planning a surprise bday party- help

[Auryn]

Hello all.
I was hoping to get some suggestions from all your great minds to help me pull this off. sorry if its a little long.
My boyfriend and I have been together for 2 years.
This july is going to be the first time in 10 years that he will be home for his birthday. He was an Army MP and on deployment that whole time. He is turning 29.

I want to do something really special for him.
He has never had a surprise birthday party and never a birthday party as an adult.
I want to throw him one.
Here are some of the facts.
We live 1 hr apart. His friends and our mutual friends (from our volleyball league) all live down by me. There are a total of about maybe 20-30 people that I would be inviting and all will most likely show up.
I have a small 2 bedroom apartment, I would love to have them all over but I only have a small loveseat and an overstuffed chair.
In total I have seating for about 10 people but getting plastic chairs wouldnt be a problem it would just be pretty tight.  The problem would be getting the place decorated while he is not there and basically delaying him coming over without arising suspicion. He usually drives down around 4pm on Fridays and I would have to ask him to not come down till the evening which he would immediately think is suspicious.
That or just not decorate anything and just have people start showing up.  Or we could go 'out' and I would have to impose on one of them to come to my place and decorate while we are out.


I thought about all going out to eat, but most of us aren't really in a financial  situation to go out and spend a ton of money on dinner and drinking. Plus Id rather it be more like a hang out party where people can come and go.

I could use my parent's house/property. They have two acres of land. We could use the bbq, set up a fire pit, set off clearance fireworks (it would be the weekend after 4th of july). The only problem with that is that we would have to stay mostly outside and im worried about mosquitoes.  There I could totally set up that day or even the day before with no problem. I already have the go head from my parents to do it there- they love him.

So what do you guys think??
Any other suggestions I might not have thought of??
thanks so much ahead of time.

Oh and hes a total rennie (I converted him) so he's getting throwing knives for his pirate persona for his gift.

[Betty Munro]

Personally, it sounds like having it at your folks would be the best.
You can get set up without him knowing and some people can already be there, and then you have the escuse that you need to quick run by your parents house for something.  (Mom just called, she thinks she left the oven on ... )
Enjoy the party no matter where you have it!!!

[Auryn]

Betty,
thanks for the reply.
I've decided to go ahead and do it at my parent's place.

Now the trick is figuring out a theme and find low cost tiki torches for lighting. Its a dead end street with no street lights so its pitch black at night.

[Pinn]

Don't know if you have a World Market around you but they are having a sale on tiki torches.

[Auryn]

ohh awesome thanks.
I can drive over there today and take a look, its about 20 minutes away.

[Lady Ellie]

Look at orientaltrading.com for some ideas.  They have some cute pirate items or maybe a luau theme.   

[Auryn]

well
turns out wal mart has the cheapest tiki torches at $2.50  each.

Lady Ellie,
its funny you mentioned them.
I just spent 2 hrs on the site.
Its gonna end up being a pirate luau hehehe.
Weird I know.
But I figure since most pirate's dream was to retire in the tropics, I figure it will work out well.

[Lady Ellie]

It sounds like it's going to be fun. Try to remeber to take pics so we can see how it turns out.

Good Luck !

[limey_tech]

As far as the bugs.. you can get a few more expensive tiki torches that burn citranella candles that would keep the bugs away.

[Auryn]

thanks everyone.
I think i found a solution to the bugs.
the OFF people now sell personal clip on bug repellents.
My mom bought one the other day and they work like a charm.
So I am going to buy a few and spread them around on the tables and hang them from the trees.
One refill lasts 12 hrs so we should be good.

Well the birthday boy had a motorcycle accident on monday- nothing serious but bad enough that we had to cancel our disney getaway this week and will most likely be canceling the skydiving for the 11th.
So all we have left to celebrate his birthday is the surprise birthday party.

I will definitely take pics, hopefully it doesnt turn out too cheesy.
I'm trying to see about getting a cotton candy machine.

[Pinn]

The important thing is to have fun.... cheesy is extra

[Peddlin]

Pin'n threw my surprise birthday party last weekend, and it was a ball! She is a professional, so listen to everything she says.

[Auryn]

hehe thanks guys
I am having a hard time thinking of games we can play.
any suggestions??