Try not to panic – and definitely don't tell your kids – but a warning has been issued about an Easter egg shortage in the shops. OK, panic. I am.
With three days to go, some shops have already run out of many products, according to a report, which means the Easter Bunny will have to work extra hard to plug the demand or risk the tears and tantrums of thousands of disappointed children!
The Telegraph says all the big supermarkets have suffered shortages, and have run out of of a number of lines, especially eggs made by Cadbury – the country's biggest chocolate maker – and Nestle, as well as some Lindt and Mars eggs.
The drought in the seasonal treat comes as supermarkets exchange shots in a so-called price war, which has seen the leading chains lower the prices of a number of key products in an attempt to steal customers from rivals.
Easter eggs have fallen prey to this tactic, with the great majority discounted or on promotion of some sort. Much of the blame for the shortage has been blamed on the heavy level of discounting.
Bryan Roberts, analyst at Kantar Retrail, said: "This is now becoming standard practice. They hit the shelves on Boxing Day and are then on promotion in some way in the run up to Easter, with the lower price points being particularly blitzed."
However, a spokesman for Tesco played down any shortages, saying: "You won't go in on Good Friday and find only one egg on the shelves. There will be plenty of eggs."
But he added: "It's possible we have run out of some of the ranges, in some of the sizes. Quite obviously we are close to Easter and that tends to happen."
And a spokesman for Asda said in was only on its website where shoppers would be disappointed, adding: "To ensure no family goes without their eggs, we have put a hold on the ordering of some products online so we can focus on fulfilling our current orders before the weekend."