Surprise or not to surprise...that is the question.

So finally, our surprise party really did turn out to be a surprise party. Before this, we really thought our group was incapable of jumping birthday surprises on each other. And yes, it did take a bit of hard work, a bit of experience gained from past failures and a bit of common sense. The party was over in less than a night but the memories of the joy that had been fashioned as a result of my beloved family and friends amalgamating in this merriment of the day my younger brother was born would nevertheless last an entire lifetime. You see, there is something sentimentally indescribable about the blissful faces of your family and friends that brightens up your heart, give your soul that extra lift and recharges that anthropoid battery with boundless energy you need to boost that remarkable entity you call life. I think I got back much more than what I contributed that night and it was all worth it.

A week ago when I was still trying to painstakingly arrange this party, I had some of my friends jokingly say that this won’t work because of two consecutive surprise parties my friends tried to pull off but miserably failed to surprise. Some even said, “What again? Surprise parties the trend nowadays, huh? Our group is jinxed when it comes to surprise parties man…Hurhur.” I took them all in good humor coz’ I knew how we, as a group, messed up during the organisation phase the past few times. So I knew that we had to make it work this time if we were to ever dream about organizing special parties for friends in future. Besides, it is inevitable that one will pass failure on one's way to success. In my mind, I was telling myself that God forbid if this one fails, at least Hann Sern's party at Little Bali was a success. I knew that even if we don’t manage to spring the surprise on my brother, at least we will have a party going on.

Back in September was the month when I celebrated my 25th birthday. This was when I was unexpectedly called upon to be part of the “organizing committee” for my own surprise party. For those of you more intelligent species out there, you must be asking yourself how I can be part of this organizing committee especially when the surprise party for me. Well, that is exactly the reason why it failed in the first place because I was inadvertently included in the list of people who were being sent the SMS with all the party details. Knowing that I had mistakenly received vital information about the clandestine party, the sender almost immediately resent an SMS apologizing profusely and went on a self-disparaging spree. I knew she had been busy with work and all so I felt sorry for her since all she meant was goodwill and care for a friend. First, I told her to stop calling herself stupid (even though there was a momentary instance when she was). Then I told her that I will try my best to pretend surprised when I walk through the door. However, as much as the surprise party was a failure, I was at the very least a failure at acting surprised because everyone saw through my feeble attempt to act when I walked through the door of my home. But a true friend is one you can laugh at your faults together with and that was exactly what we all did.

About a month later, we put that letdown behind us and decided to start afresh with Noel’s birthday. This time, we thought we were more organized and the whole family was involved in the surprise as well. We knew that this would be a bad time to mess up. But amazingly, we managed to do so. Ill-discipline and failure to follow proper instructions was the main cause. People who were supposed to arrive at 7 came at 9, our sole and most important informant did not, of all things, inform us correctly of the objective’s time of arrival (her excuse was that she did not check her handphone....), the nice and wonderful mother spent all day cooking so much food that even the three dogs at home would know that there was going to be a party and lastly those who couldn’t make it actually MESSAGED the birthday boy that they were sorry they couldn’t make it three hours before execution of the party. It was a disaster waiting to happen right from the beginning. Miscommunication here and there, everywhere but we had a good time laughing over it over dinner and drinks that night.

Thank God it worked this time. Third time lucky, to be exact. Important things to note:

1. You must tell the the people involved that it is a surprise party. Not once, not twice but at least three times. Sometimes, people just don’t read messages properly.

2. If they do not reply, do not assume that they are going to do so. In fact, give them a wake up call to wake up their idea. Reprimand them for not replying and tell them that their punishment would be to buy a bigger present.

3. When the birthday person is arriving at 8, make sure that you get the people to arrive MORE than 1 hour in advance. Do calling if you still don’t see them at 7.

4. The mother will always insist on cooking regardless of how hard you try to explain to her that it will arouse suspicion. A mother will always be a mother. And because of her genetic makeup, a mother loves to cook. I know mine does. So if you can’t beat her, freaking join her. Let her cook and tell your brother that she’s preparing food for a BBQ and therefore say that we won’t be able to celebrate his birthday on that night.

5. Make sure you get someone reliable to lure him out. His actions must be unsuspecting and he must be good at acting. Preferably, try to talk through the things he’s going to do to make sure that he gets the birthday boy home after the stipulated time and not any earlier. Don't try to tell him too much about the party yet because it might distract him from doing his job properly. Give him some problems that may occur to test his intelligence and see if he can handle them. If he passes, give him the green light. Remember to tell him to report to you regularly.

Last but not least, I would like to thank all my family and friends for making this happen. I could see that my brother was very happy and seeing him happy made us all happy. Unlike previous times, this was a win-win situation right from the beginning.

"Without a family, man, alone in the world, trembles with the cold."
Andre Maurois