Hubby Soon to be 40

21 years ago

Wanting to have a surprise b-day party for hubby. Needing any ideas, thinking to have it outside the house cause once I start cleaning like crazy he KNOWS somethings about to happen. How far out do you invite? Adult relatives, close friends, co-workers or not? Is it crude to ask them to bring covered dish finger food type stuff for the evening?

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Comments (3)

stacey446
21 years ago
Hi there.
I just did this for my guy this past summer. I had to tell him and let him invite guests because there were so many that I didnt know. The party turned out to be 90 people!!!
I made all of the finger foods the night before. I asked his sister to bring the cake. I also purchased all of the meat and had his brothers on the grill. I had helpers and I really really needed it (I still worked my butt off). Some close friends asked if they could bring something I told them yes but, it was not necessary. I did not ask people who were not close to bring something. By the way I checked with a friend who is an attorney on the drinking sitution that would be going on. Here is what he said. Make sure you have other things for the guests to do other than drink. We had volleyball, darts, horseshoe pits and swimming. I have a hugh back yard so all this is possible with 90 people. The attorney also suggested letting them brink their own alcohol. Hope this helps you good luck
ReneeKY
21 years ago
barbie - save yourself a little stress. Pulling off a complete surprise can make you crazy, but if you say "Let's have so-and-so (inset name of a couple of friends or favorite relatives) over and grill something for your birthday." then you buy yourself some room to maneuver. He KNOWS something is going to happen, the fact that you add a bunch more people to the guest list is a little detail you don't have to share. Besides, you then have known accomplises to help you pull off ther rest of the surprise. ;)

I don't think it's crude at all to make it a pot luck as long as everyone knows that up front it is informal and potluck. Three weeks invite notice should be fine. Any more and someone will spill the beans. Any less and people have prior obligations. You should make "THIS IS A SURPRISE PARTY" very obvious on the invitation. Some people don't read the fine print sometimes. :)

If you have a grill, why not do kabobs?
Julie_MI_Z5
21 years ago
Use the guideline that you invite those who would REALLY want to be there to celebrate his birthday and would feel hurt if they were left out of his special day (as opposed to left out of a party with free food, LOL). I would invite co-workers only if they were also close friends.

Now that you have pared down the list to relatives and 80 or 90 of your nearest and dearest friends, it would NOT be rude to ask them to help with the food. After all, these are the people who know and love you!

Julie