Are “surprise parties” where everyone hides in someones house common?

28 comments

1. Sometimes

2. I don’t think it is nearly as common as it is on TV, a lot of family sitcom episode plots revolve around keeping secrets and miscommunication so it’s an easy, realistic event to formulate an episode around.

3. my high school girlfriend and my mom arranged a surprise party for me when I turned 16 or 17, I forget, that was pretty cool. But that’s the only surprise party I’ve ever been to.

4. They aren’t unknown but not common.

   I have had 40 birthdays and only one was a surprise party.

   That kind of frequency.

5. It’s rare. A lot of planning needs to be done to pull “surprise parties” off that most people are too lazy to execute.

6. When I was close to 30 they told Uncle Chris they were having a surprise party for me. It was really for his 50th…great surprise, really tricked him. It was at this big party room that people can rent.

7. I don’t think they’re like super common but they definitely do happen. We had one for my bfs birthday, I forget what year but it was sometime in his late 20s.

   His best friend who moved away secretly came down and his other friends and I organized it. His friends bought all the supplies, I gave them a key, and I told my bf when he got home that I had forgotten something we needed for dinner at the grocery store and got him to come with me to pick it up. I dawdled in the store until they texted me that they were ready and then we went home, everyone jumped out at him when he walked in. He absolutely loved it and had a fantastic time. It really meant a lot to him that we went through all the effort to organize it.

8. Not super common, but we just had a surprise party for my sister. Getting the kids to stay still and not bicker and ruining the surprise was the hardest part lol.

9. Yes. It’s usually for milestone birthdays. I had one when I was 16.

10. Not common, but they happen.

    My dad arranged one for my mom when I was just 5-6 years old. I remember we went out for dinner for her b-day and came back to the house. My older sister was in the know, but nobody had told me because a 5 year old cannot be trusted with a secret. I remember as we approached the door my sister kept holding me back and I was getting pissed. They wanted my mom to enter first of course. Then she did and the lights came on and everyone yelled surprise. She was surprised, I was gobsmacked.

    We lived in a house in the country, and thinking about it now I have no idea where everyone hid their cars…

11. I’ve had one thrown for me, thrown one for someone else and been to a couple others.

12. It happens but it’s rare.

13. Friends threw one for me when I turned 30. But that’s the only one I’ve had.

    The trouble with them is that you risk making the person feel like everyone or nearly everyone forgot their birthday until the big reveal, so they’re a little tricky.

14. They happen but aren’t that common. Doing it for every birthday ruins the surprise aspect

15. It’s a lot less common, especially as more states have loosened regulations on concealed carry weapons.

16. It’s a dead horse trope. It’s a situation that makes for good tv but rarely happens irl.

17. I had a surprise party at 16, so it happens.

18. I was part of one surprise party when I was probably seven or eight. The birthday kid was quite upset at it happening without warning. That was the only one I ever have gone to.

19. I don’t think they’re super common, but they do happen. I’ve had a surprise party before, but I was a kid in the 90s and I feel like that was a bigger time for surprise parties.

    In movies and tv they’re a great trope because something can go wrong ya know? I love Logan’s surprise party in Veronica Mars, for example.

20. I mean the main time I remember seeing this on TV was the British series Coupling actually.

21. I’ve been involved with two surprise parties- one for my brother and another for one of my aunts.

    So yeah, they’re pretty common.

22. Pretty rare but not unheard of.

    I actually attended a surprise engagement party. My good friend got permission from both parents to propose to his gf. He did it at a separate venue, we got confirmation that she said yes (so we could clear the fuck out if it was a no), and we waited. He brought her in the kitchen while we all hid. Something like “This is the happiest day of my life and I wish we could celebrate it with all our friends.” She said “Mine too. I wish everyone I loved was here.”

    Or something along those lines.

    ​

    Then we busted out of the hallways for a kickass party. Fucking everyone cried because it was so sweet and happened perfectly.

23. My mom tried it on me. Once

    I had a panic attack and hid in the bathroom.

    Needless to say I did not have another surprise party after that and that one was a flop.

    I hate surprises to this day.

24. I’ve never been to one but I always wanted one for my 40 birthday for some reason. I know my family won’t do it for me though

25. Never seen one irl in my 31 years

26. I went to a couple in high school 20 years ago. My parents were subjected to one for an anniversary years back. I also went to a small surprise party in grade school that worked differently as it was a sleepover for a friend’s birthday that he didn’t know was happening, even though one of the kids rode the bus home with him to his house. They are a monster to arrange as they involve blocking out a chunk of somebody’s time without them knowing and getting in touch with all their friends.

27. Not as common but I had attend a few surprise birthday parties and helped a dude with his valentine surprise.

    His girl was living at my place and he wanted to go there secretly and decorate her room and surprise her.

28. Funny enough I’m flying to California to do that for my aunt’s 70th birthday. Her daughter set it all up and got a lot of friends to join as well. But this sort of stuff rarely happens I think, including the regular surprise parties.