A WISP of wrapping paper has travelled throughout the state in the days since Samantha Heaslip discovered her car had been gift wrapped.
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Her five-year-old car had been parked at a friend’s house in Golden Square overnight on Friday.
Samantha was in for a surprise when she returned on Saturday morning to retrieve the vehicle.
“My husband dropped me off to pick up the car and I was like, ‘What is going on here?’” she said.
Her friend, Scott Wilkinson, and his entire family were sitting outside their house eagerly awaiting Samantha’s arrival.
Her car was entirely covered in Christmas wrapping paper.
”Credit goes to them for getting every last detail,” Samantha said.
“My antenna has still got a bit of wrapping paper on it.”
She has travelled to Swan Hill, Cape Schanck and Gippsland since the wrapping incident.
“It’s still on there [the antenna]. I’ve been sending updates,” Samantha said.
Scott said the inspiration to gift wrap the car struck on a whim.
“We were just being silly,” he said.
“She [Samantha] has done some nice things for us this year so we thought we’d give her a surprise when she came to pick up her car.”
Exactly how long it took, and how much wrapping paper was needed to achieve the desired result, Scott could not recall.
“We just woke up on Saturday morning and did it,” he said.
Samantha later learned Scott and his family had been ‘a bit nervous’ that she would turn up while the wrapping was in progress.
She could see the car as she approached the house.
“There were a lot of people that were slowing down to take photos before I even got there,” Samantha said.
Scott was impressed by the community’s response to the prank.
“One lady rode past on a bike and she goes, ‘Is it a book?’” he said.
It was the first time he had gift wrapped a car.
“But maybe not the last...” Scott joked.
Samantha isn’t likely to let the Wilkinsons get away with the same joke twice.
“I’ll just have to find a way to get him back,” she said.
“The challenge has been set.”
- with Tom O’Callaghan