OP here. I found a great photographer for an hour for $250 and all digital prints with 20 retouched. so I'm going to go with that.

Planned days have been a big hit with my parents a lot too. For instance- Ft. McHenry, then lunch, then Baltimore harbor. Or Gettysburg then a lunch. Or George C Marshall house in Leesburg then lunch. They like activities.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our 40th anniversary is next year and here's what I'd like. My 3 kids, spouses and grandchildren all live within an hour of us. I'd love nothing more than they all visit us one afternoon for a family cookout and we hire a professional photographer to shoot family and individual portraits. And I'd be happy to pay for it!

OP here. This is an awesome idea! I hadn't thought about a photographer... This would be great! Photographers around here are so expensive though. I just got pricing on a mini shoot for just my family and it was $250 for 20 minutes and 10 photos.

NP: This is exactly what my parents would want, too. Time and our presence! FWIW, we are all getting together for a camping trip to celebrate a similar milestone. Cheap and fun.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our 40th anniversary is next year and here's what I'd like. My 3 kids, spouses and grandchildren all live within an hour of us. I'd love nothing more than they all visit us one afternoon for a family cookout and we hire a professional photographer to shoot family and individual portraits. And I'd be happy to pay for it!

OP here. This is an awesome idea! I hadn't thought about a photographer... This would be great! Photographers around here are so expensive though. I just got pricing on a mini shoot for just my family and it was $250 for 20 minutes and 10 photos.

That's outrageous. There are tons of talented photographers out there with reasonable rates - ask for recs on one of the parenting forums.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our 40th anniversary is next year and here's what I'd like. My 3 kids, spouses and grandchildren all live within an hour of us. I'd love nothing more than they all visit us one afternoon for a family cookout and we hire a professional photographer to shoot family and individual portraits. And I'd be happy to pay for it!

OP here. This is an awesome idea! I hadn't thought about a photographer... This would be great! Photographers around here are so expensive though. I just got pricing on a mini shoot for just my family and it was $250 for 20 minutes and 10 photos.

Check out Washington Talent Agency - they have really good photographers... and their prices may be more affordable...

Anonymous wrote:Our 40th anniversary is next year and here's what I'd like. My 3 kids, spouses and grandchildren all live within an hour of us. I'd love nothing more than they all visit us one afternoon for a family cookout and we hire a professional photographer to shoot family and individual portraits. And I'd be happy to pay for it!

OP here. This is an awesome idea! I hadn't thought about a photographer... This would be great! Photographers around here are so expensive though. I just got pricing on a mini shoot for just my family and it was $250 for 20 minutes and 10 photos.

Our 40th anniversary is next year and here's what I'd like. My 3 kids, spouses and grandchildren all live within an hour of us. I'd love nothing more than they all visit us one afternoon for a family cookout and we hire a professional photographer to shoot family and individual portraits. And I'd be happy to pay for it!

What about a personal, but inexpensive, gift? Like having friends and family record greetings/share memories and compiling it into a video for your parents.

Anonymous wrote:Where do they live in relation to you?

They live in the DC area too. It's not my hometown.

Where do they live in relation to you?

It's my parent's 40th wedding anniversary in two months and I'm trying to come up with ideas. For my inlaws' anniversaries we have planned large 50 person BBQs to celebrate (we even recreated their wedding cake), but they live in their hometown and have many friends. My parents wouldn't want a huge party. They love trips and they love gifts. Problem is with the timing we couldn't take a large trip because we have an OOT wedding the weekend prior and an OOT graduation the weekend after. I also have an infant, money is short, but mostly I have zero annual leave due to my maternity leave.

What have you all done to celebrate large anniversaries?