The absinthe that you can get nowadays is nothing like what the bohemians and artists in the early 1900's were drinking. If you want a nice experience with a quality absinthe order from
http://www.bestabsinthe.com. The two kinds that are available on that site that I believe to be the best are the Nouvelle-Orleans or the Absinthe Edouard. The gentlemen who distills it is a very intelligent and interesting chemist from New Orleans. Years ago he acquired a 100 year old bottle of original absinthe and siphoned it out little by little studying it for a long time trying to recreate the original recipe. After many years and long hard work he now has a distillery in Pontarlier, France. (where it was originally distilled in the early 1900's) I have traveled all over and tried many different absinthes and have heard every fable you can imagine about the subject. Ted Breaux (the gentlemen whom I am speaking about) is definitely a well respected person within the community and is very knowlegable on the subject. I will leave you with a link from the Absinthe Museum in France that explains a bit more about the "effects". While back in the day it may have been stronger and some of these claims could have been true because of the thujone amount in the drink, it's fairly different nowadays. You won't hallucinate. Best you can hope for is getting really hammered but a more aware drunk instead of totally just falling over. Although, you drink enough of anything you are going to pass out.
Be nice to your wife and order some from bestabsinthe to have an experience at least in taste and quality that is based on the original and celebrate this unusual and often misunderstood drink! Good luck! Have fun!
"Got tight last night on Absinthe. Did knife tricks"
-Hemingway
http://www.oxygenee.com/absinthe-effects.html