A 4-year-old Spongebob Squarepants fan from New York went overboard during a recent online shopping spree and bought nearly $3,000 worth of non-refundable cartoon-themed popsicles.
Young Spongebob fanatic Noah ordered 51 cases of popsicles for $2,618.85 using his mother’s Amazon account and sent them to his aunt’s house, according to the Daily Mail.
Jennifer Bryant, Noah’s mother who is also an NYU social work student, was concerned she’d have to foot the entire bill but just when things looked bleak, a compassionate samaritan named Katie Schloss set up a GoFundMe page earlier this week to help out.
“Amazon will not take back the popsicles, and Ms. Bryant, mom to 3 boys, doesn't know how she's going to be able to pay this off, in addition to student loans and all of her family's other expenses,” Schloss, a New York University student and social-work intern, wrote on the crowdfunding platform.
She explained that the overzealous Spongebob fan ordered more than 900 popsicles, and while the boy’s story is cute to share, Schloss wrote that his mom is in dire need of financial assistance to help settle the issue.
In a pleasant surprise to Noah’s family, the popsicle debt was more than paid off as of Wednesday morning. Nearly 150 donors helped Schloss raise more than $3,700 to help resolve the frozen treat bill.
“Thank you so much for your mind-blowing generosity,” Bryant wrote in response to the outpour of support on the page.
She shared that any surplus from the donations will go toward their family’s education and additional support for Noah who was diagnosed with autism.
Although Noah’s mom didn’t indicate what they would do with nearly 900 popsicles, a photo posted by Schloss on Monday suggests that the 4-year-old was able to enjoy at least one of the frozen treats.
Young Noah isn’t the only tiny tot causing stress to his parents’ bank account. In 2019, a toddler living in San Diego, California bought a couch on Amazon while playing with her mother's phone.
As NBC 7 reported, Isabella McNeil wasn’t aware of the purchase until she was sent an alert to her phone notifying her that a $430 sofa had been shipped on her behalf.
“I was just so shocked,” she said. “I thought, ‘Did I buy a couch in my sleep?’”
After browsing furniture earlier in the week on the Amazon app, McNeil’s 2-year-old daughter asked to play with her phone and pressed the "Buy Now With 1-Click" button on the site, ordering a $430 grey couch.
With the furniture being more of a hassle to send back, McNeil decided to chalk it up as a lesson learned. She said parents need to be more conscious of what their children are doing when on technology.
"Make sure all of the apps are closed, make sure your passwords are fingerprint-locked, make sure they don't know your number password, because kids are a lot smarter than we think," she said.
