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A little background into why I decided to plan a surprise 40th Birthday party for my husband, Oliver (Olly). 

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Olly lives away from home Monday-Friday, he is a Royal Marines Officer, and changes assignment location on average every two years. He spends his weekends at home, with our family in Wiltshire, but the majority of his friends are from Sussex where he went to school and formed close friendship bonds.
With Covid, and family life limiting his interaction with his friends I decided that a surprise party for Olly was necessary to bring his friendship group together.
Olly also has a brother who moved to New Zealand 10 years ago and had only physically seen in person twice in those years. I had many a conversation over FaceTime, WhatsApp and messenger with Olly's Brother, Ally in New Zealand during lock-down about the idea of a surprise party for Olly. Ally was desperate to be a part of it and providing that the New Zealand boarders had opened to travel he would be there.

As 2022 approached and the New Zealand boarders reopened private chats on FaceTime took place between Ally and I, to make a double surprise 40th for Olly. What better way to spend his 40th than with his brother who he hadn't hugged in 4 years.

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February 2022 - The mission to find a venue without giving the surprise away. 

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I had many a battle with regards to where I should settle on for a venue. Considerations were in Sussex, which was convenient for Olly's friends but not our families as the majority were now living in the West Country. A consideration was half-way between Sussex and Wiltshire, but again for family this would pose problems. After much thought, family discussion, exchange of texts, Whatsapp messages and phone calls, asking a few key friends their opinions, I settled on the West Country.

As I began utilising what was at my fingers tips, on my mobile device, I google searched on trip adviser Hotels in a 20 mile radius of our home. Using my mobile was the safest option as Olly would not suspect a thing and it meant I could continue my research while I was away at work and from him.

On deciding Bath as the location, Bailbrook House was my immediate thought. Bailbrook House is part of a chain of Hotels called 'Handpicked Hotels'. Olly and I had our wedding reception in Buxted, Sussex in a Handpicked hotel and in our early dating years we would enjoy spa breaks at some of the chains Spa Hotels. I was very familiar with the standard of hotel and knew the quality of service would be high, friendly and perfect for such an occasion. I had also been for afternoon tea at Bailbrook House as part of a Mothers Day treat to my mother and mother-in-law.

After finding the hotel's number on their website online, I called the hotel and spoke with a party planner named Debbie. I had many conversations with Debbie, informing her of my plan and rough numerical calculations for family and friends. Debbie advised the best room regarding size of the party and dinning packages available for the party size.
I knew my financial budget and was very relieved to hear this would be possible at the location. The big day was in full motion.

Confirmation via email was received that the room had been reserved, and that Debbie had reserved a smaller room for a month to allow for movement in party size. Debbie's email was constructed in a friendly and personable manner with all the costings for the venue, food, drinks for the predicted party size, and also the back up room for the smaller more intimate party size depending on invite replies. All email correspondence from Debbie was from her professional work account, adding to her professionalism and the companies standards. Debbie's manner and tone in her emails were always very personable, making me feel a valued and very important customer. In phone call conversations, Debbie expressed her personal excitement about the event and couldn't wait to see the surprise in action.

Barton, D. & Hamilton, M. stated that "Literacy events are activities where literacy has a role. Usually there is a written text, or texts, central to the activity and there may be talk around the text. Events are observable episodes which arise from practices and are shaped by them"

This event could not have been organised and successful without the use of literacy events.

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How to word the big invite without making it sound too formal.  

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Wording the invitation to Olly's friends was very important. Not only the choice of wordsm but also the detail I needed to gain in return; making it clear this was a surprise, not a formal event and more of an opportunity for all to come together and catch up. But also making it appealing for his friends with young children to commit and make the 6 hour round trip.
I sent the invite via messenger on my mobile as this was the safest way, Olly would not see this, I would not have to spend money on invitations, write, and send them. By sending them on my mobile in messenger, I could instantly see that the invite had been received in the group chat that I had set up especially for the event and also friends could reply back instantly.
I decided to add that there may be a surprise guest flying in, as all Olly's friends knew that his brother Ally lived in New Zealand and that again this was a surprise so hush-hush.  Ally was friends with Olly's friends and some of them had not seen him in over 5 years, so this would act as another reason to make to effort to make the surprise special.

By my choice of layout, language and use of numeracy, I felt this kept the invite very clear, concise and to the point but kept it informal. I used language like 'get together' and 'relaxed' to make it sound informal and therefore increase interest as there was no expectation to dress up. I also stressed no presents as the journey itself would be costly and therefore making it sound appealing. With the timings, I used the 24-hour clock, to avoid any timing confusion.

The majority of Olly's friends have young children, so in order to make the celebration/get together accommodating I made it a lunch time gathering on a Saturday, as this was Olly's official birthday day. Also those travelling would be able to travel home after the get together if they wanted, and still enjoy a Sunday home before the working week started again.
I made sure I had stated that food would be provided but not drinks, again making it clear what would be expected of them during the celebration/get together.

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Always the big debate, what cake to bake. 

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Olly is a very keen crossfitter, so his choice of cake had to be weight-lifting orientated. I was shown a design on the internet and decided I would do something similar.
I searched my cake book for a recipe that was simple and easy to follow as I didn't have a lot of time before Olly was home from work.

Olly is a chocolate lover, and I therefore thought a chocolate cake would be best. Using the recipe from my go to Mary Berry Baking book and using the correct measuring devices, like scales and spoons, I followed the clearly typed instruction to the word and numeracy digit. The recipe stated that it took approximately 25-30 minutes for the cake to bake at 180 degrees (fan assisted), and I had calculated that to make the cakes I would need to make a total of 5 cakes. I had estimated that baking time i would need approximately 2hrs 30mins. I then needed to allow the cakes to cool in order to decorate.

To finish the process before Olly came home for his birthday weekend I needed to allow myself from start to finish approximately 6 hours. That was from the prepping, measuring, mixing, cooking, cooling and decorating. Thankfully the designs of the cakes were simple to replicate as the visual design was straight forward and clear.

"Rather than regarding numeracy as a set of abstract mathematical skills that can be learned in the classroom and subsequently applied without problems to other contexts, researchers turned to methodologies that allowed them to observe in more detail how adults actually use numeracy in their everyday lives." Helen, M. OUGHTON (2018).

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The final detail, 2 weeks before the big surprises. E-mail confirmation from the hotel. 

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Previous to the final detail, emails, phone calls and a final secret visit to the venue had been made in order to construct the Big surprise. The hotel offered that I could attend the day before the get together in order to set up the room with the decorations. They also offered to store the cake over night kitchen.

I had conversed with Debbie and through our emails and phone calls, the final plan on the day was set.
I would arrive with Olly for 'Lunch'. The staff were informed to take us to a table in the Conservatory which was out of sight of the main entrance and the otherside of the building from the car park. I was reassured that where we were to be seated Olly would have no idea what was going on.
Timings had been agreed for guests to arrive and shown into the room immediately where they would be greeted with a drink. Once all the guests had arrived a staff member would come to take our ' food order'.

I would at this point leave the table stating I needed the toilet. I would then make my way to the room where Olly's friends and our family were, ready for him to walk in. The staff member would then return to our table in the Conservatory and in form Olly that I had fallen over and needed his assistance. With that information he would be led into the room where all the guests and I were to surprise him.

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Detail for Olly's friends 48 hours before the big surprise was revealed. 

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The final detail for the friends. The message was sent in the group that i had specifically devised for the get together and was placed on 48 hours before the big surprise in order to give myself the best chance to pull it off. So far no one had given anything away and Olly was starting to feel like his 40th would pass without friends or family bothering. Family were making out they were busy and none of his friends had contacted him with regards to plans to see him or even knowledge that he would be 40 on the 17th September.

With regards to the final detail for his friends, I needed to make my use of language very simple and to the point as not to confuse anyone and therefore blow the surprise at the final hurdle. With the use of numeracy I stated the timings, what time Olly and I would arrive, what time they could arrive from, and then finally what time to expect Olly to walk into the room.

I reiterated in the message the address of the hotel to confirm the location and the number of the hotel if they needed it. I also placed my mobile number near the end of the message just in case there was an issue on the day and they needed to contact me, for instance if they were running a little late and I could postpone bringing Olly in to the room.

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Barton, D. & Hamilton, M. (2012) [chapter 1 pp7] Local Literacies: Reading and Writing in One Community New Edition London: Routledge

Mace, J. (2005) [Chapter 1 pp6] Events, practices and values in: Fowler, E. and Mace, J., eds outside the classroom: researching literacy with adult learners. Leicester.

Oughton, M. Helen (2018) [Vol. 11, Iss. 1, Art. 2, pp5] Disrupting Dominant Discourses: A (Re) introduction to Social Practice Theories of Adult Numeracy.

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It all came together for the double surprise. The staff were incredible and very helpful at assisting with the secret.

All the emails, Whatsapps, messenger messages, FaceTime and calls to family, friends and Debbie the party planner discussing the secret, assisted in creating the most magical and perfect celebration for my hero, Olly.
As Jane MACE 2005 stated "Wording and typing or handwriting together with any discussion involved in what to say and what to omit, constituted to a literacy event". Without any of the digital, numeracy and general use of literacy I could not have pulled off the event. The late night messages to Ally, who is 14 hrs ahead and the last minute panic emails and calls to Debbie, all formed part of what we can sometimes take for granted in literacy events and practices.

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With regards to social media, I was very aware that I could not invite all of Olly's friends and that I could only afford to invite his closest one's. The choice of picture that Olly's brother placed on social media was crucial, as I did not want to place a picture with all those invited in it as I did not want to upset any that felt they were left out. This could have been difficult and awkward for Olly, and also for me. I had a budget and could only afford 40 people, which included family. I did not want any of his friends that weren't invited to feel that they weren't as special and as good a friend as they may have thought and therefore upset them that they weren't invited.
The choice of picture was a family picture, therefore hopefully eliminating upset to friends who weren't invited but also allowing all those contacts on social media to see that Olly had turned 40, and that he had a surprise gathering to mark the momentous occasion with a further surprise of Ally and his girlfriend making the trip from New Zealand.