Planning a surprise birthday party

Choose a date that you know will be suitable for your guest of honor, and ensure that they have made no previous plans for that time. You may later need to arrange a diversion, so check first that the birthday person has no intention of being elsewhere!

Once you've set the date, you must choose a location. This should not be a difficult decision; however, it must be someplace that it is plausible for you to bring the birthday person to. Your own home will generally work best, as will another residential location, provided you have a prefabricated excuse. "Dropping by to pick up something" (such as a gift) will lure your guest of honor into the house where they can be suitably surprised. If it can be arranged, a public place offers a great deal more space (depending on the size of your party) but you may have a more difficult time bringing your guest there. Consider holding the initial surprise in one location before moving to another (though this will make decorating more difficult) or renting out a larger area of a generally-accessible public place, such as a restaurant. Holding the party in the guest's own house is possible but far more difficult to arrange - try this only if the birthday person has very solid outside plans for the evening. Trying to prevent the arrival of other people because the guest is still at the party location will be a hassle that will very likely make your plans known.

Designate a "second-in-command" for the big day. If you are coordinating the party but also detaining the guest, someone else must be on hand to solve any problems that arise and keep everyone organized. If you are the one making arrangements at the party location, someone else in your confidence must detain the guest. Don't depend on an oblivious third party to deliver your guest of honor! If, for whatever reason, the birthday person tries to make alternate plans (or is otherwise detained), someone should be ready to improvise to get them to their party. With the help of a cell phone, text messaging or other device, your contact can also collaborate with you en route to the party, so that everyone will be suitably hidden.

The element of surprise will depend on what the birthday person is expecting out of the evening. If you intend to utilize the tactic of pretending the occasion was forgotten by holding the party on the birth date, it can backfire when the person becomes frustrated or lonely and strikes out on their own for the evening. Use caution when going this route - generally the safest method to hold a party on the birth date is to make plans with the person long in advance for something either non-birthday-related or small and quiet. Not everyone will believe that their birthday was forgotten, and so may come to expect a surprise if nothing else is mentioned - the same applies when their friends and family are "too busy" to celebrate with them. Though some of the effect may be lost, you may want to arrange an alternate, smaller celebration for a small group or just between yourself and the guest of honor, such as dinner at a restaurant, and utilize it later as an excuse to stay with the person to lure them to the party. This also circumvents any hurt feelings the person may experience from everyone having "forgotten" their birthday, or not caring enough to make time.

Finally, on the big day, have a selection of excuses and back-up plans ready for any irregular moves made by the guest of honor. If you have kept the secret well, when you arrive at the selected location and shower them with balloons, confetti and the cheers of their family and friends, they'll be in for a wonderful surprise!