Samantha Bee's Unwrap Attack

By Reena Jana
December 7, 2010

It’s a brisk, sunny December day and Samantha Bee, a correspondent on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart," has a smile on her face and laughter on her lips as she talks about her Christmas plans. “I’m quivering right now, trying to contain my excitement about giving gifts,” she says. “I know we’re in the most magical weeks of the year. And what’s nice is that the holidays are long lasting and lovely.”

This holiday season, Samantha Bee, a mother of three is having fun starring in a series of six hysterical online video webisodes on “unwrap attacks,” defined as the uncontrollable reactions of joy experienced when opening unexpected, meaningful gifts. The videos, part of eBay’s Love to Give campaign, feature Bee eliciting reactions from kids opening presents and interviewing real-life families who have shared videos of themselves freaking out over gifts that were clearly chosen with thought, love, and care. (See them here, and upload your own, at http://lovetogive.ebaysocialapps.com/)

“When you see people getting gifts they didn’t think they’d get, it’s beautiful. People cry. When I watched the unwrap attack videos, I cried,” Bee says sincerely. “Kids literally tear their shirts off and dry heave from joy. It’s a magical experience.” The Love To Give videos include teen brothers overjoyed at receiving a sold-out video-game console that their mom tracked down on eBay; an adorable video clip of a toddler delightedly opening a toy guitar as he sings; and a touching scene of an exhausted mom reading sweet love poems from her husband that eventually instruct her to unwrap the keys to a new car.

Samantha Bee causes an Unwrap Attack | Love to Give (provided by YouTube)

Samantha Bee is the ideal host for the webisodes as she and her husband Jason Jones, also a "Daily Show" star, are currently working on orchestrating a holiday gift-giving frenzy with their kids, daughter Piper, 4, son Fletcher, 2, and their infant sister, Ripley. “It is my obsession to create unwrap attacks in my own home,” Bee says. “My daughter is almost five, and my son is two and a half, and we have a baby. It’s the first year we’re focused on making the older two go bananas on Christmas morning. There’s going to be screaming and tears! Some will be Jason’s tears as he will have to put all of the toys together.”

Samantha Bee's inspiration for creating a memorable gift exchange comes from a childhood recollection. Bee, whose memoir I Know I Am, But What Are You? was published this year, says she borrows a holiday tactic from her parents that she loved when she was growing up in Toronto, Canada. She and Jones will be scattering the living room floor with treats, such as chocolates and candy canes, to create a delicious trail to the tree on Christmas morning. “The idea is to make it look like Santa dropped things from his sack because it was so full,” Bee explains. “And the first thing you get when you wake up is a piece of chocolate. There’s no other day when you can eat candy for breakfast—so it makes for heart-melting videos.”

Christmas giving took on special meaning when Samantha Bee and Jason Jones had Piper. “The child came forth from my body and I said, ‘Okay, Santa…I get it…let’s get on it,” Bee says with her signature deadpan humor. “I wanted to put a Santa hat on her right away, for holiday pictures.”
Love to Give
So as not to spoil the surprises for her family, Bee won’t reveal what she’s giving Piper or her husband, and Ripley will mainly be getting baby clothes. But she’ll share what she found for her pre-schooler son. “I bought a selection of child’s power tools on eBay: a child’s weed whacker, a mini Miele vacuum—So we will have matching vacuums!—and a toy leaf blower.

“I turned on the weed whacker when I was wrapping it. It impressed even me. I wish they were functioning cleaning tools,” she says with a dramatic sigh that indicates she’s joking…or at least half-joking…at the thought of getting her toddler to help clean her Manhattan apartment.

Does Samantha Bee compete with Jason Jones when they give gifts to one another? “I am always competing with Jason for unwrap attack effects. He usually wins,” Bee says. “I am obsessed with getting the pitch perfect gift. But he is the quiet Mata Hari. Jason comes in and steals your thunder. I am sweating this year…I know he has something really good in mind for me. I haven’t yet found the perfect gift for him. But I do not want him to win.”

Bee and Jones have set the bar high. When asked about the most memorable gift she’s given her spouse, Bee points to a getaway weekend that would be hard to beat. “Jason is more into experiences, so I got him football tickets that he really wanted,” Bee recalls. “We didn’t have enough money at the time such that it was nonchalant purchase. It was a whole travel weekend around the football game, and I had to arrange babysitting. It was mind-blowing for him.”

How did he top that? “He got me diamond earrings. They were mind-blowing for me,” Samantah Bee says as a grin spreads on her face. “He did a great job! He always builds suspense by being nonchalant. And he wraps presents weirdly, so you’re really surprised with what's inside.”

Samantha Bee is the opposite when she has great gifts to give; she can’t hide her own euphoria about a present she’s carefully researched and purchased. “I’m effervescent,” she says excitedly. “I say, ‘I’ve got you…something…so GREAT! You’re going to...LOVE IT!’”

But the real secret to successful holiday gift-giving at the Bee-Jones home every year is that every family member has the number one goal to have fun and to create moments that, above all, will be good memories for the future.

“Gift-giving is the only area in life where Jason and I compete with each other. But everyone wins,” Bee says. “So we’re a good team.”

Want to experience some unwrap attacks with your family and friends this year? Follow Samantha Bee’s lead and check out these ideas.

Chocolate Lollipops

(buy it now price, $1.50)

Bee and husband Jason Jones are scattering holiday candies throughout their living room this year to create a fun trail to the Christmas tree for their kids.
Child's Miele Toy Vacuum

(buy it now price, $49.99)

Bee bought a miniature version of the vacuum cleaner her family uses for her toddler son.
Toy Weed Whacker

(buy it now price, $54.99)

Also for her toddler, Bee picked up a realistic child’s weed whacker.
Toy Leaf Blower

(buy it now price, $54.99)

Continuing on the children’s tool theme that Bee is enthusiastic about this year, Bee also bought a pint-size leaf blower on eBay for her son.
Apple iPad

(buy it now price, $569.99)

Bee won’t reveal whom she’s giving iPads to this year, but she says she plans to surprise a few people on her list with these—“even someone who thinks I’m just getting him socks,” she says. She’s sure an iPad is sure to provoke unwrap attacks, as it’s one of the season’s hottest gadgets.
Football Ticket Package

(buy it now price, $270,000)

Bee says the craziest unwrap attack that her husband Jason Jones had was when she gave him football tickets and entire planned trip to go with it. “It blew his mind,” she says. This package provides a catered luxury suite, drinks, and 15 tickets for your nearest and dearest.
Princess Cut Diamond Earrings

(buy it now price, $2,495)

When asked about memorable unwrap attacks of her own, Bee says that a pair of beautiful and classic diamond earrings from her husband tops the list.
Barbie Pink Glamour Camper

(buy it now price, $98.88)

As a child, Bee experienced her first unwrap attack when receiving a Barbie Camper as a little girl in Canada. “I wish I could pass the same one down to my 4-year-old daughter,” Bee says. Luckily, Barbie campers can be found on eBay.