How to Throw a Surprise Party
Shh. The first rule of a surprise party is not to talk too much about it, thereby giving away the secret to the guest of honor. A surprise party starts with planning the date and time and inviting guests. Generally, keeping the surprise means the planners should meet together and take care of as much as possible in one face-to-face meeting. Delegate duties and swear one another to secrecy. By limiting contact after the initial planning, you’ll be more likely to keep your honoree from discovering what’s coming.

Designate a dress code. If your honoree will likely be walking into the party location in jeans and sneakers, you don’t want a dress-up affair to make them uncomfortable. Make sure the location you choose has parking and access that is hidden from view. The surprise will be ruined if your honoree sees all of his or her friends’ cars in the parking lot.

Invite guests in print with a written and mailed invitation. These are more fun and less likely to be intercepted than email invites. One great tip for keeping the surprise—don’t tell any children involved ahead of time! Kids just love to share secrets. Be sure to indicate on the invitation that the event is a surprise, and ask guests to arrive about 30 minutes before the guest of honor’s arrival.

Throwing off suspicion by the guest of honor is best accomplished by having a spouse or friend schedule a task or other meeting about a week or so in advance. You may also want to avoid the actual day of the event itself—celebrate a birthday a day or two ahead of the actual birthday, for instance. Moving the date and having a business or social event scheduled are great bits of misdirection.

Oh, one more important thing to remember. Make sure your guest is a good sport. A surprise party for someone who doesn’t like surprises is not much of a gift, is it?