Why are proposals so romantic that it drives women to crying (regardless of their answer)? Why does opening Christmas presents become the best part of holiday season?

It all comes down to the element of surprise.

There’s nothing like something unexpected suddenly popping up in front of you and sweeping you off your feet for a moment.

This is also the magic of a surprise party. But how do you plan a surprise party without losing the element of surprise…?

If your guest of honor is sharp enough, he or she will may pick up on what you are trying to do, and the surprise is lost. A successful surprise party is all about keeping them in the dark.  Here’s how to pull it off.

Keep people involved: The more people you get involved, the more they are able to help “manage” the guest of honor. Have them all in on the happy conspiracy. A common scenario of a surprise party is the guest of honor getting home, turns the lights on, and sees his or her friends and co-workers singing “for he’s/she’s a jolly good fellow”. So, to involve a lot of people in the surprise party is always a good idea. It shows the guest of honor that there are a lot of people who love and care for him or her.

Create diversions: Have someone create diversions for the guest of honor such as taking him out to a movie. Any activity will do, as long as it can buy you enough time to prepare and set up the party before they get back  home. The best diversionary person to choose would be someone the birthday person finds it hard to say no to. But be careful and sure that the person you have chosen or assigned for the diversionary tactics is someone savvy with good acting skills, who is unlikely to slip up and let the cat out of the bag.

The art of hiding: As much as possible, try to have your accomplice’s (ie: guests) cars parked far away from the scene of the party, spread out, or simply hidden so that it won’t bring about suspicion on the part of the guest of honor. Arrange for guests to arrive well before the guest of honor to ensure they don’t cross paths on arrival. If, by any chance, a guest or visitor does run into the guest of honor when arriving, coach everyone in advance with an excuse they can make for being there – something plausible like “I just thought I’d pop off a birthday card” is least likely to appear suspicious.

If you enjoy planning parties, you might also be interested in: How to become an event planner