Surprise! Bringing joy to people

jedijudyjedijudy Heaven Host
Jeep ducking.
Have you heard about it, or have you maybe participate in this fun little happening?

Daughter-Unit has a Jeep SUV and found out about ducking. The idea is to surprise someone with a little rubber duck placed on their jeep. She's been doing this for about a year, and normally doesn't get to observe the results of a person finding the little gift. A couple of weeks ago, she had just ducked a Jeep, and had gotten into her car just as the man came to his Jeep. She was delighted to see him laughing and holding his little duck and showing it to other people.

Wouldn't it be nice to make someone's day, or for our day to be brightened, by little surprises like that? I have heard of people sneaking money and gift cards into boxes of diapers to help people who might be in need. Single mothers would find this especially joyful!

There must be other fun, anonymous ways for people to surprise folks with an unexpected little gift. Do you know of any? Or have you thought of ways to do something similar?

Comments

  • We had a surprise anonymous gift through our door many years ago and have done the same a few times.
  • EigonEigon Shipmate
    We were once just in time to see an old chap drawing a heart in the dust on the back door of our van - and then walking away giggling.
  • Aw that sounds sweet!
  • Mrs RR opines I bring joy to people. 'Really', I say, 'How?' 'When you leave', she says.
  • RockyRoger wrote: »
    Mrs RR opines I bring joy to people. 'Really', I say, 'How?' 'When you leave', she says.

    Ouch!

    I fished our neighbours out of bed on Thursday night to see the aurora. Luckily they remembered I'd promised to if it came again, or I'd have been very unpopular!
  • Every now and then I have a really abundant crop of Sweet Pea flowers and in order to keep the plants flowering you have to keep picking! I have given out posies of Sweet Peas to most of the houses in the road. It's nice to share joy of a productive garden.
  • This makes me want to get cheap seasonal rubber ducks (Oriental Trading Company?) and keep them in the car...
  • I’m bringing home a stuffed bear and a hedgehog for the guys from my trip… it’s rare i go somewhere without them both.
  • jedijudyjedijudy Heaven Host
    Eigon wrote: »
    We were once just in time to see an old chap drawing a heart in the dust on the back door of our van - and then walking away giggling.

    We have quite a lot of dump trucks and debris removal companies on the roads right now. One of the trucks I was following Friday had a "Florida Strong" message on the back. Underneath was scrawled in the dirt "Kentucky Driver"!

    It made me laugh!!
  • RuthRuth Shipmate
    Diomedes wrote: »
    Every now and then I have a really abundant crop of Sweet Pea flowers and in order to keep the plants flowering you have to keep picking! I have given out posies of Sweet Peas to most of the houses in the road. It's nice to share joy of a productive garden.

    I have an abundance of basil in a little bed between the building and the sidewalk, and when someone admires it while I'm tending to it, I offer them some. Been giving away basil for months.
  • HuiaHuia Shipmate
    Diomedes wrote: »
    Every now and then I have a really abundant crop of Sweet Pea flowers and in order to keep the plants flowering you have to keep picking! I have given out posies of Sweet Peas to most of the houses in the road. It's nice to share joy of a productive garden.

    Thank you. I didn't know about picking sweet peas to keep them flowering. I'm about to plant a a couple of packets of them. I will share them round the neighbourhood.
  • Last month I was staying in a Hampton Inn outside of Columbus, Ohio, and was delighted to discover a rubber duckie waiting in the bathroom. Although I left it there, they obviously expect the visitor to take the duck with them because the housekeeping cart has a bag of replacement ducks! I did some research and it does not happen at every Hampton Inn (although I gather one in Joliet, Illinois does). It seems to have started with one in North Carolina (which happens to have a statue of a rubber duckie in its lobby) that started providing ducks to its guests with the encouragement to take the ducks with them on their travels and send photos back to the hotel's Facebook page so everybody can see the duck's adventures!

    It also seems that cruise passengers (not the cruise operator!) have also begun hiding rubber ducks on the ship. Again, just to delight people.
  • Why jeeps? Why not put rubber ducks on other vehicles?

    I'd want to let the tyres down on jeeps, not give the owners a pleasant surprise...

    But that's just me ...

    Mwa ha ha ha ...
  • Yesterday a neighbour spontaneously gave me two pounds of apples from her allotment.
  • If any other neighbour of ours gives us any more apples, bless them, I'll give them some bottles of my friend's homemade wine. That'll teach 'em! We are heading for a stewed apple event horizon. I don't like stewed apple. At all.
  • I've got plenty if you want them.
  • I am on a very low-salt diet. My home health aid baked me a loaf of sourdough bread without adding salt to the recipe as a gift. She also decorated the top with flowers made from rice paper and edible dye. It was beautiful.
  • Lovely. What a gift.
  • I've got plenty if you want them.

    Chocolate, please.
  • jedijudyjedijudy Heaven Host
    Why jeeps? Why not put rubber ducks on other vehicles?

    Apparently there are no rules against ducking other kinds of cars. My car is not a Jeep, but I have one on my dash beside Yoda! Apparently Chevys do a similar thing but with sharks!
  • Chevys? Jeeps?

    This is a world to which I am not party.
  • HuiaHuia Shipmate
    Nor am I, but I like the idea.
  • BoogieBoogie Heaven Host
    Diomedes wrote: »
    Every now and then I have a really abundant crop of Sweet Pea flowers and in order to keep the plants flowering you have to keep picking! I have given out posies of Sweet Peas to most of the houses in the road. It's nice to share joy of a productive garden.

    Me too. I collect little charity shop vases and take little posies to people - including my physio and chiropodist. 🥰

  • Chevys? Jeeps?

    This is a world to which I am not party.

    Chevy is short for car company Chevrolet.

    Jeeps are, well, Jeeps. There is a possible connection to Eugene the Jeep, a character from Popeye.

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeep

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_the_Jeep

    https://youtu.be/imCDVzNJkp4?si=4yQHlmdt0RU3y-OV
  • jedijudy wrote: »
    Jeep ducking.
    Have you heard about it, or have you maybe participate in this fun little happening?

    Daughter-Unit has a Jeep SUV and found out about ducking.

    I do not own a Jeep (and very much regret the prevalence of the SUV in general), but I'm fortunate to have not had my vehicle ducked with.

    You are free to call me a grumpy old curmudgeon, but leaving some little object on my car wouldn't bring me joy - it would bring me mild annoyance, because now I have to deal with removing the object from my car before I drive off, and then I further have to deal with disposing of the object in some responsible fashion.
  • ChastMastr wrote: »
    Chevys? Jeeps?

    This is a world to which I am not party.

    Chevy is short for car company Chevrolet.

    Jeeps are, well, Jeeps. There is a possible connection to Eugene the Jeep, a character from Popeye.

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeep

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_the_Jeep

    https://youtu.be/imCDVzNJkp4?si=4yQHlmdt0RU3y-OV

    Yes, I know what they are. I'm just saying it's a world to which I'm not party.
  • jedijudy wrote: »
    Jeep ducking.
    Have you heard about it, or have you maybe participate in this fun little happening?

    Daughter-Unit has a Jeep SUV and found out about ducking.

    I do not own a Jeep (and very much regret the prevalence of the SUV in general), but I'm fortunate to have not had my vehicle ducked with.

    You are free to call me a grumpy old curmudgeon, but leaving some little object on my car wouldn't bring me joy - it would bring me mild annoyance, because now I have to deal with removing the object from my car before I drive off, and then I further have to deal with disposing of the object in some responsible fashion.

    Put it on another nearby car. They may be delighted by it!
    ChastMastr wrote: »
    Chevys? Jeeps?

    This is a world to which I am not party.

    Chevy is short for car company Chevrolet.

    Jeeps are, well, Jeeps. There is a possible connection to Eugene the Jeep, a character from Popeye.

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeep

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_the_Jeep

    https://youtu.be/imCDVzNJkp4?si=4yQHlmdt0RU3y-OV

    Yes, I know what they are. I'm just saying it's a world to which I'm not party.

    Well, of course not--Popeye and his world are fictional. Of course, perhaps the Jeep could teleport here, and---

    Oh, you mean the cars!

    Never mind.

    :tongue:
  • You are free to call me a grumpy old curmudgeon, but leaving some little object on my car wouldn't bring me joy - it would bring me mild annoyance, because now I have to deal with removing the object from my car before I drive off, and then I further have to deal with disposing of the object in some responsible fashion.
    But...but...but they are duckies!

    Now my little car (Sarah Jane V)(fifth generation of the proud Sarah Jane line) is a little Ducky Girl. She loves her duckies (which is her distinct trait to separate her from the prior Sarahs; each one has a distinct trait)(Sarah Jane IV was much more into Hello Kitty). But Sarah Jane V is NOT spoiled. She just has the absolute basic duckies that any little girl would be expected to have. She has Mr. Quackers, who is her ducky when she has a bath. And there is Ducky Bear (a ducky wearing a little bear costume) for bed time. Both of those she inherited from her ancestor Sarahs. But for her self she has Party Duck (bought when she first came under my care). And then when she passed her physical she was awarded with Dragon Ducky. And then true-friend-of-my-heart Penelope gave her Jazzy Ducky (which is waaaaaaaay too long a story to explain, but amazingly sweet, as Penelope is) and Reindeer Ducky. And that was it for a time. But after I declined to take the hotel duck (see prior post) Penelope decided that Sarah Jane needed more duckies, so she presented a box full. Because Sarah is NOT spoiled, I limit her to only 2 additional duckies per month. So, this being October and Halloween month, she currently has Ducky Witch and Pumpkin Ducky, but come November that will change to Turkey Ducky and Pilgrim Ducky.

    So she is NOT spoiled. Just the normal ducks any little girl would be expected to have.

    Oh, and of course, when she went in recently to have some recall work done at the dealership, she was accompanied by Doctor Ducky and Nurse Ducky, but that is only proper medical care. They aren't with her under normal circumstances. She is NOT spoiled.
  • O Sarah Jane. Blessings upon you, Elisabeth Sladen, my first Companion from my first Doctor. <3
  • I do drive @ChastMastr but I'm not a 'petrol-head' and the idea of Jeeps leaves me cold.
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    House along the road has several ancient jeeps parked outside, one, if not two, of which look to be1940s vintage. They are however, completely duckless.

    In fact, I've never seen anything left on motor vehicles hereabouts bar the odd parking ticket.

    Maybe it's not a Scottish thing to be wasting the bawbees on such skibbrie.

    You'll have had your tea.
  • BoogieBoogie Heaven Host
    A lovely thing people do round here is to put surplus fruit and veg outside their houses for anyone to take. Our veg and apple costs go right down ar this time of year. 🍎 🍏
  • My husband was once baffled to find a cucumber had been put through our letter box. I didn't realise he was baffled. The following conversation ensued:

    NE Man: Someone has put a cucumber through our letter box.
    Me: Well, put it in the fridge.
    NEM: Someone has put a cucumber through our letter box.
    Me: Fridge.
    NEM: Someone has put a cucumber through our letter-box
    Me: (getting exasperated) Fridge!
    NEM: Who would put a cucumber through our letter-box?
    Me: Could be anyone. Put it in the fridge.
    NEM: (now totally baffled) Anyone? But why would anyone put a cucumber through our letter-box?
    Me: It'll be a buy-one-get-one-free offer. Someone only wanted one cucumber, but didn't want to turn down the free one, so they took it and thought we could use it.
    NEM: (mind blown).


  • la vie en rougela vie en rouge Purgatory Host, Circus Host
    I admit to having been a bit baffled to have arrived home one day to find a packet of breakfast cereal sitting outside the door.

    Turns out to have come from the lady next door. (I think she's entitled to use a food bank and they'd given her something she knew she wouldn't eat. Would have been rude to ask her though.)
  • My husband was once baffled to find a cucumber had been put through our letter box. I didn't realise he was baffled. The following conversation ensued:

    NE Man: Someone has put a cucumber through our letter box.
    Me: Well, put it in the fridge.
    NEM: Someone has put a cucumber through our letter box.
    Me: Fridge.
    NEM: Someone has put a cucumber through our letter-box
    Me: (getting exasperated) Fridge!
    NEM: Who would put a cucumber through our letter-box?
    Me: Could be anyone. Put it in the fridge.
    NEM: (now totally baffled) Anyone? But why would anyone put a cucumber through our letter-box?
    Me: It'll be a buy-one-get-one-free offer. Someone only wanted one cucumber, but didn't want to turn down the free one, so they took it and thought we could use it.
    NEM: (mind blown).


    And how did you use it?
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    You didn't tell him about the dreaded Kaleyard Rustlers? Looting allotments under cover of darkness - turn your face to the wall, my darling, while the beetroot men go by - the cucumber doubtless discarded by one being hotly pursued by the Law.
  • If the spring on your letterbox is strong enough, it arrives ready sliced.
  • KarlLBKarlLB Shipmate
    My husband was once baffled to find a cucumber had been put through our letter box. I didn't realise he was baffled. The following conversation ensued:

    NE Man: Someone has put a cucumber through our letter box.
    Me: Well, put it in the fridge.
    NEM: Someone has put a cucumber through our letter box.
    Me: Fridge.
    NEM: Someone has put a cucumber through our letter-box
    Me: (getting exasperated) Fridge!
    NEM: Who would put a cucumber through our letter-box?
    Me: Could be anyone. Put it in the fridge.
    NEM: (now totally baffled) Anyone? But why would anyone put a cucumber through our letter-box?
    Me: It'll be a buy-one-get-one-free offer. Someone only wanted one cucumber, but didn't want to turn down the free one, so they took it and thought we could use it.
    NEM: (mind blown).


    You weren't baffled?!?
  • pehaps in a bit of a salad daze.
  • RockyRoger wrote: »
    pehaps in a bit of a salad daze.
    🤣
  • Me: It'll be a buy-one-get-one-free offer. Someone only wanted one cucumber, but didn't want to turn down the free one, so they took it and thought we could use it.
    NEM: (mind blown).

    I now have an image of the North East Household being the dumping ground for excess cucumbers, and of you coming home to find a dozen of the things on the doormat, courtesy of a dozen people who had encountered the same BOGOF offer.

  • So this thread is about jeeps and cucumbers.
  • jedijudyjedijudy Heaven Host
    HarryCH wrote: »
    So this thread is about jeeps and cucumbers.

    ...And any unexpected joyful surprises!

    One of my favorite surprises for my dad was organizing a parade for his 90th birthday! The look of delight on his face was priceless!
  • Why do people assume a surprise is always welcome. I think the surprise party is an invention of Beelzebub.
    Yes, this is another grumpy old curmudgeon speaking.
  • jedijudyjedijudy Heaven Host
    There are definitely unwelcome surprises, like an unexpected bill in the mail, or folks throwing horrible things into your front garden, which happens on a regular basis with one of my friends.

    Happy surprises are in a different category, I think! Like the time I was in the fast food drive through and found that the person ahead of me had paid for my meal!

  • BoogieBoogie Heaven Host
    I avoid surprise parties by throwing my own. 🙂

  • I have made it known to all my friends that if they want to give me a surprise party, they can have it on their own.
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