Tips for Planning a Surprise Birthday Party
Surprise birthday parties are a great way to celebrate and show how much you care about the person that’s turning another year older. However, this type of party requires more planning and secrecy than a standard birthday party. In this article, we take a look at several tips for planning a surprise birthday party.
Select a date in advance
The date you choose for the surprise party is critical; it needs to be near the person’s birthday but also a date when they have nothing else planned. In addition, you need to give yourself enough time to do all of the planning without needing to rush. Guests will also need notice as many people won’t be able to make a last-minute surprise party. Put a date in the diary between one and two months in advance, ensuring it works for all your guests. This should be enough time for all of the planning; however, if you’re throwing a very elaborate party at a popular venue with caterers and a specially designed cake, you may need to give yourself more time.
Get others involved
Single-handedly planning a surprise birthday party can be a challenge; there’s a lot to do and organise, which can leave you struggling for time. Getting others involved in the planning process is a great way to take the pressure off and share the load. Assign each person a set of tasks to do for the party. This could involve someone getting the cake and organising the food, another person could be in charge of drinks and glasses, and a third could look after the party decorations. Dividing up the party into several tasks shared amongst a group of people can make things much easier. To keep communication easy to follow, create a group chat for the party planners; here, you can share all the information about the party, and each person can ask questions when needed.
Create a guest list and ask people to RSVP
Surprise birthday parties can range from a small gathering of under ten people to a much larger party of a hundred-plus. Keeping track of who’s coming and who you’ve invited is essential. This will help you organise how much food you need for the event and whether you need one or two cakes to give everyone a portion. It will also change the number of chairs needed and the potential venues you choose for the party. Smaller gatherings don’t need such rigidity in terms of guest lists and asking people to RSVP, but if you’re having any more than twenty people, we recommend keeping a count to stop things from getting out of hand.
Create a plan to get the person to the venue
Keeping a surprise birthday party a secret is hard enough; you can use things like private chats and never discuss the party when the person is within earshot. As part of keeping things a secret, you’ll need a plan to get the individual to the party venue without raising suspicion. If it's at someone's house, you could say you need to pick up something or tell them that there is a party for another occasion. If you use the party excuse, then at least the individual will be dressed up and feeling great. If they start to get suspicious, just tell them you have something planned for their birthday for another day, this way, they won’t feel disappointed about going to another party so close to their birthday. Discussing and planning a time to get the person to their party will allow the other organisers to get everything ready so people can jump out and make the surprise special.
These are just a few tips to get you started when thinking about planning a surprise party. The most important thing is to give yourself enough time to plan before the party starts. You can make a surprise party as small or as large as you like; the bigger and more complicated the party, the more time you will need for the arrangements. Don’t forget to think about the person you’re planning the party for when making the arrangements, as this will help you decide on a theme, decorations, food and the number of guests.