A cartoonish banana so addictively squidgy that it is “really difficult to put down” is tipped to be among the must-have toys this Christmas, according to expert buyers at Hamleys. The £10 “slow-rise, squeezable, sensory” fruit taps into the “squishies” craze that is fuelling a high street boom in toy sales. Hamleys expects to sell thousands of the Big Squij toys, which come in a variety of food and animal shapes filled with a flour-based compound, in the coming weeks.
Their popularity has been supercharged by social media and a growing army of child and adult collectors. There are more than 260,000 TikTok posts and more than 600,000 on Instagram tagged #squishies. The most popular official brand, NeeDoh, has 1.1m TikTok followers.
Victoria Kay, the head of buying and merchandising at Hamleys, said the “squishy craze is only really just getting going”. There is a wonderful simplicity to their power whether you are a young child or an adult. Literally once you squeeze one, it’s really difficult to put it down.” Squishies are the biggest toy trend of the year, according to Andrew Murphy, who runs The Entertainer, the UK’s largest chain of toy shops.
Some theories suggest their viral success is because of their stress-relieving powers or simplicity, but he suggests the “degree of fanaticism from kids under 10 for these products is not explainable in any rational way. It’s just a real, deep desire”. The squishies craze is good news for independent toy shops, he said: “It will be increasing sales in total by minimum of 30%.
Most of their costs are fixed so they’ll probably be doubling the profit for the year.” The craze has been a shot in the arm for UK toy sales this year, which by the end of August were up 13% by value and 19% by volume, according the market research company Circana. Sales of toys that cost under £10 are growing fastest, with an extra £100m worth of these so-called “pocket money” items sold during the period thanks to the clamour for World Cup stickers and squishies. As for Christmas – still 72 days away – Hamleys says this week is when shopping for the festive season “officially” starts, according to a poll of consumers.
With that in mind it has produced its annual shortlist of toys to please toddlers through to teenagers and older. At £10, the Big Squij toys are the cheapest. while the remote-controlled flying Thunder Unicorn” is the most expensive at £75. The list of 15 items includes evergreen favourites such as Lego, Barbie, Peppa Pig and PlayDoh.
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