Throwing a surprise party requires more planning than a party where the person being celebrated knows what’s happening. Aside from the normal arrangements for a large gathering, you must keep it a secret from someone for the entire planning process. If you want your surprise party to go off without a hitch, this quick guide will help you.
Recruit Some Assistance
Trying to arrange a party of any kind on your own is a challenge in itself. Adding the element of surprise into the mix makes it all the more difficult. To ease the stress, recruit a few friends or family members to help you out. Delegate different tasks to each person and make a plan so that everyone can stick to it. This will ensure that the separate pieces all come together in the end.
Pick a Venue
A surprise party has no fixed venue. You could host it in your home, at a restaurant, in a park, at the beach, or anywhere else for that matter. Come up with location ideas you think your subject will appreciate. You will also have to take into consideration which locations are easiest to set up for a surprise party. For example, trying to surprise someone in their own home is probably more of a challenge than arranging their party at a bar or in their office.
Arrange Food and Drink
Every good party needs delicious food and flowing drinks. Think about what food your subject would like most and find a way to have it prepared at the venue without them finding out. For professionally-served alcoholic beverages, experts like eventbartenders.com are ideal. Outsourcing food and drink to people who know what they’re doing gives you more time to plan other aspects of the surprise party.
Invite Guests
This is possibly one of the most difficult parts of planning a surprise party. Getting the word around without it reaching your subject can seem impossible at first, so make it clear to each guest that they can’t reveal the secret. If you know that some people are more likely than others to accidentally spill the beans, consider hiding the surprise from them until the last minute so they don’t have a chance to spoil it.
Keep the Secret and Make Excuses
Depending on the details of your surprise party, you will need to devise ways to distract your subject from what’s happening. They may be too busy or oblivious to notice anything’s afoot, but they may also be curious about changes in your routine. To avoid giving the game away, come up with a plausible excuse and have others back you up to keep the secret.
Plan the Grand Reveal
One of the best parts of a surprise party is the grand reveal. This takes the form of your subject arriving at the venue and finding all their friends and family waiting, or it could be a gentler surprise where another planned event unfolds into a party.
Surprise parties aren’t for everyone, but if you know that the subject of your celebrations will appreciate the thought, hopefully, this guide will help you pull it all together and show them an unforgettable time.