Rare Moments When Reality Was Better Than Expectations

How many times have you ordered something online in the hopes of looking like Jennifer Lopez but only to end up looking like a sack of potatoes? You are not alone. We have all been there. The number of times reality did not look anything like people expected it to be can’t be counted. The year 2020 was no different, either. Although people did not expect it to be a walk in the park, no one thought it would be the year that cities shut down, and people weren’t allowed to go out. But as they say, there is a rainbow after the rain. People have been locked inside their homes, and with free time on their hands, they are sharing instances when reality was better than what was expected. With this list, we also hope to cheer people up by sharing positive things. Hey, you might look like a sack of potatoes, but at least you’ve got a few laughs out of it.

Easy furniture assembly

If you’re a fan of Ikea, then you’re familiar with the concept of buying furniture at a lower price and assembling it yourself. However, not all of us are McGyver, and we often find ourselves fumbling. We can’t distinguish ends and can’t even tell what comes first and what comes second. You can struggle with the assembly process, or you can buy from this manufacturer.

This user was expecting a headache but was pleasantly surprised when he opened the box. Parts were cleverly labeled according to when they are to be used in the assembly process. We wouldn’t be surprised if this company’s sales suddenly skyrocket.

Giving his girlfriend’s old pair of boots a new shine

How many women can boast of having a boyfriend or husband who does thoughtful things for them without any persuasion? This lady certainly can. She had an old pair of leather boots lying around, which she probably hasn’t worn for a long time.

After her guy gave the old pair of boots a shine, they looked a lot better. He must have been very proud of himself. The boots are perfect for the cold weather, so she can thank him by going out for a long, romantic walk and perhaps dinner.

Better than magazine cupcakes

If you have ever dabbled in baking, you must have gone through sacks of flour, sugar, and baking powder while trying to improve and perfect your skills. You also know the challenge of replicating the works of professional and celebrity bakers.

This man’s wife must have avoided having very high expectations of her work, but her output was a delight. The cupcakes turned out the way they were supposed to. They looked even better than the cupcakes on the magazine cover. They are so cute that you might not want to eat them.

Rubik’s cube cake

Baking is an art. To produce perfect cookies and cakes, you need to measure ingredients accurately and mix them in the correct sequence. Bakers and pastry chefs also spend a good amount of time perfecting their skills, and a good way to test a baker’s skill is to ask them to copy something.

This customer gave this baker an A for her effort. She copied the Rubik’s cube perfectly, and the cake not only looked fun, but it also looked delectable. We’re quite sure that it’s going to be a star at the party.

The perfect cat bed

How many times have you bought something online only to end up disappointed when the product was finally delivered to your doorstep? We have read and heard of countless online shopping fails that, frankly, makes you scared to purchase anything online.

This user must have prayed to the gods and crossed her fingers several times in the hopes that she gets what she ordered online, and she was lucky. The cat bed that she got for her favorite kitty looks exactly like the picture on the website, which is very rare nowadays.

Filling ice cream cookie

Restaurants and food places that put pictures of exaggerated food sizes on their menu should be penalized. What if you are starving, expecting a serving fit for a human, then end up with a serving meant for a dwarf? Seriously though, how many times have we been disappointed by serving sizes?

This store that sells ice cream sandwiches deserves a medal. The actual ice cream sandwich given to customers is twice as big as the one they have on the menu. We wouldn’t be surprised if their ice cream sandwiches are sold out every single day.

Starbucks in Japan doesn’t disappoint

Ah, The Land of the Rising Sun, where people are honest, kind, and law-abiding, and where Starbucks gives you exactly what they advertise. The coffee company does not disappoint in Japan. Just look at this fellow who ordered an American Cherry Pie Frappuccino!

This customer held up the actual frap next to the poster and it looks the same. How many people have had this experience when it comes to their orders? We bet it tastes just as great as it looks.

His wife loved her cake ardently

What is the perfect gift for a bookwork, someone who loves to read, particularly books penned by author Jane Austen? This must have been the question this guy was asking himself when it was nearly time for his wife’s birthday.

He got his answer in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. We need to give props to the baker too as she did an excellent job. He must have been beaming with pride when he showed the cake to the love of his life.

Her mom let it all go with the Elsa cake

Since the movie Frozen came out, children have been obsessed with it. You can see little girls everywhere wearing Elsa costumes, even when it’s not Halloween. The movie made such a huge impact that kids nowadays also ask for Elsa cakes.

What do you do when your daughter asks for an Elsa cake? Flex your baking muscles and hope that you deliver. This mom deserves a pat on the back. Her daughter must have been delighted with her cake, as it looks just as nice as the inspiration.

Mind reading tattoo artist

Sometimes you are at a loss for words, and you can’t articulate what you want to be done. If you can’t draw your thoughts on paper either, your only choice is to put your trust in the tattoo artist, praying that he understood what you meant.

Thankfully for this guy, his tattoo artist also doubles as a mind reader. On the left, you can see what he drew when asked what tattoo he wanted. On the right, you can see that the artist delivered well above expectations.

Pretty unicorn cake

They say that the most precious gift you can give anyone is your time. Taking time out to bake a cake for someone must be twice as precious. This daughter admits that she is an inexperienced baker, so she was happy that the unicorn cake she baked for her mom came out looking just as nice as the inspiration.

We all know that baking can be challenging, but we can tell that this young lady’s efforts and mad baking skills didn’t go to waste. She must have been pleased to witness her mom’s reaction when seeing the cake.

Cute little piggies cake

Have you heard about pigs in a blanket? How about pigs in a cake? The latter looks better, and we are quite sure it tastes better too. If you can’t order pigs in a cake from your local bakery, the next best thing to do is to bake one.

We are not sure if this person is a professional baker or just a dilettante, but her pigs in a cake is outstanding. It looks even better than the inspiration. Just check the little pink and white piggie towels on the fence!

Sketch vs finished product

Sometimes looking for a specific piece of jewelry can be so hard to find that you take matters into your own hands and design it yourself. You can redo a vintage piece, or you can always start from scratch, which is what this person did. His drawing skill is not bad, but we have to give credit to the jewelry maker.

The designer came up with a fantastic interpretation of the drawing of a mythological dragon chasing its tail. If you are wondering what it is, it is a symbol of the cycle of life, death, and rebirth. Pretty awesome!

The Super Mario cake

Super Mario is one of those games we loved playing on Nintendo when we were growing up. Everyone enjoyed making Mario and Luigi jump and get through hurdles. It is just one of the many things that remind us of our childhood days.

This man must have been feeling nostalgic when he asked his wife to make him Peach’s thank you cake that can be seen at the end of Super Mario 64. His dear wife must love him so much that she obliged and gave him something that looks better than the original cake.

Perfect doggie blanket

There are several sketchy websites online that offer low prices to create clothing and fabrics with your pet’s face on them. We have also seen countless disappointed customers complaining about the product they got because it didn’t look anything like their pet.

This lady didn’t expect much when she ordered a blanket from an online store. She was elated when she got her order because they got her dogs’ perfect likeness. Even the dogs are happy with their likeness; they so didn’t end up wasting money.

Making new friends at school

Every parent of a disabled child has the same concerns. Will their child fit in? Will, their child make friends at school? Will their child like it there? This mother was worried because she wanted her daughter to thrive at her school.

As it turns out, she had worried for nothing. Her daughter was treated like a celebrity, surrounded by her classmates and other students. Things turned out way better than expected for them both after all, but now her concern is keeping the boys away.

The rainbow dinosaur cake

When your child asks you for something, you want to give it to them. This is exactly what this parent did when her 3-year old asked for a rainbow dinosaur donut party. We’re not sure what that means, but fortunately, the parent got the idea.

She drew the design according to her son’s request and took it to the local baker. We have to give credit to where it is due, and the baker did an excellent job with the dinosaur rainbow cake. It’s like every child’s fantasy.

A baker that meets and exceeds expectations

It’s not unusual for bakers and pastry chefs to get requests for customized orders. Sometimes customers see something they like online or in a magazine, snap a photo, send it to the baker, and tell them to replicate it. Some bakers do an average job, but others go above and beyond, such as this one.

This baker’s customer sent the first picture as inspiration, and he came out with the cupcakes on the lower picture. The customer didn’t expect much, and she was teary-eyed when she got her order. The baker didn’t cut corners, and his job is a work of art.

Starry, starry night

Getting a new camera is exciting. You get to practice your photography skills by taking pictures of random things. Most of the time, if you’re just starting out, the pictures are not so great, but there are surprises every once in a while, like this one.

This user just pointed his camera straight up and, as an experiment, left the shutter running for an hour to see what he would come up with. What he got was a flowing river of stars. It reminds us of Vincent Van Gogh’s Starry Night.

Mom’s incredible otter cake

Mothers are the best. They would do anything for their children, even spend an incredibly long time baking the perfect cake. When your child requests an otter cake for his birthday, you give him exactly that. This mom did not disappoint.

This mother must be a professional, seeing as how she perfectly decorated the cake with fondant icing. The adorable cake has a 100% likeness to the inspiration. This mom deserves to be showered with kisses for her effort.

A grade photo restoration

Before the digital age, we had to take pictures using cameras loaded with film. We also had to wait for a while for the film to get developed before we were finally able to see if we looked alright in the photographs. Nowadays, your camera is also on your phone.

It’s such a joy to look back on old photographs and reminisce, but it is even better when you can restore your old photos and make them look nice again, just like this guy. He deserves props for restoring his old family photo.

When what you buy looks better than the picture on the box

Ordering things online is risky because most of the things you get in the mail do not look anything like what you ordered. There might be cases when results trump expectations, but they are few and far between. Fortunately for this guy, he belonged to the few who are lucky.

He ordered a LED light that looked like plants and look at what he got. It looks better than the picture on the box. Just don’t mind the instructions on the packaging because they can be very confusing. As long as they light up, you’re good.

Way to go McDonald’s

Sometimes fast food staff is so tired that they can’t be bothered with exceeding customer expectations, but the person who gave the customer this soft ice cream cone deserves to be named employee of the month. Where can we nominate him or her?

To give you perspective, the picture on the left is what they advertise, and the picture on the right is what the customer got. We’d say that the McDonald’s staff was feeling very generous and must have been having a great day.

Free bacon anyone

Life often has pleasant things just around the corner, and they happen when least expected. Take this guy, for example. He went to 5 Guys hoping for a nice meal, but he got more than that. The staff asked him if he’d be interested in extra bacon. Obviously, he said yes, who wouldn’t?

Look at what he got when he said yes. They gave him a platter of bacon because it was closing time, and they were about to throw it out. It might only be bacon, but little things like this need appreciation.

Dad’s attempt at baking chocolate crinkle cookies

When you start baking, things don’t often come out the way they should, and that’s okay. Before your favorite celebrity chefs became famous, they also had yeast that didn’t proof, cakes that were too hard, and cookies that were too salty.

However, there are lucky hobbyist bakers, like this user’s dad. It was his first time baking chocolate crinkle cookies, and they came out perfect. The cookies look just like the photo too. We’d love to have a bite!

A couple’s first attempt at baking cake

Most couples can’t agree on doing anything together. One wants to go to the movies while the other prefers to read a book at home. However, this couple decided on doing something together, and that was to bake a cake.

First, they sketched what they wanted to bake, and then they got the ingredients and worked tirelessly in the kitchen. Their output? We’d say it’s more than decent. The final product looked just as colorful as the drawing, and we bet it’s scrumptious too!

A humungous pizza for the birthday boy

Pizza is a well-loved food from Italy that has found its way all over the world and into our hearts. What’s not to love about pizza? It’s savory, and it comes in many flavors. Kids and adults alike can’t wait to dig into a yummy hot slice.

This little boy was told that he could only get a single pizza for his birthday party. You can see the happiness on his face when they served him his pizza. It’s humungous! Another rare occasion when expectations were exceeded.

A pack of lovely potatoes

When we see product packaging, we don’t expect much. There’s no way what you get will look exactly like what’s on the package. We have been disappointed too many times that we just gave up, but sometimes the unexpected happens.

Take a look at this pack of potatoes! The plastic packaging shows a heart-shaped potato, but who’d expect one? When the customer opened the package, he got one heart-shaped potato. The rest may be your regular round potatoes, but who cares?

Impressive frozen pizza

When we get frozen pizza from the grocery, we usually don’t expect much, or else we’ll get our hearts crushed. But this guy must have felt like he won the lottery when he opened his frozen pizza box because he got his money’s worth.

On the left, you can see the pizza box, and on the right, you can see what he got. There is no difference in appearance. It’s not just a flat dough, and there are plenty of pepperoni slices, too. This is one pizza we wouldn’t be ashamed of serving.

No filter needed

Before committing to an outrageous hairstyle, it is best to check first if you’d look good with it. You might also want to think long and hard if it is a hairstyle you won’t get tired of in just two weeks. Fortunately, today there are plenty of phone apps that let us see how we look with a different hairstyle.

This lady wanted to have a rainbow hairstyle, and because she looked good with the filter on, she went to the salon and had her hair colored. The result was even better than she had expected. Now that’s a hair color we can all agree on.

Firetruck cake

Birthdays should be grand occasions, especially when the celebrant is a little child. Cake is always to be expected at these parties too. When your child asks for a fire truck cake, you better give him a fire truck cake.

This mom might not be a baker, but she did everything she could to give her child what he wanted. On the left side is the inspiration for the fire truck cake and on the right side is the actual cake. It came out looking better than expected.

The universe in an egg

Easter means painting Easter eggs, also known as Paschal eggs, and hiding them around the house. It is an opportunity for parents and children to spend time and bond with each other. However, even if you are careful when it comes to handling eggs, they can slip and fall.

Look at this beautifully-painted egg. It fell, but the result made it even better looking than the rest of the pristine eggs. It looks like the universe is in it. There are no mistakes, after all, just happy accidents.

Cookie perfection

Ordering customized cookies means waiting in anticipation and hoping that you get something similar to what you wanted. This lady sent a photo of the cookies that she wanted and thought nothing much of it. But when the cookies were delivered, they put a smile on her face.

She was 100% impressed with what she got. The baker got the colors and the design right. What’s even better is that the cookie didn’t only look gorgeous, they tasted great too. The baker should be happy; she just earned herself a repeat customer.

Cupcake rainbow cake

How would you like to have the entire rainbow on your cake? This child did. So her mother ordered a cake from the grocery store and sent them a photo of how she wanted it to look. Her daughter must have been squealing with delight when they opened the cake box.

Not only did the cake look too good to eat, but the baker also took great pride in getting the colors in the right order too. Sometimes something as small as a cake can make a child’s heart burst with happiness.

Making the best of a bad thing

This guy discovered that he didn’t have enough filament while he was printing. He loves baseball and is a huge fan of the Kansas City Royals, so he thought a clever way of finishing his work of art was by adding a blue cap with the initials KC.

He might have been thinking that it’s gonna be a disaster, but the result was even better than expected. You can’t even tell that he ran out of filament when you look at it. It’s as if it was meant to be printed that way.

The clock that 2020 deserved

2020 has been a year of challenges, changes, and adjustments. Cities that were once vibrant and colorful shut down, and everyone had to lock themselves in their homes to prevent being infected by the Coronavirus.

Her daughters gave this mother an unusual gift. Initially, she thought it would be one of those useless gifts, but it proved to be the clock that the year 2020 deserved because we have all been cooped up for so long that we don’t even know what time or date it is.

Nice Kinder Bueno surprise

Always going with the same flavor of ice cream at the grocery can be boring. There are so many different ice cream flavors out there, so why not try a new one? Thankfully for this lady, her new ice cream choice was not dissatisfying.

She chose to get a box of Kinder Bueno ice cream cones and when she got home, she was happy to find that she got the same thing like the picture on the packaging. All we can say is yum!

Jack-O-Lantern Pizza

Halloween is a time for ghouls, zombies, candies, and Jack-O-Lanterns. If you don’t have a Jack-O-Lantern at home, you can always get one at your favorite pizza place. It looks good, and you can eat it when you’re hungry as well. 

The first picture is what they used for their pizza advertisement and the second one is what they give their customers. The second pizza has a more Halloween look. Usually, food pictures are a fantasy, but in this case, it is a reality.

Hungry unicorn cake

In yet another case of expectation vs. reality and reality winning the battle, we give you this adorable hungry unicorn cake. We are now convinced that every bakery should just sell unicorn cakes from now on. Just look at that thing!

On the left side is the inspiration for the cake and on the right is the actual cake. Doesn’t it look better than the original? The unicorn is so full that it’s in a food coma and can’t even finish more of the cake.

Amateur photography success

This is proof that you don’t need fancy cameras and gadgets to take amazing pictures. When inspiration hits you, you should use whatever you have on hand and click away. This guy was at the beach when he took a photo of his girlfriend.

He used his sunglasses to create an effect then took a photo with his phone, and it came out great. Although others may say that there are filters available on various phone apps now that can achieve the same effect, we say to each his own. 

The telescope that served its purpose and more

This little girl’s mother got her a telescope when she asked for it but wasn’t expecting much from it. One night the little girl asked her mom if she can show her a planet through the telescope, and what they got was even better.

Not only did they see one planet, they saw Jupiter and its four moons. Moments like this are precious because this might just ignite a fire in the little girl to explore and perhaps even nurture a love of galaxies.

An artist’s interpretation of a drawing

There might be numerous tattoo artists out there, but not all of them are talented. Others can’t get exactly what you want them to do, and you end up with a tattoo that you regret for the rest of your life. Luckily, this lady went to an exceptionally talented artist.

Look at the left side; that’s what she wanted the artist to do, and look on the right. The work of art that the tattoo guy came up with is outstanding, to say the least. He must have a calendar that is fully booked.

Another excellent attempt at baking

Baking attempts that turn out better than expected warm our hearts to no end. Just look at this amateur baker who got her tools out to produce a cake worthy of being on the cover of baking and cooking magazines.

It can easily pass for a cake that is made by a professional. Just in case you can’t tell them apart, the inspiration cake is on the left, and the actual cake is the one on the right. Don’t you just want to eat them both up?

Bridesmaids Photo Challenge

The movie Bridesmaids provided entertainment and laughs, as well as endless inspirations for wedding photos. This group of groomsmen gave the wedding they were attending some hilarity to ease the tension and stress with their recreation of the Bridesmaids poster.

They may be men, but they can give any group of women a run for their money. They can pose and vogue in their suits, and for sure, this photograph is going to be talked about for years to come.

 A posthumous work of art for a beloved cat

It can be very heartbreaking to lose a beloved pet, regardless if the reason is an accident, old age, or sickness. Pets are more than just animals kept at home. They are beloved members of the family and confidantes.

This pet parent commissioned an artist to draw her favorite cat, Persephone, which has recently passed away; what she was given surpassed all of her expectations. Aside from drawing the exact likeness of the cat, the artists also took the liberty to add a few things that made the work even better.