Boda-Boda Land: How to throw the best surprise party...in the worrrrrrrrrrld!

1.) Form a dedicated party planning committee. Convene top secret party planning lunch meetings. Exchange over 300 emails. Drive to each others' offices in emergency situations.

2.) Decide on a theme. For our guest of honor (GoH), "Monte Carlo meets Lionel Richie" made perfect sense. Your theme may be slightly less schizophrenic. Design invite and post on facebook private event page.

3.) Design, order and print t-shirts, banners and masks around said theme.

4.) Email and facebook stalk friends, family members and the GOH's hero in pursuit of birthday video messages and/or embarrassing photos. If your GoH is well-loved enough, stalkees will respond with creativity and enthusiasm. We still await our reply from Lionel's agents.

5.) Find and edit together theme-appropriate party video clips and friendamily birthday messages. Tip: Having this capacity in-house significantly reduces production costs.

6.) Throw the GoH a fake birthday before, on or near his/her birth date. This should be enough to acknowledge the occasion, but leave him/her disappointed.

7.) Distract the GoH with away-from-the-party-venue activities the evening before and day of the event to allow for party prep and guest arrival. A BBQ, 18 holes of golf and an end of season bowling party worked well for us. Be sure to schedule the arrival and set-up of the sound system, drinks, tables and chairs, projector, screen, electricity and roulette tables (yes, roulette tables) minutes after the GoH departs the venue. Alternatively, hold the event somewhere other than the GoH's house.

8.) Assemble an impressive number of guests in party attire and GoH or hero masks. Send/receive minutely texts on the GoH's whereabouts. Examples: "We're finishing dinner." "We're leaving Garden City." "We're on Acacia Avenue." "We're at the gate."

9.) CRITICAL: Yell, "Surprise!". Cue GoH-appropriate music. Sing. Dance. Surround the GoH paparazzi-style.

10.) Allow the GoH 7-11 minutes to shower, dress and collect his/herself in the privacy of a few others.

11.) Screen the impeccably edited black and white photo slideshow, followed by the color photo slideshow, followed by the birthday video messages from friendamily. Conclude with a birthday video message from the GoH's hero. In the event that you are still awaiting the GoH's hero's agents' reply, conclude with a friend's voice dubbed over a youtube clip of the GoH's hero. Expected GoH reaction: Tears. Laughter. Tears. Laughter.

Ian Crozier's all night long birthday video from Adam Williams on Vimeo.

12.) Bake a cake. Adorn it with re-lighting fireworks. CRITICAL: Sing, "Happy Birthday" as pyrotechnic display is presented to GoH.

13.) Allow an acceptable amount of time for socializing, beverage consumption and photo shoots with masks and banners. Recruit croupiers for roulette during this intermission. In the event that your occasion does not feature croupiers, use this time to organize whatever weirdly awesome thing you have planned for your GoH.

14.) Play 4 simultaneous games of roulette, using roulette spins on the big screen. Allow players to redeem chips for t-shirts featuring the GoH and his/her hero in bobblehead form.