies into circles like cow pies! Serve “cactus juice” margaritas in pitchers along with moonshine sangria punch. Set up an outlaw photo booth with a wanted poster that everyone can stick their head into to take a shot. Set up a game of horseshoes along with an apple bobbing station! Go big and rent a mechanical bull to place in the middle of the party— but don’t forget safety measures like a padded platform! See who can tame the bull best at this 55th birthday bash.