It’s time to get excited, because your friends have decided to honor you with a surprise party! But here’s the thing: You’re not surprised. Their very un-casual conversations about “the balloon thing” tipped you off weeks ago. This is not about you! Maintain the ruse with these simple tricks that will keep your friends feeling like they’re doing something special.
Try to make other plans for that night.
Bring up your weekend plans and tell them you’re thinking of scheduling a Tinder date for Saturday. Watch their faces freeze with fear as they attempt to explain why you absolutely must escort them to the mall instead. What a surprise it will be when they see the surprise on your face! This will please them immensely.
Pretend your eyesight has taken a nosedive.
Your friends are seriously lacking subtlety. So when you see one of them walking through the living room carrying bags of brightly colored, sparkly, plastic goods with absolutely no explanation, turn the attention back to you by pretending you can’t see anything at all! They will have no idea you know!
Really nail that surprised face.
It’s finally the day of the party, and you arrive home, fully prepared to run hard into a wall of your close friends and a few cool cousins. A lot of people overdo it here, but it’s a vital moment. They need to see genuine surprise, which is one part shock and three parts fear. Widen your eyes and mouth, but not too crazy. Remember: they are all taking pictures of this. Keep it cute. They’ll never know your secret.
Finally, say it over and over.
You have to say, “Oh my god, I had no idea,” verbatim, to everyone. Every single person at the party. Except for one. Right after the surprise, you hug your closest friend and whisper “I knew,” because that’s what people do in sitcoms and it ensures the rest of the party never realizes the truth. Nobody will believe you by that point, but it’s cute that you tried.
Remember: The most important part of receiving a surprise party is making sure the party throwers get to have fun. And this is not about you!
