During the 2022 December Bear Blitz Online Teddy Bear Show, a new event was initiated called Santa's Surprise®.

The participating show artists created a special bear for this event.

They put the bear in a box, wrapped it with holiday paper and bows, and no one knew what was in the box.

In this event collectors bought a sight-unseen present from their favorite artist.

When their special parcel arrived, most collectors waited by putting the package under the tree in anticipation of Santa's surprise bear.

Colleen writes: "I opened the box this morning  I loved the bear so much. Mine was from Michelle, Little Bittie Bears. The bear is so adorable and the little hats that came with her were also so cute. Thanks for offering this special surprise to people."

Karen writes: "Paloma arrived safely and I love her. I love turquoise, she is a beautiful polar bear. Such lovely wrapping too. I just had to open the box as I'm taking the bear to my Teddy Bea Club. Thanks for the wonderful surprise.
Have a Beary Merry Christmas!"

Nancy writes:

Jan Cuming, Jinglebears is one of my favorite bear artists and I have several of her bears. I told my husband this was what I wanted for Christmas. When I opened the beautifully wrapped box on Christmas Eve, I was delighted. Jan's bears always make me smile and this bear did not fail.

Thank you to my wonderful husband and Jan!
Nancy

Ilona writes: I was excited to see the Santa’s Surprise Event and decided to treat myself. I had never before adopted a bear from Ines Tetling before but I had seen her work and knew I would love anything she made. I was not disappointed. My little Frosty bear is just so sweet and I adore his hat so much. He has a wonderful wooden stand with snowballs to sit on. Frosty was also packaged beautifully and Ines was kind enough to send along some chocolates too! It was a wonderful surprise and I hope to buy again next time!

Cindy writes: It’s always a joy to get a new baby bear.
My Santa's Surprise box was from my favorite teddy bear artist.
Koda bear is so adorable and makes me very happy.
What a wonderful gift.

Behind the scenes....

When it came time to publish the event page, there was quite a traffic jam with everyone trying to refresh their screens, so much so that our publishing signal was having a hard time getting through. Right at noon the page was finally published and sales were fast and furious.