Tag: surprise party

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4 Things To Avoid When Organizing A Surprise Party


Planning a surprise party for a loved one? Think you’re doing a good job at it? Think again. A large number of surprises turn out not to be surprises at all because of several things: the organizer is too obvious, someone had a slip of the tongue, and the celebrant found out through credit card bills and “secret” organizers. When a surprise party gets ruined, it’s really annoying both for the organizer and the celebrant. The organizer, of course, spent a lot of time planning the party while the celebrant, even after finding out about the surprise, would have wanted to be surprised in the first place.

If you want to make sure that your surprise party is successful, you need to be extra careful in terms of planning the party, inviting the guests, paying the bills, reserving the place, and even dropping hints to get an idea of what the celebrant wants. Here are four things we should avoid when planning a surprise party for a loved one:

1. Telling Everyone About Your Plans

Be careful who you tell your plans to. Even if you think that a person is ultra-secretive and can keep this away from the guest of honor, try not to tell him anything unless it is absolutely necessary. The more people know about the plans, the bigger the possibility of the surprise getting ruined. If you need help from friends, make sure to keep the group small and intimate. Don’t get into the habit of telling everyone what you’re planning and expecting them to keep that a secret.

2. Asking the Celebrant a Lot of Questions

You may be wondering what the celebrant wants for the party. In turn, you may be asking the person questions that could give hints about what you are planning. Some obvious examples are: “What are your plans for your birthday?,” “Do you like surprises?,” and “Which do you prefer: to celebrate at home or in a restaurant?” These questions are too obvious and will lead the celebrant to think you have something up your sleeve. This will easily ruin the surprise both for you and the celebrant.

3. Leaving Your Bills Where the Celebrant Can See Them

If you are living with the celebrant, the intended recipient of the surprise, chances are your things will mix in with that person. Don’t go leaving your receipts and your bills in the common areas of the house. Leave the receipts in your work desk or make sure that they are kept where the celebrant doesn’t usually go poking around. Once the celebrant finds it, he/she would instantly get an idea of what you’re keeping from him/her. Or worse, he/she will jump to the wrong conclusions and you would be forced to explain what’s up thus, ruining the entire plan.

4. Posting Hints on Social Media

You may be getting too excited and decide to post on social media that something is up. Even if you try to camouflage it with “it’s work-related,” a smart celebrant will think twice about what’s keeping you busy and excited the past days. If you truly can’t keep the secret to yourself anymore, choose someone you can trust who you can share this excitement with but never post it on social media.

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How To Plan A Successful Surprise Party

Is someone in your life deserving of a surprise party? Does he or she like to be surprised? The best surprise parties start off as being ultra-sneaky and involve only a handful of people at the beginning stages. It should be a total secret, hello? If you are planning a surprise party for your special someone, take this guide to heart and follow it for a successful planning.

Be Sure Your Guest of Honor Welcomes a Surprise Party

There may be two reasons why a person does not want a surprise party: one, he/she likes being prepared and two, he/she doesn’t like thinking you have forgotten his/her birthday. You can address both by telling him/her a story where someone was unprepared and dressed wrong for a surprise party (so, maybe there could be a little hint there) and greeting him/her in advance before the actual day.

Choose a Date and Place

When it comes to picking a date, choose a date that will fall before the occasion because your guest of honor might have something else planned for his/her actual birthday or anniversary, etc. You also need to consider the availability of your other invitees. Notify them secretly in advance, so you are sure they can come to the party. As for the place, pick a restaurant or a bar that your guest of honor frequents. If you will tell him/her that you are going to the nicest place in town, he/she will get instantly suspicious.

Invite the Guests

Before inviting the guests, you have to decide if it’s going to be a small or a big party. If it’s a small party, you need less money for the food and drinks and the secret won’t spill easily. However, some people might get offended that they are not invited and a small surprise party is less impressive than a large one. If it’s going to be a big surprise party, word might get out and it might spoil the surprise. But with enough careful planning, the guest of honor will be floored by seeing everyone he/she loves in one room.

Tell People Individually

The hardest part about planning a surprise party is keeping it from the guest of honor. It’s also difficult to keep people you don’t want out of the party, to stop people from making plans with the guest of honor, and to not offend those who are not invited. To avoid these issues, tell people individually either face-to-face or via phone or text. Make sure they understand the concept behind the surprise party and emphasize the importance of keeping the information to themselves. If they have questions, tell them to ask you about them.

Make Plans with the Guest of Honor

To make sure that your guest of honor is available on that day, make plans with them ahead of time. Of course, you don’t have to tell them there’s a party for them. That will ruin the surprise, duh! You can, however, make other plans like take them out to dinner and movie or even plan to go shopping together. To preserve the element of surprise and to make sure nothing will ruin the surprise, tell other people (even those who are not invited to the party) not to make other plans with your guest of honor (because you’re doing something special for him/her on that day).