Perfect Surprise Party Ideas

Surprise party is a great alternative to a "regular" birthday celebration. With a little bit of planning it can produce the desired effect.

Keep in mind that surprise birthday party might NOT be suitable for younger kids. There are a couple of reasons for that.

First, if you don't let the child know about the upcoming birthday party, he or she might feel ignored and not important. Second, too much excitement might prevent the young guests from sharing the secret party plans with the birthday child.

So generally, I recommend throwing a surprise bash for pre-teens or teens.

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Some Helpful Surprise Party Tips and Ideas

Who says that surprise parties can only be for birthdays? You can have them for other occasions: to honor academic achievements, for go away parties, and so on.

It goes without saying that to make it a real surprise, the whole party planning should be done without honoree's knowledge. To make it easier on you, consider recruiting family members or friends to help with organizing decorations, party activities, working with the guest list, and so forth.

For a unique idea, consider asking one of your child's friends to take him to another house to some made-up celebration (where the guests will be waiting to surprise him). Or, you can have all the guests meet at a predetermined location, and then travel together to your house as a group with all the food, gifts, and decorations.

If you're planning the party at your home, get those guests who are driving to park their cars some distance away from the house. That way the surprise won't be spoiled, if the birthday boy recognizes cars of relatives and friends.

Invitations

Your surprise party invitations should transfer the message that it's a secret. So the guests know not to share the surprise plans with the honoree. To be certain, you might want to call the guests prior to mailing out the invitations to keep them in the loop.

The invites themselves don't have to be extravagant. You can make simple foldable invitation cards. Write down "Shh! It's a Surprise!" on the front of the cards. And include the party details on the inside. If you're planning to have the party at a location other than your house, be sure to provide the directions how to get there.

To avoid the honoree stumbling upon the invites and thus putting your surprise event in jeopardy, you can simply invite guests with a phone call or by email.

Surprise Party Decorations

Have the balloons blown up and streamers hidden out of sight. Get some theme-related posters you can tape quickly to the wall. And of course don't forget about "Happy Birthday (Name)!" banner.

If you're having a party at a different location, put all the supplies and accessories in a large box: tablecloths, deflated balloons, streamers, and so on.

If something doesn't go as planned and you don't have the time to decorate the area, have a different approach. Blindfold the birthday kid, as the guests and volunteers quietly and quickly decorate the room. You can always make the final touches after the surprise. Or, you can simply let the child watch as the guests run around and whip up a festive atmosphere in the party area!

Themes and Surprise Birthday Party Variations

I'm a big fan of themed parties, and you can definitely build your surprise party around one main theme. To know which theme to have for the event, follow the interests of the birthday boy or girl.

For example, for a person who likes superhero movies, you can throw a Batman or Spiderman party. And if you have a fashion oriented girl, you can have a Fashion Show or Hollywood theme party.

There are a variety of kids' party themes on this website. Visit out Classic or Character theme pages, and pick the theme that you're certain the child would enjoy!

Other variations to consider:

• Hold the surprise birthday party a few days before or after the honoree's birthday. Or, you can use a "rescheduling maneuver." The birthday child might expect the party to be held on a certain time and day, and even tell his or her friends. But then, you communicate with the parents and the guests to have the party a couple days or a week earlier.
  
  You can also set it up at a different party time, such as first thing in the morning.
  
  
• Have a "kidnapping party." In this case, the honoree would be kidnapped - blindfolded and brought to a secret party location, where all the friends are waiting. (Note: this type of party could only work for a certain age and personality. So use your judgment to determine if the person would love this idea or not.)
  
  
• For a unique and unconventional variation, you can have your surprise party backwards. In this case you would take your daughter or son to surprise her or his friends very early in the morning (and waking them up). You would need a minivan or similar car, and get every person you visit to join in on your quest to surprise all the friends.
  
  The final destination would be your house where the kids could have breakfast and play some party games. Just remember to call the kids' parents in advance and give them a heads-up. Tip: for added fun, bring a video camera with you, to film the reactions of the children being woken up.

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