{"id":189346,"date":"2025-12-18T03:23:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T03:23:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/189346\/"},"modified":"2025-12-18T03:23:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T03:23:11","slug":"camry-loving-christchurch-4-year-old-gets-dream-birthday-thanks-to-toyota-surprise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/189346\/","title":{"rendered":"Camry-loving Christchurch 4-year-old gets dream birthday thanks to Toyota surprise"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cWe talked about party themes with his dad, and he was completely adamant.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt had to be a Toyota Camry theme. Nothing else.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kyi\u2019s love for the Camry model began earlier this year during a trip to visit his grandparents.<\/p>\n

Told he could pick a birthday present at Kmart, Kyi sprinted straight to the toy car aisle and grabbed a Toyota Camry toy car.<\/p>\n

With his birthday nearing, Vincent wanted to give Camry-obsessed Kyi something she knew he would love. She emailed her local Ilam Toyota dealership to ask if they had any merchandise she could buy for her son\u2019s party.<\/p>\n

\"BrookeBrooke Vincent originally planned to keep celebrations low-key before her son\u2019s fifth birthday next year. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n

Mark Mills, CEO of Ilam Toyota, said that the email made their week.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we heard about his Camry-themed party, we knew we had to help him see the real deal,\u201d Mills said. <\/p>\n

The dealership organised a 2025 Camry demonstrator, signed a card for Kyi and printed Camry colouring sheets, turning the party into a full Toyota takeover.<\/p>\n

His birthday cake featured a Camry complete with towbar and trailer, there was a custom Toyota pi\u00f1ata and sugar cookies iced with the logo, with Kyi even helping paint the decorations himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had to be involved; that was the rule,\u201d Vincent said. <\/p>\n

\u201cRed is also his favourite colour, so the whole theme just fell into place.\u201d<\/p>\n

For a child with a big imagination – and a very specific obsession – it turned into the perfect day. <\/p>\n

\"KyiKyi insisted on a Toyota Camry theme for his fourth birthday party. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n

But the surprises were not over. Toyota lent Vincent the car so she could surprise her son at school.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe walked out and saw the Camry sitting there and was so excited,\u201d Vincent said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe walked around and called it amazing. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe couldn\u2019t believe he got to sit in a real-life one.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"KyiKyi can now identify a Camry, RAV4 and Hilux on the road. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n

Kyi can now identify a Camry, RAV4 and Hilux on the road \u2013 helped along by Vincent\u2019s partner, Alex, who recently bought his first Hilux.<\/p>\n

He also has opinions on vehicle accessories, especially towbars. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe checks every Toyota we drive past,\u201d Vincent said. <\/p>\n

\u201cIn his mind, every car needs a towbar. Non-negotiable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jazlyn Whales is a multimedia journalist based in the Christchurch newsroom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cWe talked about party themes with his dad, and he was completely adamant. \u201cIt had to be a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":189347,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[47179,6325,118639,118637,75031,1061,4487,299,3232,6276,42,20866,5829,130,43,28821,45822,118638,9250,88,3179,32740,61,40,38,41,39,1733,6123],"class_list":["post-189346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-4yearold","tag-birthday","tag-camry","tag-camryloving","tag-celebrations","tag-children","tag-christchurch","tag-dream","tag-fourth","tag-gets","tag-headlines","tag-insisted","tag-many","tag-more","tag-news","tag-princess","tag-request","tag-specific","tag-superhero","tag-surprise","tag-thanks","tag-theme","tag-to","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-toyota","tag-while"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189346","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=189346"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189346\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/189347"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=189346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=189346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=189346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}