How do you plan a surprise party and keep it a surprise? Keeping a surprise party a surprise is tricky. It can be done if there is plenty of distraction involved. Surprise parties can be a great way to celebrate...
Surprise parties can be a great way to celebrate a birthday, anniversary, engagement, or other special event. Planning the party itself may not take any additional effort beyond the planning required by any type of party, but keeping the party a secret can often be a challenge.
Kyle Hayden, the Event Coordinator for Strong Events, which specializes in decorating and design for theme parties, suggests coming up with an alternate plan to throw the party recipient off the scent. He says that telling the guest of honor that you have made dinner reservations or something along those lines can help to cover up the true intent of the outing, "You might have made the dinner reservations, but you just keep walking into the back of the restaurant, where there is a private party room."
According to Hayden, when you arrive at the private party room, the surprise is that it is not just the two of you for dinner, but your whole family or a group of friends. When inviting a number of people to participate in the party, it is vital that they also be informed that it is a surprise party so that no one slips up and reveals to the guest of honor beforehand that there is a party. "It is tough because I think some people are good at keeping it a secret, and others are not good at keeping their poker face, so to speak," he says.
So that guests are not arriving at the same time as the party recipient, it is important that all the guests know to arrive early to the party. A safe amount of time is half an hour before the full party is to begin. In order to keep the guests occupied during this time, appetizers and drinks may be served so that the guests can munch and mingle until the guest of honor arrives.
If the guests drive vehicles that would be recognizable to the party recipient, it may be wise to ask them to park in another parking lot or down the street. Otherwise, the party recipient may realize that something is going on when he or she sees a number of cars belonging to his or her friends and family.
Evite.com, a free social-planning site featuring invitations, social networking, local information, and event listings, suggests decorating the party room by filling it with decorations that will shock the guest of honor. According to Evite.com, you could use helium balloons, colored lights, or flashing strobe lights to really surprise the party recipient. When he or she walks in the door, there will be no doubt that a party is going on with these dramatic decorations.
Hayden also suggests downplaying the outing. He says, "It is like saying that you are going to do something to keep an event, like your birthday, mellow." If the guest of honor thinks that you are intentionally not making a big deal about his or her event, then he or she may not suspect anything.
