Planning a surprise party

Have you ever planned a surprise party for a beloved? For your girlfriend for instance? Well, during the last month I was all about it. I read about it, I discussed about it, but I think if someone had told me what I am about to tell you, I would have risked much less and have got much more fun.

Here there is a small set of important actions you don't want to forget about.

1. List of invitees

Making a complete list of invitees was very easy to me, just had to ask the birthday girl. It should not trigger any suspicion. After all, who's not curious about party invitees? You can also contact friends or relatives and make sure you're not missing anyone.

2. Means of communication

To plan the party you will have to communicate with all invitees, directly or indirectly. Probably most of them have social network accounts, Facebook, Google+, etc. These services offer really good features for creating groups. They help you keeping track of the conversation too. I thought it would be important to let invitees discuss between them, and share thoughts. At the end it made my work much easier.

3. Unreachable invitees

There are always invitees who will not be reachable through the chosen communication means. People without knowledge on social networks or even computers, without phones, etc. Don't try to reach all of them by yourself, don't make the mistake I made. Reaching each and everyone is so much time consuming you better drop the idea. You have to send X times all your messages, coordinate discussions... Drop it! At the end unreachable people would just call some other invitee to get informed, so it is pointless to spend much time on it. You better ask for help to one person of each group you beloved forms part. One person for work, one person for that group of friends, one person for the family, etc.

Moral: don't try to reach all the invitees, reach the key ones, and ask them to disseminate the plan.

4. Delegate

Delegate as much as possible. It will be hard for you to keep the secret if you have lots of reservations to do and invitees calling you all the time.

About the meal, consider a potluck. You ask people to bring something to eat or drink, and that's all. You don't worry on vegetarians or special conditions. Also people get to add their personal touch to the party, which is a nice conversational trigger.

About a shared gift, provide ideas and let people decide what they would like to participate for. Ask someone else to buy the gifts if possible, and more important, to keep them in a safe place.

About the scenery, bring party cotillion!!! I am a person that thinks that a party makes you feel happy while it happens, and also after. A nice photo of a nice moment can change the way you perceive the past, and makes you feel proud of it. Be innovative: buy bonnets, masks, whistles, etc. Ask someone to quickly decorate the place, ask invitees to wear funny decoration. You won't regret.

4. Reduce risks

I almost screwed up when I took my girlfriend out of our place 5 minutes later than expected. She had started a simple phone call, and could not get ready to leave the apartment when I had expected. Thanks to this delay, we went out later and walked literally 40 cm away from one of the invitees who was arriving. Luckily my girlfriend did not get to see him. Buy it might have ruined everything!

Moral: take your beloved somewhere safe, and do it with time in advance.

5. Write a short planning and share it

Plan the surprise, and what should be done when. The D-moment is crucial, and must be known by invitees with some sort of low level of details. When I shared it I had interesting suggestions that made my work easier.

That's all I got from my experience. Hope it helps you on your party and don't forget to thank all people who made it happen!

Have a nice party!