Markup View

Author: Rognik

Jan 21st 2013 at 12:52:35 AM

I think it should be noted about certain tropes that arise due to a surprise party. One tactic is trying to keep the subject out of the house so his/her friends can sneak in and prepare the party; this usually has the person desperately wanting to go home, and the ruse using every trick they can think of to keep the person from going home. (Example TheBigBangTheory: Penny decides to throw Leonard a birthday party because his parents never gave him one. Howard keeps trying to keep Leonard from going home, going so far as to pretend his peanut allergy was acting up. When the nurse didn't believe the claim, he intentionally aggrivated the allergy.)

The other case that frequently happens is the person is having a miserable day, and announces it so that all the party guests can hear it. This one is related to BirthdaySuitSurpriseParty, but not exclusively. For instance, the original short that inspired BobAndMargaret was a surprise party for Bob, with his friends and family all hiding in the flat. Bob goes on to make a big, awkward rant about his birthday, eventually going out to dinner with Margaret alone, and the guests all confused, still hiding for the surprise party. Another case is in GoodLuckCharlie, when Teddy has a "surprise" party at home. When she's out driving with Mrs Dabney, her skirt gets ripped off, leading to a very awkward arrival home (though avoided showing any nudity.)

Admittedly, there are cases where it's just a regular surprise party, Alice does not expect it and is genuinely pleased with the event, but those are extremely rare.