A last-minute contest entry turned into a week of sun and excitement – as well as a little on-air celebrity – for a pair of Surrey brothers and their parents.
Sherry Singh reached out to Peace Arch News Wednesday (Jan. 22) after catching her first glimpse of the Sunwing commercial featuring her family on TV that night.
It was one more highlight from an experience that began last summer, when Singh stumbled across Sunwing’s Kidcation Tester contest while researching ideas for her family’s next vacation.
With the deadline to enter that same night, Singh said she took Shaynen and Brennen – aged nine and six at the time – to Blackie Spit Park in South Surrey, and they made a video talking about their previous experiences at all-inclusives and why they thought they should win an opportunity to review a family-friendly resort.
READ MORE: B.C. girl wins dream vacation to review resort
“I uploaded it to YouTube that night, sent it in and a few days later, we found out we actually won,” Singh said Thursday.
Singh said she and her husband, Vimal, however, had to hold off on sharing the news with the boys until a package arrived in the mail containing sundry Sunwing promotional items and a congratulatory letter. They then filmed the brothers learning of their win.
“Why are you recording?” Shaynen asks, as his brother tears into a FedEx box passed to him by his dad.
“What, what is that?” he continues, the excitement in his voice building. “Sunwing hats? Beach ball, sunglasses…”
“A note!” Brennen exclaims, passing the explanatory paper to his brother, “because I don’t know how to read.”
“Congratulations, Shaynen and Brennen, you are winners of the Kidcation contest,” Shaynen reads, the pitch in his voice climbing as Brennen lets out a shriek.
“Oh my god. Yes – we did it!”
The ‘reveal’ was shared on Sunwing’s Facebook page in late August, with an explanation that the siblings would be testing out the Grand Riviera Princess in Riviera Maya in Mexico.
According to information on sunwing.ca, kids from across Canada are recruited every year “to test out the top family-friendly resorts.”
For the brothers, who attend Colebrook Elementary, that week-long step came together just before Christmas.
It included three full days of filming as well as family time, Singh said. In addition to the new commercial – which she and her husband can also be seen in – Shaynen and Brennen’s story is also featured in Sunwing’s newest travel magazine, she said.
Singh described the whole experience as “amazing.”
“It was such an amazing experience for us, as parents, to watch the boys do something like this,” she said.
And the excitement isn’t over yet. Singh said she is “constantly checking” for her sons’ review of the resort, anticipated to go live on social media sometime in the weeks ahead.
In the meantime, they’re “ready to enter the next contest,” she said.
tholmes@peacearchnews.comLike us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter
