January 3, 2013
Creating a Secret, Private Event on Facebook
Topics: Social Media
About two years ago, I wrote a post which posed the question: How can I create a public event that blocks certain users? I wanted to create a public event that everyone could see *except* the person whose surprise party it was.
I still don’t have the answer!
In the meantime, however, that post continues to be of the most-viewed articles on our entire site. It attracts visits from people asking questions like:
- How to block someone from seeing an event on facebook
- How to make a surprise party event on facebook
- How to make a facebook event secret
- Surprise party facebook event
- And more…
Even though the post attracted a ton of traffic, it also had a fairly high bounce rate and low amount of time on the page. This caused myself to ask: What can I do to improve this page?
Well, by looking at the average searches that lead users to this page, it was obvious: my post doesn’t answer questions about creating a basic private event. Most people are looking for a simple way to just create a private Facebook event or surprise party; the issue of blocking only one person is less of a concern.
So without further ado, here are screenshot instructions for how to create a Private Facebook Event, whether it’s a surprise party or otherwise. Um, and sorry it took me two years to do this:
1. Go to your Facebook Homepage. Click “Home” on the upper right-hand corner of the screen:
2. Click on your “Events” from the left-hand column:
3. Click “Create Event” from the top right-hand side of the screen:
4. Choose “Invite Only” for the Event Privacy. The next screen is where you can add the event name, time, location, details, and privacy settings. If you want the event to be totally secret and private to only those who you invite, select “Invite Only”:
4. Decide whether you want guests to invite friends or not. If the party truly needs to be as secure and private as possible, you’ll probably want to leave this unchecked.
5. Customize your event with photos, invite friends, message guests and more. See the upper right-hand corner of the screen for full controls over your event. And by the way Facebook – how come we can’t use larger featured images for events?!
5. That’s it! Hope this additional information helps you create your top-secret, invite-only Facebook event.
Written by Sarah Mackenzie.
Can the event name be viewed though? For example if I take all these precautions.. and someone RSVP’s.. would it say “sally is going to Bob’s surprise party’? and then Bob could potentially see this?
Posted by Kristina, February 16, 2013
Hi Kristina, No one can see any posts related to a private event unless they are invited. So if Sally joins the event, it might post to Sally’s wall or the event wall, “Sally is going to Bob’s party’, but ONLY Sally and ONLY people who are invited to the event can see this. Sally’s friends (such as Bob) who are NOT invited to the event, can NOT see any related posts about the event. Hope that makes sense?
Posted by Sarah, February 19, 2013
Thanks so much for sharing this information!
So, that’s it? You just need to make sure you choose “invite only” and the event is private? I am trying to throw a surprise party for my boyfriend and sort of panicking about the whole FB invite thing!
Posted by Christie, February 24, 2013
Yup, Invite Only and you will be all set!
Posted by Sarah, February 28, 2013
Thank you for the info. It really does help. I too am planning a surprise birthday for my boyfriend and I’m a little worried about him seeing it some how. I’ve seen friends comment on events that I wasn’t invited too and people I don’t even know. BUT it could just be because they didn’t check all the appropriate boxes to keep it private. My fingers are crossed here because I will be soooo bummed if FB is the reason his surprised is ruined.
Posted by Becky, March 5, 2013
Hi Sarah,
I’m sure you have been asked this before but is it possible to create an event for a FB PAGE with the same ‘invite only’ settings? Ie: private until I want to to make it public (and invite everyone?) Tks!
Posted by Nikolas, March 30, 2013
Hi Nikolas – Good question! Since Facebook pages are public by default, any events that you create for a Facebook page will also be public – there is no way to make the event private.
Posted by Sarah, April 2, 2013
So my wife left her FB account unlocked and I grabbed a list of her friends.
I don’t see a way to add them to the party without friending them . . which I can do . . maybe. But it will be suspicious.
If I can get on her account again what is the best way to invite them without tipping off my wife?
Posted by Aaron, May 3, 2013
OMG you have made it so easy and my events page is up within 20minutes!! I had to think longgg and hard what I wanted in the details otherwise would have been quicker!!!
Posted by Kinny, May 4, 2013
My page doesn’t have an events column ?
Posted by angelica, May 5, 2013
Hi Angelica,
If creating an event from your own Facebook account, you should see a link that says “Events” on the left hand side of the main Facebook page. Be sure to click “HOME” so that way you can see all options (versus looking at your personal profile page).
Are you trying to create an event for a Group or Page, instead of from your own personal account?
Posted by Sarah, May 6, 2013
Can you create “Invite Only” events using Pages? The Privacy drop-down menu only seems to appear when I create events from my personal account.
Posted by Alex, May 14, 2013
Hi Alex,
When you create an event for a Facebook page, everyone who has liked the page is automatically included in the event. Events are also public, since all Facebook pages are public by default as well.
Posted by Sarah, May 15, 2013
Hi sara,
My column doesn’t have events either….
it has news feed/messages/photos and search friends.
??
Posted by kaytee, May 15, 2013
Hi Kaytee,
It might depend on what version you are using – Facebook has made some upgrades so things look different for some people now, and this post was actually written for an older version. However – you should be able to edit what appears in your Favorites. See this link: https://www.facebook.com/help/417651158276012/ and then “How Do I Rearrange My Homepage Favorites”. Hope that helps!
Posted by Sarah, May 16, 2013