I've been meaning to get in the habit of putting a little note or card in my son's lunch (possibly a word with a picture since he's excited about learning to read right now). The first time would be a complete surprise and then there'd be the daily surprise of what word I used.

He will count it as a surprise if I bring him something (book or DVD) from the library. Or dig through what we already have in the house and bring out one that's new to him or has not been seen for a while.

Desserts definitely count as happy surprises--and if you were feeling crafty, you could have things available to decorate them. Or maybe a trip to a farmer's market and let her pick out her favorite in-season fruit or vegetable (if you're lucky enough that she enjoys those).

I'm a big fan of consumables/experiences for surprises.

Flowers (and I put pansies and nasturtiums in her salads, or I get edible orchids from the sushi place next door for her). Cereal with vanilla ice cream instead of milk for breakfast. Sneak up on her and plop whipped cream in her palm. Make a small edible aquarium in a glass, with lettuce for a plant, and a gummy shark or octopus in the water. The joy of walking into a bakery, pastry or candy shop on the spur of the moment and getting to choose one something. Making a trail of stones leading her to a new plant to stick in the garden.
Doing new art/cooking project that she's never done before - like painting with shaving cream or making rock candy.

Other small treats?

She loves the Schleich animal things - so I hide new figurines for her to find, like a bunny in the garden or a fawn eating the salad from her dinner plate. New barrettes.

Balloons (Josie loves them and I hate them, so she knows this it's a rare treat). Giving her a card, because that's a very grown-up thing to get.

Those are all great ideas. Thanks!

~On a rainy day a picnic in the living room! Spread the picnic blanket on the floor, set up the meal and voila an indoor picnic!

~A tea party for two. Some cheap cute tea party stuff, even very pretty thrifted tea cups would suffice, juice and tea buscuits and you've got a tea party.

~Making homemade playdough. Plenty of recipes online for that.

~Making jewelry together. They sell box kits you can buy anywhere.

~Making a scrapbook together. Which I'm sure you already do.

~Luminaries for outside on a summer night. Freeze water in washed out soup cans. Then punch holes in it with a hammer and nail. Thaw the water. Paint the cans and then put little tea lites in it and you have pretty luminaries for a July night.

So..that's it for now!

Here's a funny story...Last year I gave my 5 year old nephew a hand me down wooden train set. I also wrapped up a box of microwave popcorn. When he unwrapped it you'd thought I'd given him gold bars! It really doesn't take much for little kids to be happy.

My four year old daughter likes surprises, too. Her dad brought her a little die cast car from the drugstore last night. He had to stop in and pick up a prescription. A thrift/second hand store can't be beat for inexpensive toys. I found a couple of fancy tea cups and saucers and an old tea pot that she can play tea party with or have a real one with me. A surprise tea party would be nice. You could set up her stuffed animals and have it all ready for when she comes home. One person I read about celebrated birthdays over again, with a crown and a cake. You could do her four and a half, or four and three quarters, etc. A picnic in the park maybe. Fiona loves lollipops. Every once in a grand while I will surprise her with one. Her grandmother sometimes gives little wood or plastic animals or people. She will put four or five in a little drawstring bag. Recently I read somewhere about getting pre-literate children in to journaling. You give them a journal and then have a set of crayons or colored pencils and then have them draw what color day they had. It can be anything they choose including mixes of colors. You could do it with her or she could do it while you write your journal/blog/whatever.

This seems like a lot of fun, I hope you will let us know how this goes from time to time.

Mail! My girl loves getting mail. For 52 cents you could send her a cool picture in an envelope with her name on it. You could encourage grandparents to do this, too.

Ask grandparents for a Chirp or Chickadee subscription for the next gift giving event. (I know, Frances' are all in December. Half birthday?) Getting a magazine is a surprise every month, and you only have to do the work once.

Could you let her help you cook? Or choose what you are having for supper (anything goes)?

How about a scavenger hunt? A treasure map?

I used to have a clever name for these but it escapes me at the moment - but how about about a noise hike? You get notebooks and go walking around making notes about every noise you hear? We do the same thing for smells too (which can be gross, but funny).

How about a theme day? We've done green day and backwards day, and the week after next we're doing Wacky Wednesday.

We also have theme parties every so often for no reason. We've done a spy party, a beach party and a Christmas party.

I'm going to second what Mouse suggested and say that you might want to try actually mailing the letters to her. It might feel weird to mail something to your own address, but my kid LOVES getting mail. I'm guessing Frances would, too! Or, you could mail her some things to the Ex's house for her to get when she's away from you.

You guys are great. These are all amazing ideas.

craftydabbler, absolutely. :)

Mail, mail, mail. I still love getting mail, even when it's bills. Mail! Handmade cards, storebought cards, letters she can read or not, postcards with good pictures on them, postcards with pictures and *stories* on them....

A pair of women I know have a friendship box that travels between the two of them, carrying gifts. One fills it with trinkets, the other gets them, then fills it and sends it back. I don't know how often it happens, but you might get a small, light box and make that the special mailbox surprise box.

so many great ideas I will be borrowing!

here are some things that make my 4 year old girl happy or that I like to surprise her with:

-dance parties! even 15 minutes of dancing to favorite songs with wild abandon

-found treasures--feathers or pretty rocks, purple exam gloves from the drs office, samples from the grocery store

-free or cheapies---promotional pens, stickers, teeny tiny notebooks, plants to take care of or seeds to grow on the windowsill (we save garlic cloves and potato eyes to grow and plant).

-I make up silly songs with her name and sing them randomly

-her own five dollar bill and a trip to the used book store

-balloons in her room for no reason at all

-letting her take pictures with my camera and helping her to upload them to the computer so she can see her work

-she loves those flyers real estate agents put out in front of homes for sale so I grab those for her when I can

I think almost anything framed as a surprise can be exciting. Anytime I say "Look what I have for you..." she gets pretty happy, even if it is something that might seem silly or insignificant to others.

I haven't read all the comments but here are a couple:

--a tea party in the park with her favourite stuffed animals. Miss M loves heavily milked down Rooibos tea.

--make her one of those folded paper fortune tellers that I remember from my youth. Do you know what I'm talking about? You put it on your thumbs and forefingers and then get her to pick a colour (which you spell out) followed by a number (which you count out), followed by another number behind which is a silly fortune.

Use a cookie cutter to make fun shapes out of bread for sandwiches or french toast.

Make an "F" out of pancake batter.

Treasure hunts in the house that lead to something funny or yummy.

Right now, we are all about the customized bracelets. A strip of paper made into a circle and taped. A nice message, stickers and drawings of dogs and hearts. Four year old Bliss.

Tape (we always loved having our OWN roll of scotch tape).
Stay up late for an extra story.
Paint her nails.
Sugar free chewing gum!
Beauty shop (she does your hair, you do hers, etc.)
Velvet coloring books (you can't color outside the lines! The colors are bright! The ones we got have the markers right in the case, so they are carry-along fun!)

My boys love trips to the library. And big cardboard boxes to play with. And nature hunts.