50th Birthday Celebration.....ideas anyone???

Ok I shall give the short & sweet of my detailed tale. 2 yrs ago my sis was hospitalized & nearly died. Frankly she's met w the Grim Reaper a few times in the past 2 yrs. She suffered several different ailments. Her kidneys failed & she endured dialysis. A blood clot broke free from her leg and settled in her lung. An infection in her blood put her thru daily transfusions in the hospital & once home another infection took her to the drs office daily for iv antibiotics. She went from a hefty 200 some odd lbs to the wispiest of waifs at a fragile 89. She's now a healthy 145. She also suffers from ADD, OCD & other odd phobias. She fears germs & refuses to venture into SF for fear of aids. She keeps to herself & doesn't have any friends to speak of. She's grateful to be here for her 50th & mentioned she could appreciate a "big blow out" celebration. What can I do to make this night memorable for her? No people for a big party. I can get about 10 family members to join us We're in Daly City

Because of her phobias, I'd limit her party to either her home or a home of one of your family members. Here's what I did for my mom's 60th surprise party...

Called up and sent custom invitations to EVERYONE she knew (even found old high-school friends) and invited them to a Broadway themed buffet style dinner party.

I hired this great pianist who knew every show tune ever written (I'm including a link to his Yelp review and contact information below) and told everyone to pick a song that reminded them of my mom and write a brief explanation why OR pick a showtune and write their own lyrics as a tribute (most were really raunchy roasts :-) to my mom.

We then had the pianist accompany everyone with their songs karaoke-style!

It was fabulous and my mom was really touched by everyone's effort. Instructing guests to do something special like this makes for a cohesive theme and really helps alleviate the fact that there's less people there than your sister might want.

We also made a 'guest book' available for people to write notes to her and later filled it with the lyrics people wrote / the songs they chose.

It worked for us--might work for you too!

Best of luck and your sister is in my thoughts :-)

For my grandmothers 70th we had a put together a slide show of pictures from all times in her life it was great! i think just showing how aware you are will be a great feeling for her!