Konted's Make My Day: A Surprise Party For Lilian Ivy

A Surprise Party For Lilian Ivy

It was supposed to be a surprise party for Lilian Ivy. A birthday bash for her. Needless to say, the element of surprise would have to be there first and foremost. Plan was made several months in advance. So airtight was the confidentiality of the planning and execution that you could not get any significant details from the organizers.

In a special event like this, secrecy and holding on to it, come what may, is primordial. You employ strategies to be able to achieve your main objective. And these strategies, most of the time, are akin to trickery bordering on deception. You tell the target some things which are untrue. A bait is laid and dangled so as to lure that person and he/she finally falls into the trap. The main intent is to make that person swallow it hook, line and sinker.

And so Shangrila Hotel in Makati was selected as venue. A 5-star hotel was the appropriate place. A small special working committee was formed. Professionals were hired to handle the technical matters. Date of affair kept on changing but was finally set on Aug 4. Confirmation was made only on the penultimate date of the event. It was in the form of a text message:

"Final reminder -- Everything is ready except Ivy. Ha ha !! Ivy will be celebrating her special day on Aug 6. I will give her a SURPRISE party on Saturday Aug 4 at the Quezon Ballroom in Makati Shangrila Hotel. Pls. join us in this celebration together with your spouses. Pls be at the venue at 6 pm as I intend to bring Ivy there by 6:30 pm. It is under the DUMMY affair "ÄFLI Recognition Night". Attire is smart casual."

That text message came from Ivy's husband Rene. For us, that was a confirmation, at last, that the special event would finally push through. And on the actual date, while traversing the steep Rosario Flyover en route to Makati Shangrila, we received another text message:

" Quezon Ballroom. U will occupy Table # 13."

Suspense was building up gradually. The invited guests were now actively involved. It was now a case of all versus one. And as we occupied the seats at Table # 13, the over-all coordinator announced that the celebrant would be arriving in about 45 minutes. Meanwhile canapes and drinks were served. And as the appointed time was nearing, lights were out and guests were asked to refrain from going to the restroom. When Rene and Ivy marched in to the ballroom and took table # 7, the night's emcee approached and uttered: "Ms. Ivy Gener?". This was the cue and what was rehearsed several times earlier. In unison, and as the lights were switched on again, guests
shouted : Surprise !!!!

Ivy looked around and smiled at a group. But from all indications, she was not surprised at all. She was not overwhelmed. She was not flabbergasted. Did she know of it way in advance? Was there a leak? Leak or leakage and other acts of the same nature, though bigger in scale, have been with us ever since. Remember it was a leak that eventually exposed President Nixon and the Watergate Break- in. Leak did him in. It was also a leak that brought out the Monica Lewinsky affair. And the most notorious leak of them all, when Judas Iscariot tipped Roman authorities of the whereabouts of the man they called Jesus.

But was there really a leak? Did somebody tip Ivy about the whole affair? As Ivy would tell the guests later on, nobody told her about it. It was only pure intuition that worked for her. From conversations with friends, she connected the dots. And as her former colleagues would say in their testimonials, she is one person you cannot play around with. She has that high level of awareness of what goes around her. No one can take her for a ride. She's nobody's fool !!!!

Anyway, with or without that element of surprise, nobody cared. Guests did not give a damn. With a good venue, good food, good entertainment numbers complete with props, sound and light effects, and a good number of well wishers, almost everything worked out well. The affair was a blockbuster, so to speak. With drinks overflowing and with good music of the 60's being played by the Bits and Pieces, they danced the night away. Till the clock struck twelve.

- Konted