Surprise Parties Far from being simple, planning a surprise party can really be a challenge, especially if the person is really paying attention. A surprise party is often given for a birthday, anniversary, special award or a retirement party. Keeping the surprise a surprise is usually the greatest challenge, and it takes everyone working together to really pull it off. There are some simple steps to follow to be able to throw a surprise party. Each one of the steps is important, so be sure not to skip any to make sure the party goes just how you want. 1. Choose a date and make sure that the person of honor can attend on this date. This can be a bit tricky. If you don't have access to the person's calendar try asking a friend or family member, but be sure that they understand that this is to be kept as a secret. 2. Choose a friend or family member that can conveniently and easily keep the person busy on that date. The person should be someone who the guest of honor would normally do something with. For example, if the person normally goes bowling with a friend, ask that same friend to schedule bowling on the night of the party. 3. Get invitations out to all the guests very quickly and very quietly. Be sure to clearly state that this is to be a surprise party to avoid anyone accidentally tipping off the guest of honor. You may want to avoid asking children unless they are able to keep a secret, rather send invitations to the parents including the kids but asking the parents to not tell the children until just before the event. This prevents any accidental information from being exchanged. 4. Have everyone arrive at least 15 minutes before the friend brings the guest of honor. Consider where you will have people park their vehicles so that everything stays out of sight. Encourage people to get there right on time to avoid anyone showing up when the guest of honor arrives. Have everyone sit down or get out of sight until the guest of honor enters the room. 5. A great way to provide distraction is to have the guest pretend that they are doing something else on that day. This will deflect any attention from a possible party. Tips for Successful Surprise Parties Here are some additional tips to help make your surprise party even more of a surprise: - Hold it on an alternate date so that there is no opportunity for the birthday person to think there may be a party. For instance hold it one week before or after the actual date of the person's birthday.  - Keep the guest list reasonable. The more people that you invite the more likely it is that someone will make a mistake and tip the guest of honor off that there is a surprise party. - Make the deception and decoy event as natural as possible. Be sure that the person that is acting as the decoy can carry this off. They need to consider a plausible story as to why they are going to the site of the party.  - Try holding the party in a unique area such as at a favorite restaurant, bar or even at a friend's house or even a park or beach.  - If you have a guest that you know is not good at keeping secrets consider inviting them at the last minute to avoid any possible mistakes or slips.  - Try holding the surprise party at an unusual time of the day, to really minimize the change that the guest of honor might figure out what is going on. Early afternoon parties or even early evening parties often are more of a surprise because of the time of the day. This can also make the friend that is bringing the guest of honor jobs much easier.  - If you are using a caterer or cooking yourself be sure that you can do this without the other person wondering about all the phone calls or additional cooking. Another consideration is to decide how your guest of honor will respond to the surprise party. Most people are very excited about a surprise party and find it very entertaining, but there are some people that really don't enjoy surprise parties. If you are considering hosting one you may want to have a general conversation well in advance and just find out how the guest of honor feels about surprise parties. It is usually easy to work this into conversations at work or at home, and it can really help you with planning the party. Planning a surprise party is more challenging than a traditional party but it is definitely worth the effort. Just be sure to let all guests know that you are planning a surprise party right from the start, and encourage them to help you keep the secret right up until the big moment of "Surprise"!----------------------------------------------If you are a business owner get listed at Best Entertaintment Site, part of Localwin Network.