When I read Crystal Light containers, I immediately thought of the "spooky treats" container made on the Papertrey web site. Perhaps you can adapt that idea to retirement for a centerpiece:
http://nicholeheady.typepad.com/capture_the_moment/ (scroll down some)
How many guests are you expecting? You could do wrapped Nuggets if there are a lot of guests coming.
An idea instead of asking questions is to have each person create a "memory sheet" of the person. Have the invites gone out yet? You could ask each person to bring a memory for the page (photo, etc.) At the end of the party, compile all the pages into an album for the guest of honor.
You could do party picks by gluing autumn leaves to toothpicks and using those for decorations on party platters or on the serving tables. You can make a centerpiece with larger leaves on bamboo sticks and put those inside a nice vase--pretty but not expensive.
Are you doing games? You could use the ask-a-question idea there. type a list of questions about the guest of honor and have guests try and answer them. Whoever gets the most correct gets a prize. Make sure there are a couple of funny or odd questions on there to generate conversations among guests! You could even stamp the sheets with the leaves too.
Can you tell I've thrown a few parties?
Retirement Party
