How To Plan the Best Quarantine Birthday Surprise. Without Emptying Your Pockets!
Trust me, this is a real game changer.
A few weeks ago I received the ultimate birthday surprise [Quarantine Edition]. My husband and I had originally planned on celebrating my milestone birthday in Greece, but given the global pandemic our plans, much like the rest of the worlds were cancelled. I mean turning 30 is no joke, a woman only turns and stays 30 for the next decade of her life. I was oblivious to what my husband had planned. He completely transformed our bedroom into an Instagram dream post. I was one happy birthday girl. Later I did the same thing for my sister and she was over the moon when she saw her birthday decorations. It was seeing my sister’s reaction that convinced me to write a post helping others plan similar birthday surprises for their loved ones.
Here’s a video of the surprise birthday party my husband threw me. I will also share the Amazon links we bought the items from down below. Let’s get this party planning started!
1) Pick the Party Venue
Before you start buying things. Stop and choose a place to decorate in your house. It can be a room, garage, backyard, or even on a wall. This is where your creativity and space management skills kick in. If it is a surprise make sure the person you are planning for doesn’t see. Visualize what it is you want. What colours will pop and compliment the space? Do you want a simple or extravagant party? And the most important question. What’s the best place to take instaworthy pictures?
2) Pick your Balloon Decorations (ON AMAZON)
Whose the party for? A child, teenager, gf/bf, spouse, sibling, parent, etc? Is it a milestone birthday? Browse through the different themes and styles rather than picking the first party bundle you see. Compare prices, items, and shipping dates. Read what’s really included in the item description/details.
For my birthday surprise my husband chose to decorate our bedroom. Since the room’s decor is blue and silver he knew he wanted the balloons to fit into that colour scheme. He typed “30th birthday decorations blue” on amazon and browsed until he found the package he liked.
Here are the affiliate #ad links to the birthday decorations he bought:
30th Birthday Decorations Blue & Silver
Talk Thirty To Me Rose Gold Sash
White Silver Confetti Latex Balloons
Helium Tank
Electric Balloon Pump
Balloon Glue Dots
For my sister’s birthday I used one of her living room walls to put up the decorations. At that time I had no idea I was going to be blogging about it so I didn’t take any good quality pics. But here’s a quick look at how it turned out and how easy it is to transform any room or wall of your house.
Here is the link to the party bundle I bought for her birthday celebration:
3) Helium Tank(s) OR A Balloon Pump
Depending on your budget decide if you want to fill your balloons with helium, a hand/electric pump, or by mouth. The big foil balloons come with a straw so you have the option to blow them up yourself (depending on how powerful your lungs are).
The helium tanks cost us around $50-$60 each tank. It took 3 helium tanks to fill out about 50 balloons (including two 30” foil balloons, six 18” foil balloons, and nine 16” foil balloons). There were still a lot of balloons left over that needed to be filled, but we ran out of helium. Luckily, my husband had bought an electric pump. So, he filled the remaining latex balloons with the pump and laid them on the bedroom floor.
TIPS:
Tip 1:
Buy a helium tank to blow up the foil balloons and an electric pump for the latex balloons. If you want to hang the latex balloons from the ceiling buy balloon glue dots, which are a much cheaper alternative to buying another helium tank.
Tip 2:
If you are going to use helium for latex balloons fill them on the day of the birthday surprise. Do not leave them for a day or even overnight. They lose air quickly, and begin to fall on the ground.
Tip 3:
Unless you are familiar with how to fill balloons with a helium tank, I highly recommend watching a YouTube tutorial, as it can be tricky. Practice a few times on latex balloons, before filling any decorative foil balloons. There’s a high chance the balloons will pop because of how fast they fill up.
Tip 4:
It’s better to buy extra supplies and decorations in case there’s a balloon emergency (like balloons popping, etc). Any decorations that you don’t open and use can be returned, if bought on Amazon. Or you can just hold onto them for another birthday. It’s better to have leftovers than to not have enough.
4) Whatever You Do, DO NOT PANIC! IMPROVISE!
Party planning, decorating, and hosting will leave you feeling drained, and lost. Your anxiety levels may be at an all time high. Even the slightest inconvenience or change to your plans will seem like the world is ending. When you catch yourself getting frustrated just take a break and BREATHE. If something doesn’t work the way you want it to, just improvise. Work with what you’ve got. Don’t be so hard on yourself, because the person you are doing all this for isn’t even expecting it. Any birthday surprise is a good surprise. So have fun and enjoy it!
