Have you ever wanted to give your parents or your friends the time of their lives by planning a surprise party, but you thought it would be too hard (or they would find out)? I know that feeling, and let me be the one to tell you that it is not easy keeping a surprise from them since they're so close to you. However, keeping the surprise is not the only challenge, so here are 11 challenges that simply sum up surprise parties.

1. The Plan To Keep It A Surprise

In order to get the close-to-perfect plan (because well, as we all know, nothing is perfect), one has to ensure that the person they are surprising does not find out — obviously. So you come up with a good plan to ensure that they are free that day and time.

2. The Guests You Invite And Make Sure The Person Likes

The guest list is probably the most important list you are ever going to create. You have to put on your thinking cap and make sure you invite everyone — except those who your loved one does not like. This is a crucial list because if an enemy is invited, the whole surprise could go down the drain.

3. The People You Recruit To Help You

The people you ask for help from (who also help the magic happen) have to be sworn to secrecy. You have to ensure that they do not say a single word or even give out a hint to anyone else about the party.

4. The Decorations That You Sneak Into The House

If you are having the party at the person's house, you have to be sneaky when doing it because discovered decorations will be the first thing they confront you about.

5. The Money That Does It All

The money — the second most-important part of having the extravagant-ness be a success. However, the party may cost a lot, so be ready!

6. Ensuring Everyone Arrives BEFORE The Person You Are Surprising Does

One of the biggest things is making sure that everyone arrives before the person you are surprising does because there's no point to a surprise party if someone arrives after!

7. The Excuses You Make To Avoid Giving It All Away

During this whole process, you are going to be running around a lot, so you will need the best excuse in the world to prevent them from knowing about it. The fact of the matter is you really don't want them to know.

8. Wanting To Tell Someone But Knowing They Will Blow It

Then, there is always that one person who can simply never,ever keep a secret, but you still have to invite them. Here is a hint for that: tell them on the day of the party that they have to get there at a specific time so that nothing will be spilled beforehand.

9. Remembering To Get The Perfect Gift For Them

With all of this fiasco, you cannot simply forget their gift, right? However, it has to be perfect, so remember to keep aside enough time for that.

10. Making Sure You And Others Don't Get Sick

I can personally raise my hand and say that when I was planning a party, everything was great until the actual party itself. You know why? Because on the day of the festivities, I, the coordinator of it all, got sick. I was lucky that my sister could take over, but still, I was sad that I was not able to make it. So take good care of yourself!

11. Have The Time Of Your Life

Lastly, enjoy what you did! You accomplished something amazing!