A sexy meal with your man followed by some carousing with some mates after.

Figure relatively low budget, relatively few people, late summer weather.

Get over it and start stressing about your 35th.

Don't worry about it. . it will pass. . .

Have a nice night, some friends over, drink some wine, enjoy. . .

There will be 40, 50, 60, 70, etc etc. . . you can stess about those. . .

*hug*

a cook together party with all the budget spent on wine!

please oh please have a theme for this party! theme parties are the best!

I'm with Mrs. Pants.

Possible themes:

Superhero. Everyone has to invent a superhero complete with powers and costume. (I once had a friend do this; he went as Broccoli Man, and had cheese-whiz nozzle nipples and a green felt suit with a big "B" on the chest.)

Tiny. Everything is tiny. Miniature corn, shorties of Oly, small t-shirts, Vienna sausages (for novelty only, do not eat), mini umbrellas...

Collage. Get a roll of brown craft paper, glue sticks, and scissors. Everyone brings magazines. Everyone contributes to a piece of art about their wishes for your 30th year.

Oh, I love Specklet's idea.

That DOES rock (the collage idea).

Supersize: Everything is an oversized novelty item.

70's 80's 90's theme.

(the age, not the decades - dress up like stereotypical "old people")

Focus your energy fretting about 33 instead, that's the year for getting crucified.

Man, I want to go back in time and do this for my 30th.

And I can't believe you're younger than me, occhiblu -- you always seem so...wise :D

33 1/3 is a great party time. . .

(this might be lost on anyone who has not bought a lot of vinyl)

What about a Hawaiian luau? Everyone wears tropical shirts/skirts, serve coconut drinks, and island music for dancing. Doesn't cost a lot, and can be loads of fun. Besides, 30 is the new 25, and it just keeps getting better.

I'm low on ideas this afternoon, but allow me to wish you a sincere happy birthday!

Nothing says "I celebrated in style" like incriminating photos. If occhiblu wants photos of said festivities, occhiblu only needs to ask. And maybe provide a few drinks.

(Although, I'm guessing that occhiblu will go with the quiet route.)

Hee. I love the idea of having my own photography. It's like "Occhiblu: The Photodocumentary."

I'm not actually stressed about turning 30, just about celebrating such event. Unless I'm just displacing it all onto the celebration...

Sigh.

Thank you all very much for your suggestions. I still have time to plan, so we'll see how it goes.

The best birthday plan ever - occhiblu and I go to Las Vegas and catch Steely Dan with Michael McDonald - was vetoed, so I'm sort of at a loss too.

(Well, it would've been the best for ME.)

OK, I take back what I said. First, as mudpuppie predicted, I start getting mail from the AARP. Now I'm getting three or four spams a day about cheap baby products.

I'm no longer OK with turning 30. I'll just stop here, thanks.

Throw a party. Throw a big huge ginormous party, the kind where the neighbors call the cops and there's permanent damage to the lawn. Invite everyone you have ever met. Invite the bagboy at the supermarket. Make flyers and put them up at bars. You think I'm kidding? I am not. I have been 30, and 40, and I did this, and it was good. My 30th happened in Patterson Park, in Baltimore: we had musicians, and jugglers, and general freaks, and a lot of small children. For my 40th there were 75 people here and we roasted an entire goat in a hole in my backyard. We called it a Cuba/Key West/Tropical party and I wore a floral sundress and ordered an inflateable palm tree and plastic glasses with flamingo stems from the Oriental Trading Company and it was brilliant. Just go ahead, plan it yourself, throw the blowout of the century and then you will always have it to look back on. Do it way the fuck up. The party anxiety will keep you from angsting about your age and then it will be over and it will be like, wow, I had no idea I could do something like that, and forever I will remember it. Hell, my 30th led me into a brief (and fairly successful) career as an event planner!

And you can do a huge party for about $100 - $150. Tell everyone to bring food, go to Costco or Sams & get 2 or 3 cases of beer and a box of wine, a couple giant bags of chips, a thing of salsa, some hotdogs and buns and voila, party. You can make a giant pasta salad that will feed like 20 people for about $10 and it looks like you tried; have a grill going and tons of hot dogs - you're cool. If you don't have a yard, rent a pavilion at the park. Tell everyone to Dress Up. Take pictures. Have fun.

go to dinner with friends who are paying for it, then get drunk and hang out somewhere, drinking more and talking about how weird it is to be so old already, and how the round birthdays are always the hardest. : >

Have friends over to your place but make them each bring something to eat and drink, like a potluck. That way you get the comfort of your home, good chow and no dish-duty or excessive public loudness. Or do the same at a nice quiet park somewhere.