A few weeks ago my sister Shannon turned 40. Last year I knew I was going to be away for the birthday so to make up for it, I thought, what would be a dream gift for this wonderful sister, daughter, mother, cousin, niece, colleague and friend? As Shannon is yet to experience the joy of overseas travel, a holiday abroad would be an amazing present for her to remember forever.

I told family about the holiday gift idea and they were very supportive so I developed a plan to enable this gift without Shannon knowing. A protected OzCrowd fund-raising page, a secret Facebook event and complicit family and friends were key aspects of this plan.

As the campaign title and main image were publicly visible I chose a generic title and image

Accessing the fund-raising campaign page required a password

Photos of Shannon and the subtitle from the campaign page

The secret Facebook event page spread awareness of the campaign and communicated updates

The campaign was a success with dozens of people donating towards Shannon’s gift. The present was announced to Shannon in Australia on the 15th via a video I pre-recorded:

https://youtu.be/_Tooe0W3Uyo

I am looking forward to planning the trip with her!