‘My daughter was eating it and she was crying’: Mom buys Fun Works edible paper and pen from Five Below. Then she checks the candy gel
When a parent gives a child candy, the last thing they expect is for the kid to cry about it. But that was one Five Below shopper’s experience after they realized what was inside her daughter’s Fun Works candy. Now, the mother is demanding answers from the discount retailer in a viral TikTok.
In the clip, Sarah (@sarahwithanh.eth) shares her child’s horror at discovering there was more than just edible gel inside her Fun Works pen.
“We bought this from Five Below,” Sarah begins. “And my daughter was eating it and she was crying, saying that there was ants in this.”
Sarah holds the pen filled with red gel candy to a piece of paper. “I didn’t believe her at first,” she says as the child cries in the background. Sarah then starts squeezing the pen onto the paper. As the red liquid pools on the parchment, several tiny ants can be seen trapped inside the gel.
“There’s ants in it,” the daughter says in between sniffles. And who can blame her? No one wants unappetizing surprises inside their candy, especially if they are insects. What made it worse is that, according to one of Sarah’s comments, eating bugs is one of her daughter’s “biggest fears.”
Toward the end of the clip, Sarah reveals the package that housed the product. The label reads, “Fun Works. Write on paper, then eat the paper!”
Viewers don’t think it’s that serious
Sarah’s clip earned more than 682,000 views, with many joking in the comments that Sarah’s reaction is different than what they are used to.
“My mother would tell me to eat around the ants,” one top comment read. “Different times I guess.” Another echoed, “My mom would have shrugged and said ‘that’s protein.’”
Someone who said they “ate dirt” as a kid assured Sarah her daughter will “be OK.”
Sarah did comment that she saved the packaging and emailed the company about the product.
Five Below’s famous candy aisle
Five Below has made headlines over its candy offerings before, but not because of experiences like Sarah’s. The discount chain store is famous for offering “weird” candy that many patrons wouldn’t find anywhere else. On TikTok, “hauls” of shoppers trying out “weird Five Below candy” have earned millions of views. Tasting Table even penned a piece in March about Five Below’s “outstanding” candy selection.
According to the article, Five Below stocks some of the most “beloved candy names in the world,” like Hershey’s, Twizzlers, Reese’s Pieces, and more.
But what sets it apart is the “nostalgic snacks from childhood,” according to Tasting Table.
While there appear to be no reports of any insects in Five Below candy, there are plenty of praises sung online for the retailer. One Reddit post on the r/Candy subreddit touted the store as a “paradise” for candy lovers. Every comment vouched for the candy’s quality.
@sarahwithanh.eth Do not purchase Fun Works edible paper with edible gel pen from @Five Below ♬ original sound – Sarah
The Mary Sue reached out to Sarah for comment via TikTok message. We also reached out to Foreign Candy and Five Below via email.
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