A mom was left frozen in shock when she opened her front door to find a box – before her daughter, who lives abroad, leaped out to surprise her. Marilyn, from near Salt Lake City, Utah, had been separated from her daughter, Julie, who lives in Switzerland. Around the holiday season, however, Julie said she began to miss her family, and so did everything she could to return home in the weeks after Thanksgiving. Having arrived in the city, Julie then texted two of her five sisters to help prepare the surprise, which involved one picking her up from the airport and another readying a large furniture box she had sourced. The sisters placed the box on their parents' porch and Julie climbed inside, recording on her phone as she was surrounded by pitch black. One of her sisters then encouraged her mom to head to the front door, and when she opened it, Marilyn began to inspect the box. As she did, Julie burst out, saying "Hi" as her mom stared down, frozen by the surprise.

This snapper spends hours painstakingly putting together explosive action shots – out of TOYS. Photographer Jared Middleton, 26, recreates the dramatic scenes using well-known children's characters like a Stormtrooper from Star Wars and Pokemon's Charmander. Call centre worker Jared, from New York, began taking the pictures as a hobby in 2014 in local parks, abandoned buildings and his own backyard. He said: "After I started taking my toy photography, I began posting my collection on Instagram

An emotional grandpa gets overwhelmed with happiness when his grandson surprises him at a restaurant. Mum Erica Lusher, 25, said she and her family travelled to Florida, USA to visit family and wanted to surprise her son Ayden's grandpa Greg at Golden Corral in Port Orange. As soon as he saw his grandson, Greg began to cry with joy. Erica said: "I felt happy that we were able to surprise grandpa.

A viral video of a pigeon appearing to 'come to the rescue' when its owner played dead. But why? This shorts video explains very quickly why there's a lot more to pigeons than meets the eye :-) Do you think pigeons make good pets? Let us know in the comments.