With the holiday shopping season nearly over, the last step is ensuring all your purchases get to your door, hopefully undiscovered.
Many companies have goals of reducing packaging waste or more sustainable shipping practices. This means the sneaky brown box you might have relied upon in Christmases past is slowly being phased out for products that come in their own box.
One big-ticket Christmas gift particularly prone to falling into this category is the Barbie Dreamhouse, a dollhouse in high demand by little girls everywhere.
In a video that has drawn over 1.9 million views, user @aubrieina, a seasonal UPS employee, said this particular present was not to be spoiled on her watch. She showed herself wrapping a Dreamhouse that was sent in its own box to conceal the Christmas magic within.
"Just a seasonal UPS employee trying to make sure Christmas isn't ruined for a little girl after a store shipped this Barbie Dreamhouse in the most obvious packaging ever," a text overlay on the video reads. She then wraps it in plain brown paper.
In the video's caption, @aubrieina says her "Santa spirit" just could not allow this to happen.
"My santa spirit just could not deliver this to someones house + risk a little girl have this spoiled for her," the caption reads.
The Daily Dot has reached out to @aubrieina via email, as well as to UPS via email regarding the video.
This is not the first Barbie Dreamhouse that has shipped in its original packaging this holiday season, and it's certain to not be the last.
In a similar situation, an Amazon shopper shared Ring camera footage of her daughter discovering the Barbie Dreamhouse she had purchased for her Christmas gift. She used quick-thinking to convince her daughter that the gift was a donation for another child.
Her daughter will receive the Barbie Dreamhouse—and hopefully be just as excited, she said—but her primary issue was with the delivery of a package in its own box at Christmastime.
When reached for comment, an Amazon representative shared that this is part of the company's goal of reducing packaging waste. When an item is packaged in its own sturdy box, customers can opt to receive it in that box or ask for it to be shipped in an additional Amazon box to avoid spoiling any surprises.
Many retailers, including Walmart, are implementing similar policies, meaning this could happen more frequently.
Several viewers shared stories of their UPS delivery drivers making concerted efforts to deliver Christmas presents in a way that they would not be prematurely discovered by the intended recipient.
"My driver put ours on the side of the house, instead of the front door," one commenter wrote. "They even walked up to our camera and said 'I don’t want her to see this so here is where I am putting it'. I started crying."
"My USPS lady put my daughter's Barbie dream house around the back of the house so she wouldn’t see it getting off the bus," another said. "Y’all are the real MVP’s."
"I bought this same thing and my ups driver came to the door and explained what it and asked where he could hide it," a commenter wrote. "UPS drivers out here saving Christmas."
@aubrieina my santa spirit just could not deliver this to someones house + risk a little girl have this spoiled for her #barbiedreamhouse #santa #packagedelivery ♬ All I Want for Christmas Is You - Mariah Carey
The comments section, filled with hopeful stories of delivery drivers giving their absolute best to their customers, was enough to bring many to tears.
"Sometimes everything feels so dark in the world, but then i see something like this—a total stranger just wanting to preserve a child’s holiday magic," one commenter wrote. "Out of the kindness of their heart. BRB SOBBING."
"Why am I crying reading a comment section about a Barbie dream house?" another echoed.
"This comment section [teary-eyed emoji]," a commenter wrote.
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The post ‘Everything Barbie comes like that’: UPS sends Barbie Dreamhouse to customer. Then a UPS delivery driver steps in appeared first on The Daily Dot.
