My husband turned 40, and we kicked off the fall with a day full of golf, time spent with his lifelong friends, an epic barbecue, and a hunting-themed birthday party surrounded by family. It was such a fun and meaningful way to celebrate this milestone with the people who have been part of his life for decades. Here’s how we pulled it all together!
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🎉 Shop My 40th Birthday Party Ideas & Decorations
I’ve rounded up all of my favorite party supplies and decorations from this celebration in one easy-to-shop Amazon Idea List!
A Day of Golf With His Lifelong Friends
To kick off my husband’s 40th birthday, I had him plan a tee time with all of his closest friends. Most of these guys have known each other since kindergarten or first grade, while the others have been part of his life for at least a decade or more. They’ve grown up together, celebrated countless milestones together, and now many of them are raising their own families alongside each other.
So, a day of golf with his closest buddies was the perfect way to start his birthday.
And, if I’m being honest, it also served another very important purpose: getting my husband out of the house so I could transform our home into the ultimate hunting-themed 40th birthday party! 😂
While he was out golfing, I was home getting everything ready for the evening celebration. And by the time he came home, our house had been completely transformed. 🦌🎉
The Hunting-Themed 40th Birthday Party
For my husband’s 40th birthday, I wanted a party that felt personal and reflected his love of hunting and the outdoors. I went with a rustic hunting theme and a color palette of forest green, olive, brown, black, cream, and white. I carried those colors and the hunting theme throughout the party with personalized details that made the celebration feel completely his.
Balloon Arches & Personalized Birthday Signs
I ordered these balloon arch kits from Amazon and, because one clearly wasn’t enough, I got three of them! 😂 They were the perfect way to carry the hunting theme and color palette throughout the party.
Fun fact: I actually used these same balloon kits for my son’s [One Lucky Duck Birthday Party] last year, and they turned out so well that I knew I wanted to use them again for this party.
I love finding party supplies that can be reused for completely different celebrations!
We had one balloon arch outside on the deck, another in the entryway, and the third over the cake and cupcake display. I paired each arch with a personalized birthday sign. The first sign, which welcomed guests on the deck, was one I ordered from Amazon, while I hand-painted the other two signs myself. I loved mixing in a few purchased pieces with handmade details to make the party feel more personal.
Photos Throughout the Party
Photos were another big part of the party, because the entire theme was really all about Mike. Along with the hunting décor, I wanted to have photos of him throughout the different stages of his life—growing up, with family, and with all of the friends and loved ones who have been part of his story over the years.
I had a photo display set up on the entryway table, which was such a fun way for everyone to look back at some of my favorite memories of him.
And that brings me to my favorite photo display of the entire party: the cake and cupcake table. ❤️
The Epic Cupcake Display
This was hands-down the highlight of the party and everyone’s favorite decoration—and it was probably one of the cheapest! 😂 All it took was a little DIY project and some of my favorite photos of my husband over the years.
I printed photos of Mike on cardstock, cut them out, and attached toothpicks to the back with a dab of hot glue.
I made them in advance a couple of weeks before the party, so I could work on them a little at a time. Honestly, I just put on one of my favorite Netflix shows after the kids went to bed and made a whole collection of these little photo cupcake toppers.
I loved using photos from all different stages of his life, and they made the cupcake table feel so personal and completely centered around him. Stay tuned—I’m sharing a step-by-step tutorial on exactly how I made these DIY photo cupcake toppers later this week! I’ll link it here once it’s live so you can make them for your own celebration.
For the cake display, we used a few pieces of firewood from our own woodpile as rustic cake stands. They were the perfect finishing touch for the hunting theme and made the entire dessert table feel like it belonged at an outdoor celebration.
Supplies to Make the DIY Photo Cupcake Toppers:
A Simple Party Budget Hack: Make the Cake Yourself
One of my favorite ways to save money when we’re hosting a party is to make our own cake. Between food, drinks, decorations, and everything else that goes into a big celebration, party costs can add up really quickly.
We usually just make a boxed cake and use a basic piping kit to decorate it ourselves. Is it going to look like a professionally decorated bakery cake? Probably not! 😂 But honestly, it tastes great, looks cute, and saves a surprising amount of money.
Our biggest party-budget tip: spend your money on the details that matter most to you and save where you can. For this party, those DIY photo cupcake toppers ended up being one of the most memorable details—and they cost next to nothing.
Our Indoor-Outdoor Birthday Party Setup
We were lucky enough to have beautiful weather, so we made the most of our space and turned the party into an indoor-outdoor celebration. Guests could mingle inside the house or head outside onto our deck, where we had several long tables set up for dinner.
I kept the table décor simple and rustic to go along with the hunting theme.
We used wood log slices as the base for each centerpiece, then added a candle, a photo of Mike, and a deer shed antler. The combination of the natural wood, greenery, candles, and personal photos made the cutest little table displays.
I loved how everything felt rustic and outdoorsy without being overdone. It was the perfect setup for a fall birthday dinner with family and friends.
Supplies for the Outdoor Table Setup
Party Hack: Shop Your Own Home!
Before buying more decorations, look around your house for things you can repurpose! For this party, we used wood from our property and deer sheds we already had for the centerpieces. I’ve done the same thing for kids’ parties—using my daughter’s Gabby’s Dollhouse toys as décor or a pretty pink chair as the birthday girl’s special seat for cake and presents.
Get creative with what you already own—it’s an easy way to make a party feel personal while saving money!
Don’t have these things lying around? No problem! I found some similar rustic wood and antler-style decorations on Amazon if you want to recreate the same look for your own party:
We Let Someone Else Handle the Food
Normally, my husband is the griller and cook in our family. He’s an amazing cook and usually loves being in charge of the food, but there was absolutely no way I was making him cook on his 40th birthday! 😂
So instead, our family chipped in and we had an incredible barbecue catered by Outlaw Barbecue in Spokane, Washington.
We even paid a little extra to have everything delivered to our home in the country, and it was so worth it. They arrived with everything packed securely in sturdy tins to keep the food warm, double-packed and completely organized. They brought it all inside, set everything up for us, and even included labels so everyone knew exactly what was what.
It made hosting so easy. We got to enjoy really good food, drinks, and time with our family and friends instead of worrying about cooking or keeping everything organized.
Party Hack: If your budget allows, catering can be one of the best ways to make hosting a big celebration easier. Sometimes it’s worth paying a little more to simply enjoy your own party!
The Whiskey Bar
For most of our parties, we keep the drinks pretty simple with beer, wine, soda, and sparkling water. But for my husband’s 40th birthday, I wanted to do something a little more special. Since it was a party filled with his closest guy friends, I decided to set up a whiskey bar! 🥃
I kept the setup simple but made it feel really fun and personalized. I used craft paper as the base of the drink station, which gave me a place to write little instructions for guests as they made their drinks. I had everything laid out in order so people could easily grab what they needed.
Guests could start by grabbing a drink and ice, then choose their whiskey and add their favorite garnishes. We had lemon, lime, and orange wedges available, along with sodas on ice that could be used as mixers.
I also added a photo of my husband to the bar setup along with some fun signs and gold-rimmed plastic glasses. It ended up being such a fun little feature of the party!
Whiskey Bar Amazon Finds
A few of the pieces that helped me create the look:
- Light-Up B-A-R Sign
- “Aged to Perfection” Sign
- Gold-Rimmed Plastic Glasses
- Ice Cooler/Bin
- Metal Beverage Tubs
Tip: I love setting up drink stations this way because guests can serve themselves, which means you don’t have to spend the entire party refilling drinks. Everything was right there and easy to find, so everyone could grab a drink, add their favorite mixer or garnish, and get back to enjoying the party.
🎉 Shop My 40th Birthday Party Ideas & Decorations
A Full-Circle Moment: Two Generations of Friends
One of my favorite parts of the entire evening was seeing two generations of friendships together in one place.
Most of Mike’s closest friends have known him since kindergarten or first grade. They grew up together, made memories together, and somehow, all these years later, they’re still incredibly close. Now, many of them have families of their own, and watching all of our kids run around and play together just like their dads did when they were little was such a special, full-circle moment.
And watching them all play together on the property of the home we’ve dreamed of and built our life in made it even more special. Looking around and seeing our kids making memories together in a place that means so much to our family was one of those moments I know I’ll remember for a long time.
It’s pretty rare to have a group of people who have known each other since childhood and have remained such a close part of one another’s lives. Seeing that friendship continue into the next generation was something really special to witness—and definitely something worth celebrating. ❤️
Celebrating 40 Years
Mike’s 40th birthday was such a fun night filled with family, lifelong friends, good food, and so many memories. I’m incredibly grateful for all of the people who love and support him and for the opportunity to celebrate the amazing man he is.
If anyone deserves to be celebrated, it’s Mike. ❤️
It was the perfect way to kick off the fall and celebrate 40 incredible years!
🎉 Shop My 40th Birthday Party Ideas & Decorations
More Milestone Birthday Celebrations
If you enjoyed reading about Mike’s 40th birthday, check out some of the other milestone birthday celebrations I’ve thrown for the people I love! ❤️
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