Surprise Parties--Good, Bad, or Ugly?

The big secret in my family is that we have managed to plan and pull off a baby shower for my sister, who lives in Florida, from the northeast (my mom and I are in New Hampshire and my brother-in-law's mother is in Connecticut)with some strategic assistance from a couple of my sister's coworkers.

The big shock, of course, is that it evidently remained a surprise until today.

I didn't go, although I wish I had, in large part because I recently became an aunt for the first time when my brother and sister-in-law had their baby, and it is an honor and a privilege that I can't wait to experience again. My school vacation was this week, and with the pancreatitis hospitalization, I didn't have any time to take off (although I'm planning on going down right before or right after "Baby Mr. Ed" arrives on whatever timeframe works best for Mary). Addie flew down with my mother, and they'll be coming back late tomorrow night (yes, Addie's missing a day of school ... it's not every day her beloved aunt has a baby shower). I did try to run interference by keeping in contact with Mary (not that I wouldn't have anyway, but I tried to keep track of where she was and what she was doing and if she was suspicious). It would have been a scream if Mary had bumped into my mom and Addie at Target or on the UFL campus or something ... and that's the sort of thing that happens all the time in my family.

It made me wonder, though ... I think I would be overwhelmed to the point of being miserable if somebody threw me a surprise party. I mean, I would appreciate it tremendously, but I'd probably start crying and leave the room and cause some stupid scene because I'd be embarrassed and stressed that people put that much trouble into me.

So here's my question--surprise parties, yea or nay?