A touching video from the United States of a father in the US Navy returning home from deployment and surprising his daughter by popping out of a large parcel.

In the video, which was filmed in Reno, Nevada on September 13, 5-year-old Dakota opens the giant cardboard box with the help of her mother.

She's delighted to discover her father crouching inside in his navy uniform.

"Well, we decided to give our little princess the surprise of a lifetime," the girl's mother wrote online.

"She had no idea he was home and to make it even better, it was my birthday," she added.

A little princess gets a big package at the door. My husband is a member of the US Navy, we have a daughter named Dakota who was 5 yrs old. It was our very first deployment and it was rough to say the least. It's hard being apart especially when you have young children who just don't understand deployments and why they hardly even get to talk to the deployed parent. Well, we decided to give our little princess the surprise of a life time. She had no idea he was home and to make it even better, it was my birthday. We traveled from San Diego to our home town Reno, NV where my family lives. Dakota was there visiting so it made this very easy. We bought a wardrobe box on our way. When we pulled up to the house I went inside to distract her, while my husband climbed into the box. My mom lightly taped it closed, then rang the door bell..... well now you just need to watch the video.