For Linda Rawlings, an extravaganza for dancers will be icing on her birthday cake

Rachel Howard, Special to The Chronicle

You'd expect a socialite to fete her 50th birthday with dinner and dancing, but former cookie magnate and professional dancer Linda Rawlings has decided to do that formula one better.

"I thought, 'How can I give myself a birthday present?,' " Rawlings said last week from Toronto, where she was attending a wedding. "I was ruminating on turning 50 and missing the Bay Area and the dance scene there." So last month Rawlings called haute event designer and former San Francisco Arts Commission President Stanlee Gatti, who was already planning her Saturday birthday bash, and asked him to pencil in a second event.