How To Pull Off a Surprise 40th or 50th Birthday

Create a throwback party that incorporates items from the person's youth.

For decorations:

• Find old family albums and print out enlarged versions of yearly school pictures, holiday family photos and the person's alma mater.
  
• Print them all out in black and white so it still looks cohesive, then hang them using clothespins on a long line of string hung along the walls of your home or party venue.

Bring the surprise to the birthday boy or girl by arranging a location where all the invited guests can park and meet beforehand:

• Hire a transportation service that offers an old yellow school bus as transportation, and have the bus pick all the guests up at the designated location.
  
• On a side note, be sure to choose a location with plenty of free overnight parking so guests can be safe and take taxis home if inebriated.
• Once the bus is filled with the party guests, bring the surprise party to the birthday location. If you are at home for the evening, just have the guests all pile out and ring the front door bell.
  
• Feign surprise at "who could that be?" and ask the birthday person to come to the door with you to see who it is. Finally, throw open the door and have guests yell "Surprise!" Either proceed to a party venue, or have the guests come inside to get the party started.

Walk Down Memory Lane

This is a more subtle theme, but it can be very meaningful. Landmark birthdays often hold a lot of meaning for the birthday person, and they are a wonderful time to reflect on one's life, achievements, and experiences. Create a surprise birthday that takes the birthday person on a walk down memory lane by highlighting all of the best things in their life:

• Contact the birthday person's relatives to see if they still have any old trophies, plaques or achievement awards from when the person was a child or teenager.
•  Arrange these as centerpieces by purchasing clear plaque stands, or by placing trophies on top of a tall box on top of a table. Also be sure to include diplomas, graduation caps and honors cords if you can find them.

If the person has a particular hobby such as art or traveling, be sure to showcase those achievements as well:

• Frame artwork and hang it for the party, or post a huge world map on a wall with the writing, "Where in the World Has ________ Been?" or "S/He's Got the Whole World In His Hands."
  
• On the map, place markers on every location the birthday person has traveled to, and tape pictures of their excursions around the map.

Finally, send guests a postcard (provide the stamp for them) along with the invitation and have them send it in at least a week before the party. This will give them enough time to arrive and also give you enough time to figure out a way to display the postcards around the room for the surprise party.

In the invitation, ask that guests write about their favorite memory of the birthday person along with a personal message. The birthday person will have a fantastic time reading all of the postcards during and after the party, and they will surely be treasured for a lifetime.

Postcard Display Ideas:

•  Like with the Kickin' It Old School party, you can hang a sturdy string along the wall and use tiny clothespins to pin a corner of the postcard to the string.

• Purchase multiple clear photo wall hangings that fit 4 x 6 sized pictures. Insert the postcards intermittently with photographs of the birthday person and guests, and hang along one wall in your home or party venue.

• Buy a scrapbook to assemble the postcards in. Place one postcard on the left hand side of the open pages (put corner tabs on to hold it in, so it can still be removed and flipped over easily), and leave the right side blank.
  

• When guests arrive, take a Polaroid picture of each person holding their postcard (the front side showing) and tape or glue stick it down on the right hand side of the page next to the postcard. Present the birthday person with the book during the surprise party.