My wonderful sister is turning 30. She is a very simple, frugal person. She doesn't want to go out to a restaurant for her birthday. She did hint at her siblings that she was turning 30, which means we need to throw a low-key surprise party. She loves flowers and gardening. Any ideas? Please help!
By Emily from Albany, NY
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Hi Emily. What a sweet sister you are for wanting to give gifts that mesh with your sister's lifestyle.
An idea to consider is a "surprise" picnic party at a favorite park or community garden. Suggest to all the guests that a gift certificate to a retail gardening or landscaping business, with a promise to "go with" or "buy lunch" as she uses the gift certificates, would keep to the theme of your intentions.
This would give your sister the opportunity to buy what she loves, and spend quality one-on-one time with those that love her! Happy birthday to your sis and good luck with the party!
My sister birthdays. Is on 12/27/16. She will be 68 yrs. Young and she lives in New Orleans and. I would. Like if you could. Help me out i would love to do something. Good for her. I havent seen her all most. 10 yr any more about this is a big deal. For. Her??
Tell her you need her help to plan your planting of flowers etc. and take her to her favorite store. Usually people will say "Oh I like that" or isn't that neat, knowing they'd never pay that amount. You can get some ideas that way. If it actually got warm you could have a picnic outside but I don't expect that before June this year. You could always buy the meal and bring it to her/your house. That way you guys have all the time to enjoy each others company. She sounds like my mother-in-law...so we picked up dinner and got gift cards from her 2 local favorite nurseries. Good luck....Linda in PA.
Since your sister is frugal and loves gardening why not have a garden party? You could invite her gardening friends and have them share their plants and/or seeds with her and each other. Also could exchange or give away any gardening tools, books etc that the guests would like to get rid of. Not only would your sister have fun but so would her guests. Good luck.
I too am from the Albany area, so I know it's a bit early for planting. So depending on the type of gardening she does, get her gift certificates. I know I would love that so that I didn't have to spend so much on my own to have the flowers I love when the time comes in May to get them! If it is flowers she enjoys gardening, and she has any in pots, special decorative pots are nice and just expensive enough that I usualy forgo them - but I would love some! I also have a vegetable garden and that is a long way off for planting. I have better luck with plants for some things, so keep that in mind. Other things come up great by seed, but you need to know what she plants. Atlas gardening gloves are fantastic and gloves generally need replacing every so often, whereas if she already has tools, she probably doesn't need any more. If you know her size, Sloggers garden shoes and clogs are becoming very popular too.
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My sister is turning 17 in October. My boyfriend and I want to give her a surprise birthday party. She loves books, skype, nature, sleeping, and films among other things. Please advise us on how to organize things. Thanks.
By Win
Go with a nature theme, lots of colors etc., have cake, ice cream. You know the deal.
First you need to find a place you can have the party that she would never think of. Your boyfriend's house is good if she visits there on occasion. If it would be odd for you to invite her over to your boyfriend's house then that is not a good spot. When I had a party for my girl I had a friend that lived in a condo and he had access to the club house. I told my girl I was thinking about getting a condo and asked her to check the place out with me. The manager said to meet him in the clubhouse. Surprise! Worked like a charm.
Decorate the place any way you want, invite her friends to show up like an hour early. We had people park in the church parking lot across from the club house so my girl didn't even think of looking at cars that she might recognize.
We had a cake that looked like a watermelon, my girl loved watermelon. We also had watermelon on ice for after the cake. My best friend made the watermelon looking cake but stores are getting pretty good at decorating cakes different ways. From what you said about her maybe you can get a cake that looks like a book titled, "Famous 17th Birthday Parties" or " Name's 17th Birthday Party Cake". For entertainment maybe you can arrange to show your sister's favorite movie via DVD. And of course give everyone enough time to get invitations so they can shop for gifts.
I want to plan a birthday party for my husband this year. His birthday is right after Halloween and he's never had a "real" party before so I want to do something extra special for him. I was thinking about throwing him a surprise party. I will not have a big budget to work with, maybe $200 or so. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated! I love to do DIY/crafty things so I would be able to make decorations if anyone has any ideas for that. Any ideas for a great low-budget DIY adult birthday party?
Thanks so much!
By P. C.
How many people are you thinking? Maybe others can bring food and help with decorations.
Think of your husband's favorite things and incorporate them into the theme, games or party itself.
Does anyone have any ideas on food for a 40 year old's surprise birthday party? We have the hall (local VFW hall) and decorations but food seems to be our problem. The birthday boy is the Head Football Coach at our local high school, so there will be a lot of males at this surprise party. We want to feed them but also NOT break the bank.
The hall doesn't have a kitchen.What about "Super Bowl food"? Chili doesn't have to be too expensive. Guy food, finger food, chips, dip, toppings for the chili, etc. Get people to help by bringing crockpots of chili. (04/04/2008)
Chili or taco bar; meatballs and sauce in a crockpot; cocktail wieners in barbecue sauce in a crockpot; macaroni and cheese, large grinders sliced into service pieces; hamburgers, hot dogs on a grill, deviled eggs, pepperoni bread, pizza. (04/04/2008)
By Marna
all I can thinks of is pigs in a blanket,(finger food) Men like that. (04/05/2008)
By cathy
You could have a surprise party for your mom. Have your dad take her for a ride on his Harley. Then when they get home. Everyone will be there and that's a surprise party! That's my plans for my mom's party on July 12th! (07/01/2008)
By brooke
We want to plan a great surprise birthday party for our friend but we don't have any ideas. Can you suggest some?
Nic, Bobz and Charl
I once worked at a place that rented out rooms for a party. One group rented the room for a surprise party in the morning. They came in, set up a brunch, and (the guest of honor lived on the same block) they all (all of the guests once they had arrived) walked over to his house, surprised him, and brought him to the party in his PJs. They had a blast! The man was so surprised! (01/08/2007)
I had my boyfriend's 35th surprise party at a local bar with a back room with 4 bowling lanes
By Heidi
How about a roasting of the b-day person along with fun joke gifts. ? in return gets to roast back. (01/26/2007)
By LRP
Make up a quiz game with questions about the guest of honor to play while the party guests are waiting on the person to arrive. (02/26/2007)
By Miriel
No one greeted her during the day, we even pretended that we were annoyed. Without her knowing, it was included in our plan to greet her only at night at our usual meeting place after school. We have decorated a day prior to her birthday plus a potluck and other creative gifts with 85% made of scrap. She was really surprised and was very happy with the outcome. :) (09/21/2007)
By Rheeya
For our son we had a limo surprise birthday party. We had our oldest son take him out shopping and the kids came to the house. The limo driver picked up the kids and took them down the street to the school. My son than called and said something like he had to go to work so he had to bring my son back.
When he did the driver showed up shortly after and rang the bell for my son told him he was going to be his driver and then you can make it up from there. (Let the limo driver tell them something like.... someone signed him up for a free limo ride, he is being treated by a guest. Ect.
The kids hid in the limo and when the driver opened the door they all popped up yelling surprise he than drove all of them to get pizza. But you could go somewhere very special like a baseball game or something and have someone else to bring them home or rent the limo for longer period and he bring them home. He loved it. Boys love limo's and to be cool with their friends! (03/02/2008)
By Gluemansfrau