Surprise Party
When her husband Andrew was turning 40, my friend Simi decided to throw him a surprise party in their apartment, and she asked for my help.
We were both stay-at-home moms then with plenty of free time on our hands for surprise party planning. In fact for weeks before the party we must have had dozens of daily phone calls back and forth.
We drew up the guest list, and asked each of our friends to make a dish, and the food that could be prepared in advance we’d store in Simi’s freezer. She was a good cook herself and her fridge and freezer were always stocked, so we were sure Andrew wouldn’t notice anything awry. Not such a good cook myself, I offered to bring deviled eggs.
And Simi also asked everyone to bring her their birthday gifts for Andrew and she’d hide them in a back closet they seldom used.
Then we ordered balloons, a big cake, and tee-shirts printed for all the guests that read We Surprised Andrew at His 40th!
When the big day arrived, Simi sent Andrew out on several time-consuming errands so we could set up for the party, and we’d all be lying in wait to yell Surprise! when he got home.
But when he did, the surprise was on us. Andrew was wearing a tee-shirt that read I Surprised My Wife at My 40th!
We all laughed, but Simi didn’t think it was funny. She was mad – something or someone had spoiled the surprise she had so carefully planned.
“How did you know?” she demanded of her husband, “Did you see the food in the freezer, or the gifts in the closet, or did someone tell you?”
“Actually I didn’t notice the food or the gifts.” Andrew said, “What tipped me off were all those phone calls you were getting day and night from Dana.”
Well, I may have spilled the beans, but at least everyone liked my deviled eggs.
– Dana Susan Lehrman
Dana Susan LehrmanThis retired librarian loves big city bustle and cozy country weekends, friends and family, good books and theatre, movies and jazz, travel, tennis, Yankee baseball, and writing about life as she sees it on her blog World Thru Brown Eyes!
www.WorldThruBrownEyes.com
Your tale is a familiar one, Dana. I have a close friend whose husband is the same age as mine, with birthdays a couple of weeks apart. We have thrown two combined surprise parties. If they knew, they pretended not to, although at the first one our friend asked why my husband’s family was there. He didn’t get that they were sharing the event. The second time we did it, I don’t think they were too surprised. Probably won’t try it again.
Sounds like they did know that second time around Laurie, but they were kind enough to pretend they didn’t!
Well, you never know how surprise parties will turn out, Dana. Hope you all enjoyed yourselves anyway!
I’m sure we did, but as we were all about 40, needless to say it was awhile ago — who remembers!?!?
Best laid plans, right? Lovely story, Dana.
We tried to surprise one of our best friends on her 30th. She was an opera singer. She was singing Carmen in Miami and three of us (all friends since our days at summer camp as teenagers) flew in the day before to surprise her. We were SO excited. We’d see her perform on her birthday and go to a great dinner after, all (except air fare) paid by her husband.
We met for drinks and dinner the night before. She showed up, (on vocal rest) and we yelled surprise, but she had figured it out when she looked at the phone bill and wondered why her husband was calling her best friends so often. Well, we tried and we did have a wonderful weekend.
Wow, so similar to my story – it was the phone calls that gave it away!
Great story, Dana. And what a hilarious twist that not only did her husband figure it out, but he had a t-shirt saying so! That must have been quite a surprise for everyone! Ironic that it was all the phone calls that tipped him off. And I love your last sentence!
Thanx Suzy, despite the slip-ups it was great fun – or I assume it was great fun.
Needless to say it was decades ago – who remembers?!?
Funny story, Dana! I think most people sense when something’s up, especially around their milestone birthdays. And I love how your last sentences ALWAYS bring us full circle!
Thanx Barbara, I do hate to end a story on a down note!
And waiting to hear more of your surprising tale!
Loved the story, Dana, right down to your very clever last sentence. And, keeping with that food theme, it is deliciously ironic that the meticulous planning ended up being the very downfall of the surprise. I think there is some play on words there about the best laid plans getting laid too often.
Thanx John, I think you’re right!
And I think at the time the planning was just as exciting and as much fun as the party!
This reminded me of the only surprise party I ever had. It was arranged by Maria for my 20th birthday. She got our mutual friend John to get me into his basement on the pretense of checking out a new camera he had. We entered into pitch darkness. A couple of steps in, he told me to wait, that the light switch by the door was broken and he’d turn on the lights at another switch. When he did that I was surrounded by people who all yelled “Happy Birthday.”
I almost wet myself, I was so startled….
I would have loved to see your face Dave!