Merry squishmas: £10 squeezy banana on list of top festive season toys
Social media-driven craze puts ‘squishies’ up there with evergreen favourites such as Lego and Barbie, Hamleys says 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…
A squishy banana toy has become a must-have for the upcoming Christmas season, as it joins other long-standing favorites like Lego and Barbie, according to Hamleys. The £10 "Big Squij" toy is part of a growing trend of "squishies," which are squeezable, sensory toys made of a flour-based compound. The popularity of these squishies has been fueled by social media, with over 260,000 TikTok posts and more than 600,000 Instagram posts tagged #squishies.
Victoria Kay, head of buying and merchandising at Hamleys, predicts thousands of these squishy toys will be sold in the coming weeks, citing their simplicity and stress-relieving properties as key reasons for their appeal. The craze is proving beneficial for independent toy shops, potentially doubling their profit for the year, as the trend is expected to boost toy sales overall by at least 30%.
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