In an attempt to find cute Christmas wrapping paper, one mom found herself beseiged by HOs.
Mom of three Destinee Gunnett found what she thought was "minimalistic and simple" gift wrapping paper at her local Target store in Walnut Creek, California. The paper was mostly white, with the word "HO" scattered across it in tiny red, shiny type, and she planned to use it for her office Christmas party at Bay Area Photography.
"The red and white paper fit the theme perfectly!" she told TODAY Parents.
But after she laid the paper out to wrap her first present and made the first fold, she made an unfortunate discovery: "I realized that the HOs were flying off the paper," she said. Soon, they were everywhere.
Gunnett shrugged it off. "What do you do? The damage had been done, and you just have to keep going!" she said. She kept wrapping presents, and in the meantime, her two younger children, Sullivan, 3, and Emerson, 1, joined her in her living room.
"My 1-year-old had to be right in the mix of things and ended up with the Hos all over him and we giggled about it," she said. "My 3-year-old was not pleased to find them all over him. He's a little dramatic."
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Gunnett posted about the HO debacle on her personal Facebook page and included pictures to illustrate the extent of the damage. "Let me give everyone out there a little advice," she wrote. "These f'ing HOs are god blessing confetti! DON'T GO THERE! DO NOT PASS GO! KEEP YOUR MONEY! There are 1000 little HOs all over my house. There are HOs on my kids. There will be HOs FOREVER!"
In some of Gunnett's pictures, there are tiny red HOs on the back of her 3-year-old's thigh and on Gunnett's cheek. "I have found them in the babe's belly button, in his diaper, in my coffee cup!" she said. "They are literally everywhere, and I haven't even finished wrapping presents yet. Do I go and spend more money on more wrapping paper, or just... bring on the HOs?"
The Facebook post quickly spread and currently has been shared more than 78,000 times. Despite the initial annoyance, Gunnett said that the HO Incident of 2019 has been a "fun adventure" and that the experience of going viral has been "completely positive."
"On to more wrapping and festivities!"
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