The Little Princess is using some binoculars and observing the Admiral blowing up balloons and the King and Queen carrying a box. She explains to the narrator that she's looking for presents as it's her birthday the next day. She runs into the living room where the King and Queen have wrapped up the box and asks what the present is. They say that it's a surprise, and when she says that it doesn't need to be, they say that surprises are better.
Some time later, the Princess goes into her room, finds a magnifying glass, and continues to search for presents. She goes into the kitchen and observes the Chef making her cake, then into the King's study where she sees the General and Prime Minister in clown garb practising for a birthday show. Finally, she goes into the living room, where the King and Queen are hiding the big present.
Then, the clock chimes signifying that it's bedtime. The Princess goes to bed, but then later gets up to search for the present. She finds it, opens it, and after a long look, induces that it's a rocket. She shouts with joy, alerting the Maid to her presence, but the Princess lies that she just had insomnia.
The next morning, the Princess wakes up her parents and the Maid and they go down for breakfast, however, the festivities, even the cake, disinterest her because she was spoiled. Then, she goes to her room crying. The Maid comes by and the Princess tries to have her surprise her by shouting, "Surprise!" yet it doesn't work.
The adults formulate a plan, while the Princess continues to brood, and she goes out of her room to find the hallway decorated and the adults shouting, "Surprise!". The surprise is that they've set up some games, including Twister, hopscotch, chess, and Blind Man's Buff. The Princess surprises the narrator, too, with a squirting flower.
This episode provides examples of
- Acting Unnatural: When the King and Queen pretend to be doing "nothing", they do toothy smiles and move abruptly. Also, when the clock chimes bedtime, they do obviously fake yawns to cement the fact in the Princess's mind, even though her bedtime is before theirs, which is probably why they weren't really sleepy.
- Age-Appropriate Angst: Having a surprise spoiled is simply an annoyance to an adult, but because she is four, the Princess cries about it.
- Ageless Birthday Episode: The Princess's age is officially four, so either she was actually three in season one but turned four here, or she had her fourth birthday all over again because she's Not Allowed to Grow Up. There was only one candle on her cake, but she's clearly not turning one.
- Artistic License: The Princess wins a chess game without saying, "Checkmate!".
- Ambiguous Situation: Did the Princess pretend to sleep for a while, and then get up when everyone else went to bed, or did she fall asleep, wake up, and then pretend to sleep for a while?
- Birthday Episode: This episode takes place on, and just before, the Princess's birthday.
- Cock-a-Doodle Dawn: Subverted. We see the rooster in the morning, but he doesn't even wake up, let alone crow.
- Death Glare: When the King puts a bow on the Queen's head, she frowns at him.
- Dramatic Irony: During the breakfast scene, the adults think the Princess hasn't discovered the secrets, when we know she has.
- Fuzz Therapy: Attempted in vain. Puss snuggles up to the crying Princess, but she doesn't even notice.
- Gone Horribly Right: The Princess gets to find out what her birthday surprises are, but she doesn't find them interesting anymore as a result.
- Happy Dance: The Princess dances in place when she wins a game of chess.
- Idiot Ball: The normally sensible narrator asks, "What's the matter, Princess?" even though it's obvious she's sad about having her surprises spoiled.
- I Don't Think That's Such a Good Idea: When the Princess goes on her search, the narrator asks, "Are you sure that's a good idea?".
- Plot Hole: While the rocket was a spoiled surprise, cake is to be expected on a birthday party so most people would know they were getting cake even without seeing it, and even if the Princess knows that there's a show, she could still be surprised because she doesn't know what the show consists of.
- Smart Ball: The Princess (a four-year-old) and Scruff (a 95% regular dog) temporarily become smart enough to play chess at one point.
- Speak in Unison: When the Chef brings the breakfast tray, the royal family plus the Maid say, "Hooray!" in unison.
- Waking Non Sequitur: The Queen is so half-asleep when the Princess wakes her and the King up, that she mishears "my birthday" as "your truffles".
- Westminster Chimes: The grandfather clock chimes with the familiar "BING bong BING bong. BONG bing BING bong!" refrain.
