Need help planning a surprise party for DH's 30th B-day!

[Chris~n~Jen]

DH's 30th b-day is in April. I want to throw him a surprise party but really don't know where to begin. Other than my wedding, I've never really thrown any sort of party before. Also a big factor is that all of his family is about 2 hours away, so I would be planning the party long distance since I think it would be difficult for people to travel here.

Any advice, tips, ideas??? Also I will need to be very budget concious.

TIA! :D

[Adaya]

I'm not sure how much help I can offer because I don't know what ideas you have in mind, but I threw a surprise birthday party for DH a few years ago. I was on a serious budget because it was right after the wedding.

I did a golf theme and just about everything except for the decorations came from Super Walmart. I planned for about 30 people and I spent a total of around $205 for food, cake, beverages, paper goods and decor.

[Asha]

my friend threw a surprise party for her dh's 30th bday, and i helped her set up. one thing to keep in mind is that you will have to find places to hide the party stuff, so he didn't find out. she kept a lot of the stuff at her mil's. keep in mind that you will have to get tables and chairs for the guests to eat at and also tables to serve the food. it helped her a lot to order food rather than preparing the food for everyone. have a few of your friends come over beforehand to help you set up.

[Adaya]

I agree with rebjc about ordering food. I really wanted to cook since I love to cook, but that was really not an option. I had planned to go to a friend's house and cook there and bring everything to the party, but it was too much of a hassle.

So I ordered party trays from Super Walmart and it worked out well.