Planning a surprise party can be tricky, especially if you want to host the party at home. The most essential first step here is to involve a professional (ahem, us!) to take on the heavy lifting of the planning. This means a lot less sneaking around and hiding from the person you’re planning for. We assume here if you know the person well enough to plan them a party, you’re probably spending a lot of time with them, and they might notice a lot of sneaky meetings with caterers, drapers or venue team, all chasing for decisions or payment. With us on board we take away the day to day stresses that come with planning a surprise party, involving you only at your convenience.
So, adopting our best super spy alter egos, how do we help you to make this event perfect for the person you’re honouring? And remember, burn after reading!
The clandestine operation
Hopefully you’ve already got the when sorted out (ideally close to their birthday or big day!) but the where might need our assistance. It is harder, although not impossible, for us to build a fantastic surprise party in your back garden, however you’re going to need a really good cover story to get your loved one out of the way during the build. Choosing an external venue is easier for your logistics but might have more restrictions on size and what you can do in the space, chat to us about what you want to achieve and how you want the party to look; we’re the best people to advise!
Counterintelligence
You really need to put yourself in the birthday person’s shoes when talking to us about this plan. You need to have their wants and tastes front and centre to make sure that this is their perfect party, not yours! Do your research, find out their favourite tunes to dance to, what their perfect day party would look like and what their favourite foods are. Gathering all this intelligence makes it easier for us to craft the perfect surprise party.
For your eyes only
Now this sounds obvious, but ensuring your guests can keep a secret is super important. The way you handle guest communication is vital, ensuring that everyone invited understands this is top secret and no one will spill to the birthday girl or boy. Perhaps you need to think about setting up a second email account to handle RSVPS or even hand it over to a trusted member of the family who is a little more removed, making it less likely that your loved one will notice you’re suddenly very popular! We also need to make sure all the guests have arrived well before the honouree gets there, accidently bumping into uncle Bob outside the venue might ruin it a little bit!
The cover story
You need to start laying the foundations for the party night with your loved one. Start thinking about the decoy – the reason for getting them out the house and dressed to the nines. A half truth here works well, you could be honest about the hotel you’re staying at (if you’re having the party at a fabulous venue somewhere) citing a fancy dinner reservation as the reason for needing to be ready to leave by 18:30 looking smart! You also need to get this in early so the birthday girl/boy doesn’t think you’ve been neglectful of their birthday!
Don’t get burned
As the party date nears, you need to remember to keep it cool. Keep your enthusiasm kerbed and your poker face in tact! For the final few hours it might just be your and the birthday person, and you need to ensure that they have no clue what’s going on until the second they arrive.
The reveal
As expert luxury party planners, this is something we can help with but you do need to have a bit of a think and brief us about how you would like the reveal to happen. Do we need to ensure silence and darkness until the special person arrives? Do you want a certain song to play as they enter, or special members of family and friends nearest the doors to make an incredible first impression? You know your loved one better than we do here, and although we can advise on the best way to deliver the reveal with impact, the nuance has to come from you! We also need you to keep us updated down to the minute of your arrival time so we aren’t caught unawares and can ensure that perfect surprise party entrance!
