Love this typo. Got an image of ducks walking around flapping their wings to cool people down.
It was originally Duck, not duct, tape, as it was made from duck cloth.
… yet they use eiderdown to warm people up … 
I may have lived some kind of cosseted, friendless existence, but I have never had one of those madcap surprise birthday parties where people jump out from behind couches, curtains, and what-have-you. Never been to one either, nor explicitly known anyone who has. They seem to be a feature of virtually every sitcom. The closest I ever came to one of those was an intervention my friend’s mom set up for him, and that went badly.
I think those may have been a thing like eighty years ago, which now only survives as a meme.
I’m 65, so that tracks.
This reminds me of a time I was working on a prison break scene in one of my novels. I was really hitting a wall. When my husband asked me the problem, I said, “I don’t know how they’re going to get out. This place is unassailable!”
He said, “You do realize that you created the prison, right? You can make it however you want. Just give it a vulnerability.”
“…Oh.”
Of course a plausible security weakness that’s exploitable can be a challenge. My answer would be “somebody got careless and lazy with following protocol”.
I don’t think I’ve ever been to a party where guests actually hid themselves behind furniture, but I’ve been to quite a few surprise birthday and anniversary parties. The most recent one was an anniversary party where we all got to a restaurant early and filled a private dining room. The married couple was “lured” to the restaurant by another couple for a small dinner. We all had to park behind the restaurant to conceal our cars.
I’d say that I’ve been involved in a surprise celebration (including retirement parties where we lured the retirees to a conference room for a faked meeting) about once every two years for the past 50 years.
Yeah I’ve been to a couple of surprise parties where the guest of honor didn’t know it was happening but there was no hiding.
When my husband’s sister was born, the entire family ambushed the proud parents the moment they got home from the hospital by hiding in their house for a surprise party. This had to be easily 30 people.
For his 18th, my husband was kidnapped by his two best friends. Literally grabbed, blindfolded, duct-taped and thrown into the trunk. His friends tried to conceal their identity but fortunately my husband knew who it was from the beginning. Otherwise he would have been scared shitless.
I really would hate to be surprised by a bunch of people in any context, but with a newborn? No.
What a colossally assholish thing to do! A stunt like that could easily cause severe trauma for many people, no matter the outcome. In case of your husband, these would have been my ex-friends.
Well, per TV, it only works if you shout “LIVE, DAMMIT” or similar. I assume that was part of the procedure you performed.
Of course a wrongly timed thump in that same general area can have the opposite effect, I believe.
We did that for my husband - close to 40 years ago. People hid upstairs in our townhouse. I’d smuggled all the food etc. over to a friend who lived a block away, then I dragged my husband out for dinner. The friend went over to our place, hauling the food, and let the other guests in. Good times.
How did your husband feel about having to eat two meals before bed, especially after already paying for one of them? 
Clearly you do not know my husband 
Plus, the party food was munchies, not a meal.
I went to our usual D&D game one time, a couple days after my B-Day, and they surprised me with a cake and some presents. One of the girls came out with the cake and they said Surprise! Not a classic TV surprise party, but I wasnt expecting it.
Don’t do them if the person looks like they are going to thump you back, I guess.
I agree, FWIW. He thinks it’s a funny story (and this was parent-sanctioned) but I dunno… Different times?
He had a lot of assholes for friends, to be honest, right through college. I had to live with some of them. We have good people now.