4 Ideas for the Perfect Surprise Party

Everyone needs a surprise party at least once in their life. All the extra planning that goes into it is well worth the look of shock and delight on your guest of honor's face.

With some strategic planning, you'll be well on your way to making any surprise party a huge success.

Gather Your Guest List

You'll want to do this in advance to make sure everyone can make it. Definitely remind them to be extra hush-hush if they happen to talk to whoever the party is for.

If the surprise party is for a child, it's probably a better idea if all the parents conspire together and leave all the kids out of the loop. Children aren't as great at keeping the cat in the bag!

Go All Out With Decorations

A surprise party needs to make a big impression as soon as the guest of honor enters the room. In other words, a grander visual entrance is required (when compared to regular parties).

Here are some ways you can make a big “bang.”

• Fill the whole room with colorful balloons or create a net of balloons above the door that can be released.
• Hang streamers from the ceiling, or if your balloons are helium-filled, make sure they have shiny curled ribbon hanging from them.
• String lights around party tables and doorways for a unique luminescent atmosphere.
• A big sign or banner with the person's name or a meaningful message will add an extra personalized touch as well as a big impression.

Plan Activities

Once everyone is assembled, and the guest of honor has arrived, it's time to get the party started.

The activities might change a bit depending on the type of party, and maybe it's nostalgia, but adults LOVE getting their chance at revisiting favorite childhood party games.

Here are some ideas for activities that will engage all of your guests:

• Bringing out your guest's competitive sides with some contests and prizes will help bring life to your party. Some ideas include charades, flashcards, poker, or if space and weather permits, a dunking booth and sack races.
• Organize a fun trivia game featuring questions about the guest of honor or regular trivia if preferred.
• Sticker stalker, everyone gets a sheet of stickers and tries to place stickers on everyone else without them noticing. Games like this can be played throughout the party in the background.
• Provide a variety of board games for guests to play. They're a great way to bring people together and conversate.
• If you have access to a pool, this opens up all kinds of possibilities!

Create a Theme

Choosing a theme can be both fun for guests and easier for you to come up with specific decorating ideas, food, music, or activities.

Here are a few theme ideas:

• If you're planning the surprise around a particular holiday, then make it share a theme with that holiday. You can add seasonal activities and decorations to your party as well.
• If there happens to be a certain movie, show, book, or anything else the guest of honor is known to be a fan of, then you can make the party extra memorable for them by incorporating that theme.
• If the party is meant to celebrate a particular event in the person’s life, such as an anniversary, baby shower, or graduation, then that can be incorporated into the theme as well.

Next time you're up to the task of arranging a celebration, try incorporating some of these ideas, and you'll be better prepared for throwing a fun and memorable surprise party.

Has anyone ever thrown you a surprise party?