How to Keep a Surprise Birthday Party a Surprise

Photo via Thomas/Flickr

Who doesn’t love surprises? If you’ve been lucky enough to have one thrown in your honor, then you know that a surprise party is one of the most exciting gifts you can receive on your birthday! Not only do they make you feel special, but they let you really enjoy your birthday celebration because all the planning and coordinating is done for you! If you’re thinking about hosting a surprise birthday party for a friend or loved one, we have some tips and ideas to make the process go as smoothly as possible.

The Guest List

Photo via Alison Allen & Nicole Ripplinger/Flickr

This one is easiest when the guest of honor is a kid. Parents undoubtedly know their children’s closest friends. If your honoree is an adult or even a teen, putting together the guest list can be a little bit trickier. Remember, you have to coordinate all the guests’ arrival without the birthday boy or girl finding out! A great way to keep the number of invitations manageable is to decide early on if you want to host a family or friend-focused event. Most folks have a few close friends who also count as family, but otherwise try to stick to your decision and invite one or the other. Or, if you’re ambitious and have enough space, invite the whole gang!

Location, Location, Location

using a taxi to arrive at a surprise party

Photo via Stuart Miles/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

We can’t say it enough. A surprise party is all about… well… the surprise, and nothing will give you away quicker than a street full of parked cars. Once you have your guest list, pick a party location that will comfortably hold everyone and will also allow guests to arrive discretely. If you’re hosting the party in a home, consider asking neighbors a few streets down if they would allow guests to park along their curb. Or, if the party will be at a restaurant or public space, research large parking areas nearby that are within walking distance. If you live in a larger city, public transportation might also have you covered on this one.

The Cover Story

Photo via Teerapun/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

All your efforts will hinge on a convincing cover story. Obviously, the perfect idea will vary based on the personality of your guest of honor. Some advice that will be helpful in most situations though is to keep it as simple as possible. But, if you’re worried that your honoree will be wise to the tried-and-true method of “going out for a quiet dinner” you can try the more advanced double surprise – inviting relatives or close friends of the guest of honor that don’t live in town, and then hiding them in a separate room for the initial surprise. A few minutes later, bring those guests out for the second surprise! We don’t recommend this for first-time surprise party throwers!

Less is More

Trust us, even the most organized people will have their hands full the day of the actual surprise party. Between late guests and trying to keep everyone quiet, you don’t need to be worried about preparing food. Check out our gourmet gift baskets. They have something everyone will enjoy snacking on. Think about ordering an extra for guests to nibble on while you wait for the birthday boy or girl to show!

We hope these tips help make your surprise party planning a success. For those of you who’ve thrown or attended a surprise party before, share your best cover stories on our Facebook wall! We may just surprise the person with the best story with one of our favorite specialty food gifts for their next get-together.

Share Our Strength’s 2013 Bake Sale for No Kid Hungry

Hickory Farms is proud to support Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry campaign. Share Our Strength is the leading nonprofit organization working to end childhood hunger in America. The organization offers a variety of ways for individuals to get involved and play a part in the fight to end childhood hunger. And one of these opportunities is right around the corner – the 2013 Bake Sale for No Kid Hungry!

Now celebrating its 10^th anniversary, Bake Sale for No Kid Hungry has rallied more than 1.4 million participants and raised over $9.6 million since 2003 to support the No Kid Hungry campaign’s work to surround children with the healthy food they need, every day. This is accomplished by connecting kids to effective nutrition programs like school breakfast and summer meals and, through its Cooking Matter program, teaching families how to shop for and prepare delicious, healthy, low-cost meals at home. New and returning Bake Sale participants will have yet another opportunity to contribute to the cause with the 2013 Bake Sale for No Kid Hungry, which kicks off on March 21^st!

People interested in participating can either host a bake sale or join a bake sale if they know someone who’s already taking part in the fundraiser. Once you’ve decided how you’ll participate, be sure to check out the Bake Sale Resource Center. It is stocked with tons of great information like flyers and signs, social media tools, recipes, and more – everything you’ll need to hold a successful bake sale.

Special Cookies for the 10th Anniversary of Share Our Strength's Bake Sale for No Kid Hungry

Photo via Share Our Strength

Not sure if you are up to the challenge? Find support and get inspired by reading the success stories of corporate groups, communities, and individuals who have hosted successful bake sales to help fight childhood hunger.

Share Our Strength Bake Sale for No Kid Hungry

Photo via Share Our Strength

Visit our website to learn more about Hickory Farms’ involvement with Share Our Strength. And if you’re interested in joining the fight to end childhood hunger, be sure to visit the Bake Sale for No Kid Hungry website for more details on participating in the 2013 Bake Sale.

Tips from Food & Wine Experts on How to Host a Wine Tasting

Robert Mondavi said it well. Wine is not just a drink. “It’s family and friends. It’s warmth of heart and generosity of spirit. Wine is art.” If you are feeling inspired, tap into your inner artist and create an excuse to enjoy good wine, good food, and good company by hosting your own wine tasting.

You don’t need be a wine sommelier or owner of a four-star restaurant to host a wine tasting. You also don’t need to spend an exorbitant amount of money to throw a fabulous wine tasting party.

As Epicurious writer Lauren Salkeld wrote, “With just a little planning and shopping, a wine tasting can be fun, easy, and affordable.”

Stephen Tanzer of Food & Wine recommends no more than eight tasters for a casual in-home wine tasting. Tanzer suggests lining up three or four glasses in front of each person to serve them in “flights.” For each taste, pour between one and two ounces of wine.

The best way to ensure your guests get the most out of the wine tasting is to organize it similar to the way you would a science experiment. As silly as that may sound, the idea is to keep all but one variable the same for each group of wines. For example, try to choose wines of the same variety and same year, but from different regions. This way you and your guests can enjoy picking up on subtle differences.

Here are some additional ideas and inspiration on how to organize and host your wine tasting party:

Show your guests the steps…

Photo via With This Bling

Make it a mystery wine tasting …

Photo via CB2

Let your guests be the judge …

Photo via Things Festive

Pair the wine with gourmet sausage, cheese, and crackers…

Photo via Etsy

The most important thing to remember when hosting a wine tasting is to keep it light and fun! Make sure your guests can really enjoy themselves no matter how much they know or don’t know about wines.

Let Hickory Farms help you throw a fabulous in-home wine tasting party with our selection of gourmet sausage, cheese, crackers, wine gift baskets, and more! Don’t forget to share your favorite wine tasting party ideas on the Hickory Farms Face book page, too!