Having decided that you are the sort of person who can organize a surprise birthday party, and that your birthday boy or girl will appreciate all the efforts, you now need to put plans into motion. It is worth noting that a simple surprise party can be much better than an enormous event, pulling in different strands of work and life so, if in doubt, stick to the safe and simple.
The sooner you can start getting things ready for the surprise birthday party, the more leeway you will have if things go wrong or plans need to be changed suddenly. However, if you can improvise well, and if you are organized, then one of the best ways to plan a surprise party can to do it at the last minute. This has the advantage that there is a very small chance that the birthday boy or birthday girl will find out, and just to see the look on his face will make it all worth it.
If you know the birthday girl / boy well, you can hold the surprise party in a place that has some sort of sentimental value to the person, or to both of you. This will make the birthday honoree happy that, not only did he have a party, but also that you remembered such a thing.
It may be obvious, but if you're planning a surprise birthday party, be sure and invite all of the birthday honoree’s friends, not your friends. To make the surprise even better, especially for a high number birthday dig up some of the friends they haven't seen for many years. Bear in mind it should be those he wants to see, such as old school or college friends, not those he does not want to see. Believe it or not as big numbers come up, if you are close enough to the birthday boy, these names will slip into conversation more frequently.
As for sending personalized surprise birthday party invitations, you might try the birthday boy’s address book. Most importantly, ensure the birthday boy doesn’t have other plans on the date and time of the surprise party. Otherwise, the birthday boy might simply not turn up or might find yourself in a situation beloved of sit-coms and advertisements, where the honoree creeps in doing something they shouldn't be doing, probably with someone they shouldn't be with, to be greeted by their entire family and friends.
Regardless of your surprise party plans, the most important person is the assistant who gets the surprise to the right place, at the right time, and in the right condition. Ideally this person should be:
- Someone who has been involved in setting-up the surprise party
- Thoroughly understands the plans
- Has a good chance at making the right guess if anything goes wrong
- But - someone without whom you can manage for that last hour or two.
Misdirection for the Surprise Party
If you organize your surprise birthday party so that the birthday boy has no idea what's going on, you still have a hurdle to face - the birthday boy's feeling of disappointment that no-one has acknowledged his 'special day' can be so enormous that the surprise party is no compensation. There are several options to reduce or eliminate this situation:
- Plan an relatively small party, while at the same time arranging a really big surprise party instead. Hopefully, the birthday boy will be overwhelmed with pleasure by the scale of the real party.
- Arrange a modest outing celebration to take place while the big surprise party is being set up, so one flows into the other to round off the occasion.
- You could even let something slip - accidentally-on-purpose - that isn't really true at all. This is great because it can send them off on a real wild goose chase, while still making sure that they're full of anticipation.
- Alternatively, you could involve the birthday boy in the preparations for the party, under a pretext of course...
Surprise Party Pitfalls to Watch out for
After the planning for the surprise birthday party is underway, there are a few pitfalls to watch out for:
- Don't all huddle in a group and say 'nothing' when asked what's going on. The birthday boy will become suspicious.
- Be careful if you can't spend time with the person you're planning the party for, because you're too busy planning. They might go off in a huff and not turn up to the surprise party.
- Make sure that no obvious clues are left lying around for the birthday boy to spot.
- Always remember that when planning a surprise party, the object is not only to scare them when you all jump out, but also to make them incredibly happy and have a memorable time.
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