Best birthday party you have ever been to? Has anyone ever thrown you a surprise party? Have you ever thrown someone a surprise party? How did it work out?
I usually don't do anything big for my bday, but wanted to celebrate my 40th in a big way and let my friends know. Together, we had a wonderful event! I supplied a karaoke DJ, they supplied a male stripper, food and booze (and I even got a real antique rhinestone tiara). My friend's living room was SUPPOSED to get new carpeting the next day, so we TRASHED it on purpose, grinding chocolate, mustard, anything we could into it. Turns out the carpet was delayed and the house STUNK for days!
I would lose my sister and my mother to cancer within months of my bday, but they were there to help me celebrate, which makes my 40th bday even more special.
It was off the chain and wonderful. I have no idea how it was able to exist. All I can say is that it was the 80s.
The worst part is that the party I was with was so bad we didn't even get to do most of what was offered and we were taken home early. We got out of control during the ice cream fight.
I was enlisted by my friend's husband to keep her away from the house and then get her there for her surprise party. To this day, my friends are in awe of how smoothly I lied.
Best birthday party ever lasted four days as three girlfriends and I went to San Francisco to celebrate my 40th. The next year.my former husband gave me a surprise party with 16 of our closest friends that was a magical evening. The next day he told me he wanted a divorce. Ironically, the divorce was the best gift he ever gave me.
I used to LOVE my birthday. It was MY day and in a big family it meant alot. I had a surprise party for my 21st and it worked! Everybody said they were "busy" and couldn't celebrate w me. So the parental units took me out. Me and my massive SULK! There they were! I don't remember much after that. I tried the same trick for my ex husband but he did sulk the entire night and pretty much ruined it
i gave my (then) boyfriend a surprise party when he turned 25. went all out. had his brother (kind of a douche) keep him busy until it was time to ring him. invited tons of his friends (college and high school) even an ex girl friend i didn't care for. full, open bar, lots of food, anyway, he showed up so late that all but the core group we hung with basically everyday had already left. and he was very drunk. his brother claimed he "forgot" what time the party started. pretty sure he knew it was before 11pm, which is when they got there. fucker. that was my last attempt at a surprise party.
We had a surprise 50th party for my mother. We valet parked the cars at a school down the street so there was only one car in the driveway, but about 60 guests inside. She thought we were going to dinner. It shocked her so much, she started crying like a baby when everyone jumped out!!!
I love celebrating birthdays in general and especially my own. I threw my husband a surprise party for his 30th. When it was 'my turn' a few months later, he said that I didn't have enough friends for a party :( I've never had a surprise party but would absolutely LOVE one. It's been a rough year for us (infertility and a miscarriage) so I told him that now would be the year. We'll see. My grandmother was one of nine children so her birthday was "her day". She taught me to celebrate and celebrate big. She's been known to stretch them out for weeks.
My favorite surprise party was my 29th. I'd had a busy day at work, frazzled with a new baby, waiting for my husband to get home. A Dominos Pizza guy shows up with a stack of pizzas... unordered... and I said, "I didn't order anything." and the delivery person said, "Are you sure?" and lowers the boxes enough for me to see see it was my sister, having flown in from across the country! I cried! The pizza was just enough to feed all the family and friends that were waiting around the block. :) Excellent surprise! My mom's the best at arranging them! Special thanks to Dominos for loaning the deliver sign and the Dominos jacket and hat. :)
Can I just share, my on again, off again, IDK what for the last five years, he wasn't raised Jehovah witness, just a poor white farm boy from the country, the youngest of seven, and do you know he never had a birthday celebration??? That is crazy to me. Nor did his mom ever read him a book, or coddle him.
Anyone ever experience someone who was raised like that??? As he is THE first person I have ever met who doesn't have those awful 1970's birthday party pictures. Strange.
aww @jenni: like curly said above, i hope u have a fabulous birthday this year! my grandma was also big on the week-long birthday celebration :o)
my parents and my boyfriend managed to throw me a surprise party for my 21st birthday. i'm still amazed they pulled it off without me finding out. i was completely clueless! my parents 25th anniversary was less than a week after my b-day and so they pretended they were having an anniversary party. i'm usually a fashionably late person but i was so intent on not missing any of my parents' special day that i wanted to get there early to help them out if needed. i was getting really annoyed with my boyfriend who seemed to be moving in slow motion! we ended up getting there only about 5 minutes early (my poor boyfriend tried so hard to keep me away longer but i was not having it. i think i called him a few choice words for "not caring about my family")everyone was so sure they had at least 15 minutes that they didnt even notice right away that i was walking in (it was a restauarnt with a big party room so it's not like they didnt notice me walk in the front door of a house lol) i saw a bunch of relatives and then i saw one of my friends from college and i still didnt get what was going on.. as a stared at her i noticed she was standing next to some other friends that should not reasonably be at my parents party. and at that moment i guess everyone saw me and i got the big "SURPRISE!" you'd think that would be enough but i still didnt get it.. i had this completely confused look on my face and i actually looked behind me to see who everyone was talking to. i thought it was some weird joke i had missed or something lol my mom had to actually tell me the party was for me because apparently it just wasnt clicking. then i cried. then i felt like a moron, then it was a fabulous time that i will remember forever! :o)
My sister & I threw a HUGE surprise 50th birthday party for our dad a few years ago! With the help of my step-mom, we were able to invite his coworkers, friends he bowled with, and friends he grew up with - whom he hadn't seen in YEARS!! A year prior, my dad told us he wanted a party but we brushed it off & never mentioned it again. He thought my sister & I were taking him out to dinner. We rented a catering hall, had buffet style dinner, an open bar, and a DJ - we went ALL OUT!! When he walked in the door & everyone yelled "SURPRISE", he cursed!! LOL Then, when it actually registered that it was a party for him and people started hugging him, he cried like a baby. Every time I think about that day, and look at the pictures, I can't help but smile and cry a bit. It was a GREAT surprise & we were so happy that we were able to pull it off.
Lisa and Lalaland, your stories made me tear up - as well as a few others. Thanks for sharing everyone. :)
I would say that this year's b-day party was one of the best. I'm in the middle of an ugly divorce and my brother just committed suicide so it hasn't been a great year. But I had just started dating a great guy and he threw me a big birthday bbq with some of my closest friends and family. He treated me like a queen all weekend (actually he always treats me like that). The morning started out with breakfast (that he made) out by his pool and then I wasn't allowed to do anything else all day but just sit and relax with my friends and family. I did get thrown in the pool quite a few times but that was fun. And then he surprised me with an ice cream cake that was decorated all in pink with a hot pink stiletto shoe on it. I was then treated to some extra special presents just from him later. ; ) The next day we went to lunch with my parents and then he held my hand while I finished getting my tattoo (to signify the changes in my life and a memorial for my brother). I couldn't have asked for a more thoughtful birthday weekend.
We threw a surprise birthday party for my father for his 70th. No one spilled the beans---he thought he was going to a friend's birthday party being thrown by the friend's children. He told my mother on the way to the party he wished his children would do something like that for him. The look on his face was priceless as he looked around the room and saw his family, his friends and his name on the banner. He's dead now but before he died he would mention that party as being one of the best moments of his life.
Happy Birthday JBE. Need to come to Australia to party, Monday is not a problem for us, though most likely we would celebrate the weekend before. A group of friends is taking it in turns to celebrate each birthday by spending a weekend at the vineyards. We rotate so we stay at different times of the year, do winery tours in different parts of the vineyard and eat at different restaurants each time. Divine.
Some of these stories made me tear up! My most memorable one was my 21st for all the build up. My husband tried to surprise me for my 30th by renting a lake house & inviting my college friends, but I found out, mostly b/c his silly ass CANNOT keep a secret.
I threw a surprise party for one of my husband's best friends (with the help of his wife, but I was the "planner") who was turning 30. I rented a private room at a restaurant, made a music themed slide show of pics of him from infancy to present and invited all his favorite family/friends. We even had a code name for it: Chester Copperpot. He wasn't able to form words for a good 20 minutes. It was a nice night.
I threw my mum a surprise 60th - she thought she was just having a nice dinner with my brother and I and our partners. The look on her face as she registered each face in the room was awesome and her comment during the speeches that there wasn't another person she could think of who she'd want to be there made me feel so great!!
I have thrown surprise parties for my mom's 50th, my dad's 55th, their 35th wedding anniversary, their 65th birthdays, and last month for my husband's birthday. They all worked well except my dad's 55th; we had to tell him because he came home late from work (after we kept calling him to come home, like fried hamburger for dinner is SO important), ate supper and said, "Now I have to go back to the office." And we had to say, um, no you can't, and tell him that in a few minutes people were coming over. He was very upset, until the people started arriving, and then he decided to roll with it and be a good sport. Once they left, I think he went back to the office. All the other parties, with elaborate lies and cover stories for what should be dead give-aways happening right in front of them (making a photo board before the parents' 65th, making cupcakes late in the evening the day before my husband's party), I managed to pull off without suspicion. In real life I virtually never lie, but if I need a cover story for a party, I can do it without a blink or a pause.
There was this place in the GTA (before it was called the GTA) called "Mad Hatters" that did birthdays. It was amazing.
ReplyDeleteHere is a link because this explains it better than I could.
http://www.thegridto.com/city/places/down-the-rabbit-hole/
I usually don't do anything big for my bday, but wanted to celebrate my 40th in a big way and let my friends know. Together, we had a wonderful event! I supplied a karaoke DJ, they supplied a male stripper, food and booze (and I even got a real antique rhinestone tiara). My friend's living room was SUPPOSED to get new carpeting the next day, so we TRASHED it on purpose, grinding chocolate, mustard, anything we could into it. Turns out the carpet was delayed and the house STUNK for days!
ReplyDeleteI would lose my sister and my mother to cancer within months of my bday, but they were there to help me celebrate, which makes my 40th bday even more special.
@Sue Ellen Mishkey, that place sounds beyond insane. How could it exist? I wish the article had more pictures.
ReplyDelete@Beth
ReplyDeleteIt was off the chain and wonderful. I have no idea how it was able to exist. All I can say is that it was the 80s.
The worst part is that the party I was with was so bad we didn't even get to do most of what was offered and we were taken home early. We got out of control during the ice cream fight.
I was enlisted by my friend's husband to keep her away from the house and then get her there for her surprise party. To this day, my friends are in awe of how smoothly I lied.
ReplyDeleteBest birthday party ever lasted four days as three girlfriends and I went to San Francisco to celebrate my 40th. The next year.my former husband gave me a surprise party with 16 of our closest friends that was a magical evening. The next day he told me he wanted a divorce. Ironically, the divorce was the best gift he ever gave me.
ReplyDeleteThat's funny, Diva, the best gift that keeps giving.
ReplyDeleteI used to LOVE my birthday. It was MY day and in a big family it meant alot. I had a surprise party for my 21st and it worked! Everybody said they were "busy" and couldn't celebrate w me. So the parental units took me out. Me and my massive SULK! There they were! I don't remember much after that.
ReplyDeleteI tried the same trick for my ex husband but he did sulk the entire night and pretty much ruined it
i gave my (then) boyfriend a surprise party when he turned 25. went all out. had his brother (kind of a douche) keep him busy until it was time to ring him. invited tons of his friends (college and high school) even an ex girl friend i didn't care for. full, open bar, lots of food, anyway, he showed up so late that all but the core group we hung with basically everyday had already left. and he was very drunk. his brother claimed he "forgot" what time the party started. pretty sure he knew it was before 11pm, which is when they got there. fucker. that was my last attempt at a surprise party.
ReplyDeleteI had a surprise party in eight grade. Everyone hit my parents bar and ended the evening puking throughout the yard.
ReplyDeleteWe had a surprise 50th party for my mother. We valet parked the cars at a school down the street so there was only one car in the driveway, but about 60 guests inside. She thought we were going to dinner. It shocked her so much, she started crying like a baby when everyone jumped out!!!
ReplyDeleteI love celebrating birthdays in general and especially my own. I threw my husband a surprise party for his 30th. When it was 'my turn' a few months later, he said that I didn't have enough friends for a party :( I've never had a surprise party but would absolutely LOVE one. It's been a rough year for us (infertility and a miscarriage) so I told him that now would be the year. We'll see. My grandmother was one of nine children so her birthday was "her day". She taught me to celebrate and celebrate big. She's been known to stretch them out for weeks.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite surprise party was my 29th. I'd had a busy day at work, frazzled with a new baby, waiting for my husband to get home. A Dominos Pizza guy shows up with a stack of pizzas... unordered... and I said, "I didn't order anything." and the delivery person said, "Are you sure?" and lowers the boxes enough for me to see see it was my sister, having flown in from across the country! I cried! The pizza was just enough to feed all the family and friends that were waiting around the block. :) Excellent surprise! My mom's the best at arranging them! Special thanks to Dominos for loaning the deliver sign and the Dominos jacket and hat. :)
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a kid I went to my friend's birthday party.She was from Pakistan and her mother gave us all kinds of yummy delicious Pakistani food!!
ReplyDeleteCan I just share, my on again, off again, IDK what for the last five years, he wasn't raised Jehovah witness, just a poor white farm boy from the country, the youngest of seven, and do you know he never had a birthday celebration??? That is crazy to me. Nor did his mom ever read him a book, or coddle him.
ReplyDeleteAnyone ever experience someone who was raised like that??? As he is THE first person I have ever met who doesn't have those awful 1970's birthday party pictures. Strange.
my mom threw great parties when I was a little kid. The neighbors kids would come and bring presents. They were really fun. Go Mom.
ReplyDelete@Sue Ellen-OMG that would have been a blast!
ReplyDelete@Omama-I think I was there, lol!
@Jenni-I hope this year is your best birthday ever! :) Hugs to you.
aww @jenni: like curly said above, i hope u have a fabulous birthday this year! my grandma was also big on the week-long birthday celebration :o)
ReplyDeletemy parents and my boyfriend managed to throw me a surprise party for my 21st birthday. i'm still amazed they pulled it off without me finding out. i was completely clueless! my parents 25th anniversary was less than a week after my b-day and so they pretended they were having an anniversary party. i'm usually a fashionably late person but i was so intent on not missing any of my parents' special day that i wanted to get there early to help them out if needed. i was getting really annoyed with my boyfriend who seemed to be moving in slow motion! we ended up getting there only about 5 minutes early (my poor boyfriend tried so hard to keep me away longer but i was not having it. i think i called him a few choice words for "not caring about my family")everyone was so sure they had at least 15 minutes that they didnt even notice right away that i was walking in (it was a restauarnt with a big party room so it's not like they didnt notice me walk in the front door of a house lol) i saw a bunch of relatives and then i saw one of my friends from college and i still didnt get what was going on.. as a stared at her i noticed she was standing next to some other friends that should not reasonably be at my parents party. and at that moment i guess everyone saw me and i got the big "SURPRISE!" you'd think that would be enough but i still didnt get it.. i had this completely confused look on my face and i actually looked behind me to see who everyone was talking to. i thought it was some weird joke i had missed or something lol my mom had to actually tell me the party was for me because apparently it just wasnt clicking. then i cried. then i felt like a moron, then it was a fabulous time that i will remember forever! :o)
wow my last comment was waay too long.. sorry! i got carried away!
ReplyDeleteMy sister & I threw a HUGE surprise 50th birthday party for our dad a few years ago! With the help of my step-mom, we were able to invite his coworkers, friends he bowled with, and friends he grew up with - whom he hadn't seen in YEARS!! A year prior, my dad told us he wanted a party but we brushed it off & never mentioned it again. He thought my sister & I were taking him out to dinner. We rented a catering hall, had buffet style dinner, an open bar, and a DJ - we went ALL OUT!! When he walked in the door & everyone yelled "SURPRISE", he cursed!! LOL Then, when it actually registered that it was a party for him and people started hugging him, he cried like a baby. Every time I think about that day, and look at the pictures, I can't help but smile and cry a bit. It was a GREAT surprise & we were so happy that we were able to pull it off.
ReplyDeleteLisa and Lalaland, your stories made me tear up - as well as a few others. Thanks for sharing everyone. :)
My birthday was yesterday. Nobody threw me a party, damnit! Seems nobody wants to party on a Monday. What a gyp.
ReplyDeleteYes. Ex-BF threw me one..walked in on him and my bestfriend hooking up..budddummbummmmmm. Ya win some ya lose some.
ReplyDeleteI would say that this year's b-day party was one of the best. I'm in the middle of an ugly divorce and my brother just committed suicide so it hasn't been a great year. But I had just started dating a great guy and he threw me a big birthday bbq with some of my closest friends and family. He treated me like a queen all weekend (actually he always treats me like that). The morning started out with breakfast (that he made) out by his pool and then I wasn't allowed to do anything else all day but just sit and relax with my friends and family. I did get thrown in the pool quite a few times but that was fun. And then he surprised me with an ice cream cake that was decorated all in pink with a hot pink stiletto shoe on it. I was then treated to some extra special presents just from him later. ; ) The next day we went to lunch with my parents and then he held my hand while I finished getting my tattoo (to signify the changes in my life and a memorial for my brother). I couldn't have asked for a more thoughtful birthday weekend.
ReplyDelete@Jason Blue Eyes - happy belated birthday !
ReplyDeleteThanks, Agent**it.
ReplyDelete@lalaland I loved your story! I could totally see myself doing all of those things too
ReplyDeleteYeah, Happy belated Birthday, JBE!
ReplyDeleteThank you too, Robert.
ReplyDeleteWe threw a surprise birthday party for my father for his 70th. No one spilled the beans---he thought he was going to a friend's birthday party being thrown by the friend's children. He told my mother on the way to the party he wished his children would do something like that for him. The look on his face was priceless as he looked around the room and saw his family, his friends and his name on the banner. He's dead now but before he died he would mention that party as being one of the best moments of his life.
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday JBE. Need to come to Australia to party, Monday is not a problem for us, though most likely we would celebrate the weekend before.
ReplyDeleteA group of friends is taking it in turns to celebrate each birthday by spending a weekend at the vineyards. We rotate so we stay at different times of the year, do winery tours in different parts of the vineyard and eat at different restaurants each time. Divine.
Happy Belated, Mr. Blue Eyes! ;)
ReplyDeleteSome of these stories made me tear up! My most memorable one was my 21st for all the build up. My husband tried to surprise me for my 30th by renting a lake house & inviting my college friends, but I found out, mostly b/c his silly ass CANNOT keep a secret.
I threw a surprise party for one of my husband's best friends (with the help of his wife, but I was the "planner") who was turning 30. I rented a private room at a restaurant, made a music themed slide show of pics of him from infancy to present and invited all his favorite family/friends. We even had a code name for it: Chester Copperpot. He wasn't able to form words for a good 20 minutes. It was a nice night.
Nooooooo.
ReplyDeleteI threw my mum a surprise 60th - she thought she was just having a nice dinner with my brother and I and our partners. The look on her face as she registered each face in the room was awesome and her comment during the speeches that there wasn't another person she could think of who she'd want to be there made me feel so great!!
ReplyDeleteAlso, happy belated birthday JBE!!
I have thrown surprise parties for my mom's 50th, my dad's 55th, their 35th wedding anniversary, their 65th birthdays, and last month for my husband's birthday. They all worked well except my dad's 55th; we had to tell him because he came home late from work (after we kept calling him to come home, like fried hamburger for dinner is SO important), ate supper and said, "Now I have to go back to the office." And we had to say, um, no you can't, and tell him that in a few minutes people were coming over. He was very upset, until the people started arriving, and then he decided to roll with it and be a good sport. Once they left, I think he went back to the office. All the other parties, with elaborate lies and cover stories for what should be dead give-aways happening right in front of them (making a photo board before the parents' 65th, making cupcakes late in the evening the day before my husband's party), I managed to pull off without suspicion. In real life I virtually never lie, but if I need a cover story for a party, I can do it without a blink or a pause.
ReplyDelete