How to Throw a Surprise Birthday Party

A surprise party is an excellent way to celebrate an event, particularly a birthday ending in a zero. Throwing such a party is hard work, but can be done with a little planning and creative thinking.

Difficulty: Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Telephone
• Invitations

Make All Important Decisions First

1. Most importantly, budget your time and money. Write them down. The party won’t happen if you are so busy that you can’t follow up on orders, guests, rentals and any other plans or you run out of money halfway through the process and can’t pay the people involved in the planning.

2. Determine a theme, such as an over-the-hill theme for a 50th birthday or cars for a 16th birthday.

3. Make a list of guests. Vendors will need to know approximately how many people will be attending in order to give estimates.

4. Pick a date you would like to hold the party and reserve a space big enough or small enough to hold the party if it isn’t in your own home.

5. Choose the food and drinks you will need if a meal is to be included. Don’t forget a cake. Choose a bakery to make something special for the person you are celebrating.

6. Consider if you will need to rent larger things like tables and chairs if your location does not supply them. Also consider plates, cups, silverware, napkins and other accessories.

7. Decide if you need entertainment. A CD player and a handful of CDs can suffice, but you might want something more like a DJ, live band, clown or magician.

8. Finally, set up the execution of the party. Plan on how to keep your honoree out of the planning, how to keep your guests quiet and how you will get your honoree to the event. The more you can plan ahead the better so you don't get flustered while you are implementing the plan.

Execution

9. Pick an accomplice. You will need someone to help you since you can’t be everywhere at once. Make sure your choice is someone who will actually do the things you ask of them, and make absolutely sure they can keep a secret. If your honoree lives in your home, your guests can contact your accomplice about their attendance and ask questions with raising suspicion. The accomplice can also store invitations, decorations, and party supplies.

10. Reserve everything. If you have time, get quotes from various vendors to get the best prices. Your accomplice can help make phone calls and gather information.

11. Send invitations. You can find a variety of invitations at office, greeting card, discount and even grocery stores. Chances are good you can find one to match the theme you want, but if you are creative, make your own personalized invites. Buy cardstock or letterhead and do it yourself by hand or on your computer. Double check all of your addresses and take a trip to the post office to mail your invites.

12. Monitor everything to keep the secret. It sounds simple, but it is your duty to shield the party honoree from all of the details. While your accomplice can help you with a lot of things, you must make sure everything gets done in secrecy.

13. The day before, double check to see if decorations, rentals and food have been taken care of. Make sure all of your vendors are compensated and all plans are on schedule. Unexpected stuff does happen, so make sure you are prepared.

14. Have a great party. Relax, have some cake and hope your honoree will appreciate the gesture.

Tips & Warnings

• If money is an issue, ask your guests to help by volunteering a party space, making the food or being the entertainment.
• Make sure the person would want a surprise party. Not everyone likes surprises.
• If you cannot keep a secret, don’t even attempt to throw a surprise party. Likewise, do not have a non-secret-keeper deeply involved in the planning.

[Haoie]

on 9/2/2008 Surprise parties are great. Not easy to hide though, if you're really close to the birthday boy/girl.