Mothers Forum

As the song goes: "Life begins at forty, you wonder why you feel so naughty"....  I'm turning 40 in January, and have just been thinking about it lately.  Is life really better when you turn 40?!?!  ;-)  What did other Mums out there do to celebrate when they were 40?

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Kaz

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Well I'm only 5 days into my "early 40s" (as my kids put it) so not sure if life begins at 40 or not. School holidays began at 40 so maybe I need a few weeks to get back into the groove LOL!

Quite a few of my friends are turning 40 this year and having big parties. We couldn't afford to do that so I had a pot luck dinner at the house with friends and family. We cleared the family room, put up fairy lights, turned up the music, had lots of good food, a few tipples and boogied the night away. It was actually the best time I've had in ages - it was so relaxed and fun. I do feel a bit bad about having people bring their own food and drinks to my party (and they all gave me a very nice birthday present!) but I really couldn't have done it any other way financially.
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Julie, Kidspot

I'll be turning 40 near the middle of next year and had been thinking about it a lot this year. Then I found out I was going to be a nana in November and that has really taken over any concern of turning 40 :P!
 
I think I will be doing the same as Julie. It will also be my sons 18th birthday, so we will probably have a double celebration.
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Pip

My one year old had a theme party and so I thought, why not? So at 40 I had an ABBA dress up party. It was fun. My now two year old is mad on ABBA now.

I guess I have more confience now to just have fun.
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Never a dull moment

Oh yeah. Turned 40 already and didn't realise it until you asked that yes, life began then.  But more like a more mature, more wise, more stable, kind of thing for me. I've learned to let go of things that in the end won't really matter, make more time for those that do (like my kids -- decided I needed a part time job so I could be with them when they're home from school), have more one-on-one dates with the hubby (including more talk time, more intimate time), take better care of me (i.e., physical health, mental alertness, psychological well-being, spiritual direction).

As for celebrating it, I heard Mass with my family, had lunch with them afterward. In the evening, hubby and I treated our closest friends to a after dinner tea at a posh cafe.
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Well my 41st birthday was forgotten by my family so not off to a good start - but my friends showed me that they thought I was special - my family finally got into it.... better late than never right :)
The year after I turned 40 became a huge one for me as I created and now run my own business from home - I got my nose pierced and a tattoo - (midlife crisis???)
Here is to the rest of the 40's no matter what they bring... cos time doesn't stop for anyone!!!!! :)
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I wanted to do something fun that wasn't too much work for my 40th.  What I did was hire a big holiday home near the beach (my birthday is in December) & then invited all my family & friends to come and join us.  Those that wanted to stay over could at a price otherwise people could just come and go as they pleased throughout the day.  It was a bit of a trip as we had it in Foxton (I live in Wellington), but people didn't seem to mind travelling and they said it was great to get out of the city.  I had family come down from Auckland and it just made for a great day.  We had the house from Friday night (with just family there) and people were invited to come from 10am on the saturday.  We had a lovely weekend, families took their kids to the beach nearby, others just stayed and played around the house (there was a big back yard, plus table tennis table etc) and I just sat around talking and catching up with people throughout the day.  We had a bbq for dinner that night and people just headed off to bed when they were ready (the house slept 20 people).  The next morning those that were still there had breakfast together and then the kids went to the beach again.  Our check out time was 2pm so we had heaps of time to clean etc before it was time to leave.  I had lots of people thank me for the opportunity to have a wee holiday away that didn't cost much and enjoy themselves while celebrating with me.  It was just great and didn't cost too much either.
As for life after 40, well for me it all started over again as I fell pregnant just a month later and really my like has been upside down ever since but I am definately more mature to cope with things.  For me if you have young ones life doesn't start at 40 but if your children are starting to get older and you start to have more freedom then yes you do.  I don't think its an age thing myself.
Whatever you do make sure its what you want to do not what everyone else wants you to do, have fun and enjoy yourself
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Tracey F

@ TraceyF - that sounds like a good plan!
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Kaz