Perfect Retirement Party Themes & Execution Ideas

Picking a theme for your parent's retirement party is a great way to start the planning process. Parties with themes are much more cohesive looking and make sorting out the details an easier task. Here are some of our favorite retirement theme parties along with the little details that make them fun:The Office

Give your parents one last memory of the working life by throwing an office themed retirement party:

• Send out "memo" invitations in a typewriter font to all their friends
• Ask guests to arrive dressed in "business casual" attire
• Wrap the vases of floral arrangements in printed out emails, post-its and memos
• Instead of a guest sign in book, have "Retirement Memo" letterhead printed up. Print out a stack to leave on a table with an "Inbox" that they can leave their memos to your parents.
• Tape a piece of paper to the wall above the stack of retirement memos that reads, "Please Sign In." After the party, create a scrapbook with kind words written by their friends and family.
  
• Stack filled file folders, notebooks and books on top of each other and rest appetizer plates on the top. Create an entire table with office stacks' of varying heights, and top each with a different plate of foods for guests to nibble on. It will make the food table visually interesting and keeps with the party's theme.
• Serve cocktails in coffee mugs instead of glasses.

The Golden Years

Celebrate your parent's entrance into the Golden Years with a gilded retirement party.

• Send out invitations printed on gold cardstock to set the theme.
• Ask guests to come to the party in cocktail attire
• Create an upscale, lavish feel for the evening with lots of candlelight throughout your home, tall candelabras, and minimal artificial light.
  
• Enlarge a print of a favorite picture of your parents, and have it mounted on a non-acid gold matte. Ask guests to sign retirement well wishes on the matte around the picture, and frame it for your parents after the party. Alternately, mount the picture on a black matte and give guests a thin gold paint pen to sign their well wishes.
  
• Create floral arrangements with yellow and cream roses. 1-800-Flowers sells a beautiful bouquet of 36 Fair Trade Certified Yellow and Orange roses for only $39.99.
  
• Order edible gold flakes to top their favorite cake with (alternately, you can also use gold dragees), and have the baker write "Cheers to the Golden Years" on top in gold frosting.
  
• Serve Golden Delicious cocktails made with Goldschlager, a clear cinnamon liquer with real floating flakes of gold. See the Drink Recipe section for details.

The Good Life

Instead of looking back at old memories (as with the office theme party), celebrate your parents' retirement by focusing on the new activities they'll fill their lives with.

• Theme the party around your parents' favorite activities - traveling, golf, boating, gardening, etc. Build the rest of the party around the theme, including invitations.
  
• Create a guestbook based off your theme where guests can write their well wishes for the retirees. For example, a gardening themed retirement party would be well suited for a guestbook crafted from pressed flowers or leaves. Using floral tape and a silk flower mounted atop the pen, create blooming pens for guests to write wishes with. Place the pens in a small vase for an impromptu floral arrangement.
  
• Find or decorate a cake in the party's theme - golf party cakes can feature a tee set in the frosting with a real golf ball resting on top, and a frosting landscape of grass complete with a hole and flag.