The hardest part about surprise party planning is actually keeping the party a surprise. You can put a lot of time and effort into planning a party, but the surprise can be ruined in an instant. That is why you need to include keeping the surprise part of your party plan. Fortunately, there are steps you can take to greatly increase your chances of keeping your party a secret. These 5 surprise party planning tips will help make your party a surprising success.
1. Create a Diversion
A sure giveaway that there is a party in the works is to have the guest of honor mysteriously carted off to an unknown location, with no explanation, on or around a special day. That scenario just screams Surprise Party. By the time they arrive at the party location the person has the whole thing all figured out.
One way to avoid this is to have a diversionary activity lined up Arrange for a friend or family member to take them out to do some activity or to see a movie together.. Make up a legitimate sounding reason for them to have to "drop by" the party location on their way back home. When they walk through the door, you can spring your surprise.
2. Tell Your Guests About the Surprise
The biggest reason surprises are leaked is because one of the guests is not aware that the party is a surprise. They make a remark about seeing the guest on Saturday, or worse yet, seeing them at the party. Just one errant comment and the moment of surprise is lost.
To avoid this problem you need to make sure that everybody even remotely involved knows that this is meant to be a surprise. Don't be afraid to go overboard in letting people know. It is better to say it too often than to assume everyone knows.
3. Create a Plan to Hide
You could have done everything right only to have the surprise ruined when the guest of honor drives up to the party location and sees the cars of friends and family in the driveway and lining the streets. Make sure part of your surprise party planning includes keeping all evidence out of sight.
Arrange to have your guests park on another street, or in the parking lot of a nearby school or church. That way their vehicles will be out of sight, and they will not give away the surprise.
4. Leave Time to Hide
Make sure you have your guests arrive early enough to be hidden before the guest of honor arrives. It will not be good to have the honoree arrive only to see the rest of your guests running through the door and trying to get hidden. Make sure your invitations indicate that guests are to arrive at least 30 minutes before the guest of honor arrives.
5. Plan a Surprise Date
One effective way to keep the guest of honor off the scent is to plan your party the week before or the week after the more obvious party date. If there is a flurry of activity on their actual birthday, they will more than likely figure out that something is afoot. When you choose a less obvious date it will be much easier to mask your intentions. By the time they figure out what is happening it will be too late.
Your surprise party planning isn't much different that planning a party for any other occasion. The important thing is to include step to keep the secret into your plan. Surprise parties can be a great deal of fun. It just takes an effort to plan for success.
