A surprise dinner party can be rather tricky to pull off, especially if you’re not good at keeping a straight face. Rule number one: do NOT tell any children about surprise plans. It’s much harder for them to keep that kind of secret than most adults. Rule number two: find some partners in crime who are good at looking innocent.
Keeping it Quiet
One of the simplest ways to make sure your guest of honor doesn’t suspect anything is to plan the party in a place and at a time that’s perfectly “normal”. For example, if the person goes bowling every Friday, then that might be the ideal place to host the party! Or, if he or she likes to golf on Saturday – that would work too! This way you don’t have to encourage anything out of the ordinary, which always sends up a red flag. Oh, and don’t hold the party ON their special day – that’s another big giveaway. If they have any suspicions, when nothing happens on the date they anticipate, the surprise will be doubled!
Guests and Invitations
Once you’ve figured out where to hold the party and how/when your guest of honor will arrive there, you can then get out your invitations. NOTE: remember to tell people it’s a surprise party! Otherwise it won’t be a surprise for very long (you’d be amazed at how often people forget that bit of information on invitations). Also indicate what time they should arrive to precede the guest of honor cleanly. Suggest parking places that are not obvious (otherwise your honoree could recognize one or several cars and get suspicious).
Next, with your anticipated number of guests in mind, begin planning food and activities. Generally a surprise dinner party isn’t a formal affair. These are more playful and filled with whimsy. Sometimes your location dictates the activities (you’re in a bowling alley – BOWL!). For folks who don’t enjoy bowling have some cards or board games handy, along with a nice spread of finger foods.
One great party favor for surprise dinner parties is a disposable camera. This way your guests can get candid shots of the person of honor. Later on, the best of them can be copied into a scrapbook that’s a perfect gift and a great way to keep the memory alive.
In terms of food – this should be geared toward the guest of honors favorite foods. Even if they love cheeseburgers and shrimp – go for it! There are no hard and fast rules here other than making your guest happy.
Surprise at Home?
Generally a surprise dinner party is easier to orchestrate outside the house, but if you decide that keeping it in-house is best, there are still ways to hide your tracks. See if a neighbor or friend will house your food and decorations until the day of the party, for example. Use your cell phone for RSVP instead of the home answering machine. Then the biggest trick will be getting your guest out of the house long enough to set everything up.