Planning Successful Surprise Parties

Surprise parties can be a real treat, especially if the recipient truly had no idea it was coming. Planning a surprise party can be much trickier than planning a regular party, though. The planning process can be made easier if you strategize well in advance.

Location Is Everything

Pick the location for the surprise party first. Will the party be in the guest of honor's or a friend's house? A restaurant? A party center? In a park? You have many opportunities to be creative when choosing the location for the surprise party. If the surprise party has a theme, or a specific reason, such as a birthday party or a surprise party, the location may be important, as you will be planning decorations and activities to go along with the theme. In any case, the way in which you surprise your guest of honor at the surprise party will likely be determined by the place you choose.

Surprise Party Ideas

An important consideration, possibly the most important consideration when throwing a surprise party is how the guest of honor will be surprised.

Sneaky Surprise. Have the honoree be at home, or be invited to a friend's house for dinner. Shortly after he arrives, the guests just start showing up, and soon it becomes evident that it's a surprise party. While there is no orchestrated yelling of "Surprise," the guest of honor is still surprised because he didn't expect all of his friends to show up.

The Quiet Dinner. Depending on the party budget, another possibility for the surprise party is to rent out a restaurant for the evening. Plan on the guest arriving for a quiet dinner with his or her significant other or a few close friends, and then even more friends just start showing up and being seated. At first, it will look like a coincidence, but soon it will become evident that this was planned, and the guest of honor will definitely be surprised. This surprise party doesn't include the coordinated yelling of "Surprise," but remember that yelling "Surprise" doesn't guarantee that the party is surprising.

Surprise Breakfast. If the person being honored is a morning person, the Reverse Surprise idea could be planned around breakfast time on a weekend. Have one of the guests bring the breakfast food in for the surprise party. However, make sure the guest of honor is dressed before guests arrive, or everyone might receive an entirely different kind of surprise. An alternative is to do a late-night surprise party in the same way, but, again, sometimes people prefer to wind down when the surprise party would start, so be sure the guest is still dressed and isn't tired out.

Party Bus Surprise. Several bus companies allow you to rent buses that take guests to and from any location. The bus could take the guests to a show or on a pre-arranged tour of a special place, such as a theater, a club or even a cooking school with a class for the guests. The surprise party starts on the bus, when it comes to pick up the guest from home or a pre-arranged location. The guest gets on the bus, everyone yells "Surprise!" and the bus takes take guests to the activity.

Other Surprise Party Considerations

The Ruse. Above all, make sure the guest of honor is available the night of the party. To do this, invite the honoree to do something that night or have someone do it for you. Whatever it is, make sure the plans are solid, so that the person you are throwing the surprise party for is available. It may help to get the person out of the house for a few hours if the surprise party will be at his or her home, so plan accordingly.

A Tribute. Depending on the size of the party, the tribute can be formal or informal, it can involve guests or it can be compiled by the person planning the surprise party. Tributes prepared ahead of time could be a picture collage, a poem, a speech, a song or a meaningful gift. In the invitation for the surprise party, guests could be asked to bring along a small card with an anecdote about the guest of honor that will later be assembled into a memory book with pictures from the party.

Tributes that involve guests once they arrive could include a guest book that asks them to write in some fun fill-in-the-blank sentences. Another is to have a picture of the guest of honor in the center of a poster board, and invite guests to write something on the poster around the picture. Provide different color markers or pens for this, and it will look colorful and fun by the end of the surprise party. In the invitation, guests could also be invited to give a toast to the surprise party guest of honor. Putting it on the invitation helps the guests prepare something to say so they don't get put on the spot.

Invitations. Send surprise party invitations out well in advance, and be sure to put that the party is a surprise in big, bold letters. Plan the RSVP carefully so that the guest doesn't hear a voice mail message or intercept an e-mail. Also, include information about the dress code for the surprise party, and indicate whether or not guests should bring gifts.

Children. Children are known to be inquisitive and talkative. Whether a child is a guest, or even the guest of honor, it is best to keep the plans secret from children for as long as possible. It can also be stressful for a child to be expected to keep a secret, so this is another consideration. If planning a surprise party for a child, it is best to tell only the parents that the party will be a surprise, and have them keep the event secret from young children who will be guests, even up to the day of the party itself.