Ok, so I know most people out there will disagree with this point of view; some people will likely be outright with the following statement, but I cannot help it, and it’s just an expression of my actual feelings: I hate surprise birthday parties. This isn’t something I can explain too easily, so please bear with me as I try.
A birthday party should be a celebration of yourself, enacted by your loved ones who choose gathering around you in your special day. Now, to someone even think of setting up such a party seems to me like an awkward kind of treason. Do you think that’s stupid? Well think about it for a moment:
If you want to surprise a friend in his birthday, why not just come up to him and say something like “hey man, I found this first birthday party ideas website, and it looks pretty good. So we’re gonna be using it to setup your birthday party, if that’s okay with you?”.
Can you tell the difference in this approach? I think it’s much nicer to help the birthday person organize a party than just going around their back and doing it in secret. I mean, if you’re supposed to really make it perfect for the person, don’t you think they should have a say in the matter?