Trying to surprise hubs and his bff for their joint 40th bday – need suggestions ($-$$)

Hello neighbors, I am hoping you can give me some ideas for hosting a surprise party for my husband and his bestie as they traverse "Over-the-Hill". We live in Lafayette, LA and his friend moved a couple of years ago to the Richmond area. They have been lifelong best friends – born the same day – in the SAME hospital and us sneaky wives are trying to plan something special for their 40th! I am hoping to convince a majority of our friends here in Lafayette to surprise them both IN Houston labor day weekend (9/3-9/4). Our 1st idea was to rent the HMNS for a party room but it is both too expensive and they dont allow booze. We looked into some other museums (both these guys are major dorks with masters in history) but nothing was cheap enough. My next thought it to 1) either find an air bnb for a group of like 10-12 with a pool and we could have our own little house party OR 2) find a cool not very expensive restaurant with a private room and maybe a hotel near a fun spot like the galleria or downtown for us out of towners to stay at…again both guys are nerdy historians that like whiskey, tex-mex, and nautical crap.

TLDR; any non-high end spots to host a party and suggestions for fun overnight stay for guests. TIA!! 🙂