Surprising Beginnings

The germ of the idea that eventually became Surprise.com was created in 1998 when founder Darrell Benatar started noticing the way that his wife swapped gift ideas with her friends. Darrell quickly realized that they would benefit from a place to share their ideas and a larger network of people to share with. He began dreaming of a website that would allow talented gift givers to share their unique ideas with each other and help the gifting-challenged. The goal from the beginning was to create a site that was unusual, creative and well...surprising. The URL had to reflect the philosophy, so when the domain "Surprise.com" came up for sale it was a match made in heaven.

A Surprise is Born

The company was founded in 1999 and the small staff quickly began soliciting all their friends and family for their favorite gift ideas and scouring the web for unique items that you couldn't find just anywhere. It quickly became clear that different people had very different ideas of what makes a good gift. When one staffer mentioned that Silk Long Underwear was one of the best gifts she'd ever received, the rest of the staff was baffled. It really was a great gift, but only for someone who was Always Cold. This was the beginning of the narrow gift categories that give Surprise.com its unique flavor. The specific categories are more helpful to users, giving them a new way to think about their recipients and often inspiring their own creativity.

Surprising the World

In the Spring of 2000 the Surprise.com website was officially launched. Users began visiting the site, finding great gift ideas and sharing their own. The unique categories grew as Surprise.com learned more about what users wanted and how people thought about gift giving. With the web offering access to nearly limitless options, Surprise.com became home to thousands of gift ideas submitted by a worldwide community of users. As the site grew it gained critical acclaim, making PC Magazine's Top 100 Websites, Time Magazine’s Best 50 Websites, and becoming a Forbes Favorite in Forbes' Best of the Web.

The Next Big Surprise

Never ones to be content with the status quo, Surprise.com has big plans. We are developing new ways to bring gift givers together to share their ideas and we'll be adding great new features to the site that will help our users in new and better ways. We'll always have a surprise in store for you.