Festive cheer came early for an Ipswich family after a kind shopper surprised a four-year-old boy with an early Christmas present.

Mum Alana Price took to social media to tell how moved she was by the gift of a snow globe from a fellow shopper to her son Harvey.

She described the anonymous gift giver as a "true gentleman" after first checking with her before making the gift.

"It was such a lovely thing to do. I had a little cry on the way back to the car," said the mum, who recently moved to Ipswich from Manchester.

Alana took Harvey, to B&M at Copdock, Ipswich, where they spent about half an hour looking at all the Christmas decorations.

"A lovely man started talking to us on the Christmas aisle while he was watching the musical snow globes," she said.

Ipswich Star: Harvey, four, with his snowglobeHarvey, four, with his snowglobe (Image: Alana Price)

She had just explained to her son that the globes cost "a lot of pennies".

Alana said: "I couldn’t believe it when he gave my son a snow globe while we were at the till. I was absolutely speechless and he was over the moon.

"We sang along to the songs all the way home and he’s not put it down since."

She posted on social media to say thank you and wish the giver a happy Christmas, and has had a lot of reaction with people saying what a lovely gesture it was.