By Patricia Danflous
You are planning a celebration. Maybe it’s a party for your child’s first birthday, a wedding for your oldest daughter or a 50th wedding anniversary for your parents. Perhaps you just want to congratulate yourself on achieving a business milestone. Whatever the occasion, it’s a sound bet that cake (and ice cream) is at the top of your to-do list.
Most people celebrate with food as a significant focal point, and what could be more appealing than a five-tiered wedding cake with inch-thick, buttercream icing? However, there are alternatives to traditional celebrations that are more fun, healthier and may help you live long enough to celebrate for years to come.
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Try these tips for happy, healthy celebrations, and use your imagination to expand the list:
- Spend a day at the spa beginning with a relaxing massage.
- Invite your friends to an exercise party. Consider hiring a DJ to play invigorating music. Set up a make-your-own smoothie bar with a wide variety of fresh fruits and vegetables.
- Take your child, and a few friends, on a trip to the Zoo to celebrate his or her birthday.
- Organize a family scavenger hunt to recognize a milestone wedding anniversary. Create clues and items from places, events and memories associated with the honored couple.
- Celebrate your own birthday by scheduling a mammogram, skin-cancer screening or that consultation with a nutritionist you have been thinking about.
- Host a garden party that includes planting a tree or flowering bushes. Send your guests home with fresh herb cuttings or a selection of seeds to start a vegetable garden.
- Volunteer for the day or a few hours at a local non-profit organization. Contact the United Way for suggestions if necessary.
- Invite your friends to join you for an educational experience. Find a crafts class, painting workshop or ask an area car-repair shop to provide instructions on how to change a tire.
- Host a video workshop party. Ask one of your video or YouTube-savvy friends or children to provide a brief tutorial. Invite each guest to make their own video highlighting favorite memories or demonstrating a favorite exercise routine.
- Have a glass of red wine and relax.