For me it was at the tail end of Covid and our youngest son had been stuck in Spain lockdown for military duty for almost 2 years. We got him home and I worked it out with wife's bosses that she would have a week off- that was the biggest risk, as they were trying informally check on things in preparation for her being gone, without letting the cat out of the bag. By some miracle, it we pulled it off. I told her I was going to the store, went to airport and got son and then dropped that on her. Oh...and the next day, then we went to his older brother's place in Missouri for a few days. I doubt I can ever remotely approach how awesome that was because of all of the emotions involved. 100% surprise element. 100% execution by all involved.
Now, for the past 6 months, the wife has been very politely asking for a Peloton Treadmill to go with her bike. She runs 3-5x per week, but often opts for other cardio because of weather and increasingly, dogs roaming the neighborhood. We also have just recently got some important news regarding my employment, and had previously had to consider the possibility of moving. I didn't want to move that sumbeech. Her birthday is in the next week and our anniversary is middle of March. All of these factored in my choice to pull the trigger on getting the Tread about 2 weeks ago. She very, very rarely asks for anything like this, so it was not the end of the world if we didn't get it- first world problems and all.
So they delivered the Tread and set it up just now and everything is ready for when she gets home from work. I covered up the Ring camera this morning because of some ' very important meetings' at work. She still has ZERO idea. I can't wait till she sees it.
What is the best surprise you ever gave someone, or what were factors of difficulty/ secrecy that made it special?