8 Steps To Plan The Perfect Surprise Party
Is someone from your close circle having a birthday soon? Or they have a life event that needs a celebration? Then why not show your love by hosting a surprise birthday party.
But a surprise party is way harder to plan and host than a typical party. There is so much secrecy involved.
To help you with that, we prepared a step-by-step guide on hosting the best surprise party.
- Pick a theme
The best way to make the guest of honor feel special is to pick a personalized theme for them. It can be their favorite movie, book, or based on an activity they enjoy doing.
The theme will determine how the decorations, venue, music, and food you will have for the party.
- Book the venue
Because this a surprise birthday party, then the venue should also be surprising. Pick a location that the party honoree will not guess. It can be an outdoor venue such as a park, garden, restaurant, or lounge.
The location needs to be something you can afford, is fun for the guests and surprising for the person you are throwing the party.
- Prepare the guest list and send invites
Now that you have a venue, you have an idea of how many people you will invite.
Prepare a list of people you want to invite. Make sure you include all the close people of the guest of honor. Add to the list their friends, coworkers, family member, and people they enjoy spending time with.
Then comes the sneaky part: the invitation. The best way to do this is to call them one by one and notify them this is a surprise party. In this way, they won’t spoil the surprise.
Pro tip: Make sure to call them again when the big day approaches so you know if all of the guests are coming.
- Have a strong alibi
It is hard to keep party planning a secret. Especially if the person you are hosting the party is someone you live with, like a spouse or a sibling. To protect your secret, you need a strong alibi.
Create a fake party plan or a fake passion project you are working on. It needs to be something they believe is true so they won’t suspect anything.
The best way to protect the secret is to have everybody on the same page. You can make it even more believable if you have another close person be part of the plan.
- Cater food, drinks, and a cake
If you are hosting the party in a restaurant, then all you need to do is pick the party menu.
However, if you are hosting it in a public venue or home, you need to plan the food and drinks. The best thing to do is to pick a catering service. Make sure to include food and drinks the party honoree enjoys.
Also, having a cake is a party must, whether it is a birthday party or not. Buy a cake with decorations that match the party theme.
Double-check on everything a few days before the big day.
- Prep the playlist
The party won’t feel like a party if there is no music. The best thing to do is to curate a playlist on the genre and songs the guest of honor loves. Make sure to select which song will be on while the guest of honor enters the venue.
Besides the playlist, you need to make sure you have all the sound equipment.
- Time to decorate
Now that you have everything ready to go, you can think of small details. Think of what kind of decorations you want to have for your party. Always make sure the decorations complement the party theme.
Decorations include balloons, tablecloths, banners, lights, flowers, or anything that matches the party theme.
The hardest part of preparing the party decorations is hiding them. That’s why you need a friend who will help you store them till the big day comes.
- Make a checklist for the big day
The big day is approaching. You will be in between keeping a secret and making sure everything will go smoothly. That’s too much to handle.
The best thing to do is prepare a checklist of things you need to do on the day of the event. Make sure to add all the details that others will help you do.
And of course, make sure to save the checklist somewhere only you have access, like in a private note or journal.
Final Thoughts
Surprise parties always make us feel special. Someone has spent a lot of energy, resources, and effort to make us feel special for a big occasion we are celebrating. That’s love and commitment.
However, for the party organizer, all the planning can be stressful. But with this guide, you can make the process run smoothly.