surprise!

I'm not really sure how I feel about surprises. I mean, everyone loves to GET surprises, but if you're the one giving the surprise, pulling it off and doing it well takes a LOT of planning. For those who don't have the gift of planning, trying to surprise someone with something can turn out to be a downright mess. Take, for example a surprise party. I mean, how many of us have tried to surprise someone and then had the person we were trying to surprise not really cooperate. You're suddenly forced to make up a story or scenario to trick them into doing what you want them to at the right time without flat out lying to them (which some of you opt for anyway). Since no one can say anything to the person about what is going on, they often feel sad and rejected the day of their special event when no one so much as speaks to them for fear of saying something that might give away the secret.

And what about the guests? You have to cover your tracks and over emphasize that what you're doing is a surprise so some loud mouth doesn't blab it to the wrong person and ruin everything you've been working on. Then you have to hope that your guests arrive on time and arrange for them to park in some discreet location (usually the neighbors aren't too excited about the cars in front of their houses instead of yours). Inevitably you have the person who strolls in late and is walking up at the same time the person you're surprising gets there. Then it's like "Oh hi! What are you doing here?"...and it's all ruined.

Man - what a lot of planning. And for what? For the look on their face the one split second from the time they open the door until everyone jumps out and shouts at them. Is it worth it? If you can pull it off without them suspecting anything and then see them get really scared and pee their pants in front of a large crowd....yes. If not, you may want to re-think your plans and just tell them what's going on so they can at least look forward to the joyous occasion with friends and family.