Have You Ever Been Genuinely Surprised by a Surprise Party Thrown for You?

In My Humble Opinion
1

My wife had been planning a surprise baby shower / holiday party / helping-a-friend-in-need party for another woman and it would have seemed to be the perfect set-up since the woman had no way of expecting anything at all. Well one of the party goers let it slip and the guest of honor quickly deduced what was going on. End of surprise though they are, of course, going through with the party.

That got me to thinking of the two times someone (my wife) has tried to surprise me with a party. The first time, for a big birthday, one of my co-workers blabbed and the other time to celebrate finishing with my masters, I figured things out when I thought we were going out for a simple bite to eat and she had no way of subtly telling me that I couldn’t go in what I was wearing.

Anyway, who here has been truly, 100% surprised at a party thrown in your honor?

2

My most recent birthday, back in September. Friend/Co-worker got the boss to ask me to work an extra shift about 5 days after my actual birthday, on a night I don’t normally work, claiming to have booked a private party. I get there, ready to work, walk inside and it’s “Surprise!”

Complete surprise.

3

Yep. When I was pregnant with my first, my former boss conspired with my husband to throw a surprise shower at her house. They got my college friends and librarian co-workers to come. She sent me an e-mail inviting us to come over for dinner on a Sunday before we moved away. I did think it was a little weird that my husband just said “Sure, we can do that,” instead of complaining about having to go to dinner with people he didn’t even know, and on a Sunday too. But surprise parties are his idea of hell, so it never occurred to me that he would plan such a thing. I was utterly shocked, especially at the presence of college friends–it took me a good 20 minutes to get over the surprise. I don’t think I’ve ever been so taken unawares.

4

Oh yeah. Best birthday ever. I wrecked my motorcycle and didn’t have the money to get it fixed. My friends pooled their money and got it fixed, then brought it into the house.

Then, on my way home they kidnapped me. My friends were all from our martial arts class, so the abduction did not go without difficulty. AND they did it right in front of the police station. I was on the back of a friend’s motorcycle, he stopped in front of the cop shop and my friends jumped me off the bike. Eventually I gave in and let them blindfold me, drive me around then bring me home to find my fixed up motorcycle in the living room.

Best friends ever. Took 'em awhile to get me tied up. I fight good.

5

On my twenty-fifth birthday, I was at my Grandmother’s in Peru. My uncle woke me up with mariachis outside the window serenading me with “Las Mañanitas”, I had breakfast brought up and later cake with all of my cousins.

Best. Birthday. Ever.

6

I’ve never had a surprise party thrown for me. (I’m 46.) Surely I can’t be alone in that.

Ed

7

Yes. Last December my husband arranged a surprise party for me to celebrate me earning my MS in industrial/organizational psychology. The interesting wrinkle was that he was living in Boston while I was still in Kansas City. We got to the restaurant/bar and I saw a friend and thought oh Kevin is here too. Oh and Kerry. Oh and my BROTHER? Yeah it took me that long to figure it out.

8

Nah. They’re not really very common among my friends. And I will never throw one for my husband, since he would hate it. (His brother is the same way, and when some friends wanted to throw a surprise party for him, his wife told him all about it–they just let the friends think it was a surprise. Everyone was happy.)

9

Yes – sort of.

My wife set up a surprise party for when I graduated from grad school. Got a bunch of people over; I never suspected a thing.

The problem was that my father-in-law, whose job was to keep me away while the guests arrived, brought me there about 15 minutes early. My wife came out screaming at him and me. I realized it wasn’t my fault.

10

Yes - my eighteenth birthday party. My girlfriend, her mother, my parents and my best friend planned it and I was completely surprised. Even seeing my pastor and her husband on the sidewalk in front of my house, where they had no reason at all to be, didn’t tip me off (they were late and went to the wrong house at first). What a great day that was! I felt pretty stupid though, for not having figured it out.

11

I read that as “When I was pregnant with my former boss. . .” Which given the demands of motherhood doesn’t seem to be all that off target.

As for the OP, since I don’t like parties in my honor, I’ve never been surprised, but I was a guest at a surprise party for the wife of a friend of my then-girlfriend’s (we didn’t actually know the birthday girl). Great lengths were taken to keep all the cars parked far away from the street where the birthday girl lived, so she wouldn’t be tipped off by extra traffic, and then everyone was told to line up against the wall that had the door to their TV/rec room. The wife came home, walked into the TV room, everyone yelled “Happy birthday!” from behind her and she SCREAMED like a horror film diva getting the business end of Freddy Krueger’s pointy mitten. She got all flushed, said a garbled: “Thank you. Thank you!” and disappeared for a few minutes to recover, then came back and appeared to have a good time.

From what was relayed to us a few days later, that she had actually been scared so bad that when she’d rushed out of the room it was to puke and the “surprise” ended up causing a spat with those who came up with the plan. Apparently she was quite known for being high-strung.

12

Despite having wanted one for all of my life, no one has ever thrown me a surprise party.

13

I’ve never had a surprise party thrown for me either. But I’m Ok with that. I don’t do well with surprises.

14

When I was in first grade, I lived in Camillus, NY, a suburb of Syracuse. I went to East Hill Elementary school from September until February, when my family moved to Enfield, CT (we moved quite a bit because of my father’s job until divorce settled us outside Ft. Lauderdale, FL).

Anyway, my last day at EHE was terrible. Whenever we were told to group up to do something, the other kids would shun me. I was excluded from every activity that day, and the teacher, taking pity on me, would send me out of the classroom on errands. This allowed me a chance to cry where none of my 6 year old classmates could see, but I was so upset by the whole thing: I had lots of friends yesterday, and now none of the kids would even talk to me, let alone play or do school work. I was beside myself with the incongruity and injustice of it all, and on an errand near the end of the day, I broke down outside the classroom door, not wanting to re-enter and be subject to anymore misery.

My teacher came outside, found me sobbing in a heap against the wall. I wailed and asked what I had done to make all the kids hate me so much. She picked me up and hugged me and said it was alright, that I should come inside. I didn’t want to; I didn’t want to give anyone the chance to humiliate me any more. I just wanted the day to end so I could go home and move away forever and ever…

But my things were inside, and the teacher kept telling me it would be okay, so I went inside…

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
…
.
.

And the room was decorated for a party, complete with hats and cake and punch and a handmade farewell card from each and every kid in the class! I had like 30 construction-paper-and-glitter cards, and a couple of wrapped presents too! My teacher apologized and explained that all the kids had been working on this stuff all day, and that was why no one would talk to me!

They didn’t hate me after all; they were just planning a surprise party for me to say so long.

It remains one of the most touching gestures that I have ever been on the receiving end of in my life. It totally surprised me, and I will never forget that sense of WOW! when I realized what had been done. It’s been nearly 40 years since that day, and I still get choked up thinking about it.

:slight_smile:

15

This for me. My friends know that my schedule doesn’t really allow spontaneity. I love spontaneity and I think a surprise party would probably make me weep tears of joy but, realistically, it just couldn’t happen. The only time I have for parties are weekends and my weekends usually get filled up weeks in advance. Somebody would have to have me pencil in a surprise party which just would pretty much ruin the surprise.

That being said, I **have **been surprised **at **parties. A recent kick-off party for the autumn term happened to take place on my birthday and, without warning, they shut off all the lights and brought in a big (well, by Japanese standards, I guess) birthday cake. They also ordered uni for me, which is one of my tastes-so-good-but-I-can’t-afford-it foods. I think I hugged a few people, but, like any good birthday, I don’t remember the details. :wink:

16

Excuse me for a moment, I have something in my eye.

17

Yep..

My friends thought I was super depressed (I was a little bummed last time I saw them, but nothing huge) so they put one together for me. The hostess said I should come over for dinner Saturday night around 7. Normally I’m really punctual, but that night I was tired and said, “FEH, no way they’ll be ready then!” and left home around 7:20. Everyone waited patiently until walked in at 7:45 and promptly doused me with about eight cans of silly string (I then immediately started chasing & hugging people).

18

Two times, and I was completely surprised both times.

First was in junior high. My friend Denise called me with a “survery” for a school assignment, asking stuff like my favorite cake and favorite soda and favorite food. A week later, I was invited over to her house, and there she had hamburgers, a cherry cake, and orange soda! It was a disgusting combination, but a fun party.

Eons later, my husband, daughter, and I went out to dinner with one of his coworkers and his family. Our last stop was the company condo where my husband and I were going to spend the weekend and our friends were going to take our daughter. Suddenly, there was a phone call and the guys left - an emergency at the plant. We were going to wait at the condo for them to come back, watching TV or something, but when they returned a few minutes later, they had 2 or 3 other couples and a birthday cake. It was a fun night.

I gave my husband a surprise party that almost resulted in a friend of ours getting pummeled. His birthday is in November, and that year, it was on a Sunday. I arranged for our warped circle of friends to show up at our house in the dark of the morning and wake him up for a breakfast birthday pajama party. I’d left the door open for them (we lived in a very safe neighborhood) and about 5:30 AM, they came clattering down the hall, making a gawd-awful racket (they claimed they were singing) and they marched right into our room.

I’d forgotten that my husband is a really light sleeper and he’d had some scary experiences when he was in the military. When he heard the racket, he sat bolt upright in bed and started yelling. I tried to calm him to no avail. Then these shadowy figures entered our bedroom and he launched himself at the first one, our friend Mike who is a short, skinny guy. My husband is a bigger guy, and he slammed Mike against the dresser hard enough to move it about 6". At the same time, I’m getting out of bed, pulling on a robe, shoving everyone else out, and turning on the light.

There was my naked husband standing over Mike, who was wearing jammies and had curlers in his beard. About that time, I said “Happy Birthday” :eek: Our daughter came in crying - she was upset that she missed the surprise. Mike joined the rest of the guests while my sweetie and I donned some respectable garments before going out to the kitchen.

It took about a half an hour for his pulse to recover. We had a nice time, and we are still married, but I never tried that again.

19

My friends surprised me with a party when I got my PhD. I was totally taken by surprise, and then was embarassed by the fact that the hostess was someone I had gotten mad at the week before. Not my fault, though, she talked throughout a movie, which is punishable by death in my book. Anyway, I was so shocked that it took me a good half hour to calm down and see who was there, etc.

20

My wife threw me a surprise party where I was actually surprised, then my boss threw me a surprise party for my 10th anniversary with the company which REALLY surprised me.

However the classic surprise was when I turned the tables on my wife. Her friends took her out for a birthday drink, and I covered my tracks so successfully that she decided to go shopping after her girlfriends left. She came home about two hours after she was supposed to, and all the guests (who had politely refused to dig into the food before she came home) were on the verge of killing her.