After celebrating the milestone of the 25th anniversary, a couple may be stuck for ideas for the next anniversary milestone. Milestone anniversaries are always an opportunity to reconfirm romance and commitment and share family memories. With the use of traditional associations and some ingenuity, it is easy to create a 30th anniversary celebration that will be remembered by the couple, friends and family.

The 30th wedding anniversary is associated with pearl, a beautiful basis for a party decorating color scheme. This does not mean that you have to stick to pearl white, however. Tahitian black pearls, for example, are gray or black with a bluish, greenish, pinkish or violetish over-tone, offering a range of color possibilities. Alternatively, combine pearl white with the whitish-pink of pink pearl or with the delicate iridescent colors of mother of pearl. Any of these color choices would look lovely with colorful bouquets of sweet peas, the flower associated with the 30th anniversary, in a combination of pastels and more vivid hues for “pop.”

Since pearls hail from the ocean, consider making the ocean the theme of your 30th anniversary party. Hold the party outdoors with patio lanterns, balloons and streamers in your chosen colors and use sea shells and colored sand from the craft store as additional table decorations. Be sure to include some oyster shells. As for food, serve up a variety of oyster dishes along with other seafood. Oyster dishes, soups and appetizers range from oysters on the half shell to oysters in champagne sauce, oyster fritters, oyster stew and Cajun oysters, among many other recipes. Since oysters have a reputation as an aphrodisiac, they're the perfect romantic food choice for an anniversary! If seafood is not your preference, have an “ocean boardwalk” theme for food instead. Create fun beach boardwalk food stations and serve hamburgers, chicken sandwiches and fries. The boardwalk theme can also feature carnival games, like bean-bag toss, tin can knock-down or even a dunk tank, that will be fun for adults and children present alike.

An anniversary party is not complete without time spent to share and reflect on memories. If you're holding a 30th anniversary party for someone else, collaborate with the guests on putting together a 30-page scrapbook with each page devoted to a favorite thing or memory about the couple. Keep the focus on their married life together. Present the scrapbook to them at the party, where guests can elaborate on their contributions. If you are holding your own 30th anniversary party, you can adapt the “30 things” idea to your situation. You and your spouse can each come up with a list of 30 things you love about each other or your favorite memories of each other to share with each other for the first time, as well as the guests, at the party. Alternatively, you could collaborate with each other on a list of romantic things you want to do together during the next 30 years as a way to spur you on in your relationship goals. Just make sure the list is appropriate to present at the party!