what a surprise

Reader Erin asks, "I want to throw a surprise party for my best friend, but I want it to actually be a surprise. Do you have any tips for planning a party without ruining the surprise?"

Surprise parties certainly are tricky. What's more of a let-down than planning a one only to be able to tell from the look on your friend's face that they knew something was up? And I'll admit — I've totally faked a surprise for the benefit of my friends, even though I'm certain they saw right through it.

If you really want to surprise your friend, you'll need a little extra planning and coordination to pull it off. Continue after the jump for our tips on getting everything together.

• First and foremost, make sure that the person you want to surprise is a good candidate for such a party. Some people detest surprises. Make sure your friend isn't one of them.
• Know that a surprise party is going to take more time and effort to organize than a regular birthday party. Start your planning early because frenzied preparation a day or two before the party is a dead giveaway.
• Be ready to enlist the help of some friends to be accomplices on the day of the party. This is the kind of thing that you really can't plan completely on your own.
• Your invitation should be crystal clear about the fact that this party is a surprise. Incorporate the word "surprise" with wild abandon — in the title, message to guests, main image, everywhere. We've got a no-room-for-error situation here. I'm a big fan of this Evite invitation to hammer home the point.
• Tell your guests to arrive at the place of the party well before you intend to show up with the surprisee. If your friends are usually late, build in even more time.
• Don't pretend that you forgot your friend's birthday. They'll either know something's up or else be annoyed that no one's remembered. To really throw them off, consider planning your surprise party before their actual birthday. (After works as well, but you also risk annoyance for not having anything planned on the big day.)
• Try to incorporate the party into the person's routine. If you have a standing day of the week when you go out to dinner, meet up for coffee or get together to watch The Hills (that's not just me, right?), that's a great time to sneak in your party. Just make sure the guest of honor is appropriately dressed so they don't feel out of place at their own do.

You can get more ideas about decorations, activities and more in our surprise party guide.

Comments

I had a surprise 80th party for my Dad that was actually a reunion with over 100 people invited. Since there was no way to hide all those cars and be sure all those people would be on time, we simply didn't try to have the traditional surprise party. He thought he was having just a small family party, but after about half an hour, as each new guest arrived, he was surprised over and over by who was in attendance! Recently another family member tried the same strategy and it works rreally well!