A nine-year-old girl found out the advent calendar she’d been eating for days was actually made for cats.
There’s nothing like opening your advent calendar every day, watching Christmas get closer and closer and enjoying the tasty chocolates – which I’m adamant taste better than normal chocolate – behind each little door.
Considering I still get excited now, at the age of 22, it’s probably fair to say that when I was nine it was the highlight of my day.
Mum Jess Evans probably thought her child Alissa would think the same, so bought an advent calendar as a nice festive treat for the schoolgirl.
The Christmas product came from B&M for the low price of just £1.99, which seems like a steal for 24 chocolates. Almost too good to be true, you might think.
Of course the low price makes sense once you realise it didn’t contain chocolates at all.
The product had a large picture of Garfield on the front, and despite having the words ‘advent calendar for cats’ written in quite large letters across the bottom, neither Jess nor Alissa realised the issue.
The nine-year-old made her way through four days worth of the green-tinted chocolate before refusing to eat any more because they looked and tasted bad.
Presumably confused as to why her daughter would turn down free chocolates, Jess took a closer look at the calendar and was horrified to learn the ‘apple flavoured chocolates’ were actually yoghurt and catnip treats.
I suppose at least three of the things mentioned there are usually associated with human food. I wouldn’t have expected cats to enjoy apples, chocolate or yoghurt, but I suppose Alissa got off lightly with those flavours.
If the cartoon character on the front was anything to go by, the schoolgirl should probably be glad she didn’t get lasagne flavoured chocolates.
Explaining the unfortunate situation, Jess said:
I was in shock and felt like the worst mother ever when I realised I’d bought her a calendar for cats.
She said they tasted a bit strange, but hadn’t said they were horrible, so I just forgot about it. Alissa hadn’t been eating them for a few days and when I asked why she brought the box over to me.
I remember thinking they did look a funny shade of green and didn’t have a chocolatey smell.
When I turned the calendar over and read that it was yoghurt and catnip flavour I couldn’t believe it – and that it had taken 11 days for us to notice.
The mother explained she was in a rush with Alissa and her two younger sisters when she grabbed the advent calendar and hadn’t realised it was intended for animals.
She added:
I was rushing around at the last minute with all three of them Christmas shopping and went into B&M where all the advent calendars were and picked it up without reading it.
When I looked at the box I couldn’t believe it. I have a degree in English literature and creative writing but still couldn’t read a calendar and it had taken me 11 days to realise.
Once she got over the shock she found the funny side of it. Thankfully she’s absolutely fine and I’ve checked online that she will be ok.
I’m going to give the calendar to my friend for her cat.
At least someone will enjoy the treats in the calendar! I hope Alissa gets a new one to make up for all those lost days.
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Emily Brown first began delivering important news stories aged just 13, when she launched her career with a paper round. She graduated with a BA Hons in English Language in the Media from Lancaster University, and went on to become a freelance writer and blogger. Emily contributed to The Sunday Times Travel Magazine and Student Problems before becoming a journalist at UNILAD, where she works on breaking news as well as longer form features.