{"id":2212,"date":"2026-11-02T00:07:14","date_gmt":"2026-11-02T00:07:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/babydollliz.com\/?p=2212"},"modified":"2026-11-02T00:07:14","modified_gmt":"2026-11-02T00:07:14","slug":"squishy-toys-and-cartoon-bananas-slated-as-christmas-must-haves-by-hamleys-experts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/babydollliz.com\/?p=2212","title":{"rendered":"Squishy Toys and Cartoon Bananas Slated as Christmas Must-Haves by Hamleys Experts"},"content":{"rendered":"

A cartoonish banana that is addictively squidgy and, in the words of expert buyers, "really difficult to put down" is officially tipped to be among the must-have toys this Christmas season, according to retail buyers at the world-famous toy store Hamleys. <\/p>\n

Retailing at \u00a310, the "slow-rise, squeezable, sensory" fruit taps directly into the broader "squishies" craze that is currently fueling a robust high street boom in toy sales across the United Kingdom. In the coming weeks, Hamleys expects to sell thousands of the Big Squij toys, which are manufactured in a wide variety of quirky food and animal shapes and filled with a tactile, flour-based compound designed to provide a satisfying sensory experience.<\/p>\n

The unprecedented popularity of these tactile items has been heavily supercharged by social media platforms and a rapidly growing army of dedicated child and adult collectors. There are currently more than 260,000 TikTok posts and upwards of 600,000 Instagram posts tagged simply with #squishies. Meanwhile, the most popular official brand in the category, NeeDoh, boasts a massive following of 1.1 million users on TikTok alone, highlighting the cross-generational and digital-first nature of the trend.<\/p>\n

Victoria Kay, the head of buying and merchandising at Hamleys, noted that the broader squishy craze appears to be only really just getting going. <\/p>\n

"The demand is huge," Kay said, reflecting on the psychological pull of the merchandise. "There is a wonderful simplicity to their power whether you are a young child or an adult. Literally once you squeeze one, it\u2019s really difficult to put it down."<\/p>\n

This sentiment is echoed across the retail sector. Squishies are currently the single biggest toy trend of the year, according to Andrew Murphy, who runs The Entertainer, the UK\u2019s largest chain of dedicated toy shops. While various theories have been floated to explain their viral success\u2014ranging from purported stress-relieving powers to their minimalist appeal\u2014Murphy suggests that the true driver defies easy categorization. He notes that the "degree of fanaticism from kids under 10 for these products is not explainable in any rational way; it\u2019s just a real, deep desire."<\/p>\n

For independent toy retailers, the phenomenon has provided an unexpected and much-needed financial windfall. Murphy highlighted that the craze is proving exceptionally good news for smaller, independent shops up and down the country. <\/p>\n

\"Merry<\/figure>\n

"It will be increasing sales in total by a minimum of 30%," Murphy said. "Most of their costs are fixed, so they\u2019ll probably be doubling the profit for the year."<\/p>\n

The wider squishies craze has provided a vital shot in the arm for UK toy sales this year. According to data from market research company Circana, total UK toy sales by the end of August were up 13% by value and 19% by volume compared with the previous year. Sales of toys costing under \u00a310 are growing at the fastest rate, with an extra \u00a3100 million worth of these so-called "pocket money" items sold during the period, driven largely by an intense public clamour for World Cup stickers alongside the ubiquitous squishies.<\/p>\n

As for Christmas\u2014which is still roughly 72 days away at the time of the announcement\u2014Hamleys reports that this specific week marks the point when shopping for the festive season "officially" starts, according to a recent poll of consumers. With that consumer mindset in mind, the retailer has produced its annual shortlist of toys designed to please everyone from toddlers through to teenagers and older collectors. At \u00a310, the Big Squij toys stand out as the cheapest items on the curated list, while the remote-controlled flying Thunder Unicorn sits at the other end of the spectrum as the most expensive, retailing at \u00a375.<\/p>\n

The carefully curated list of 15 items naturally features evergreen industry favourites such as Lego, Barbie, Peppa Pig, and Play-Doh. However, it also incorporates items tied to major upcoming cultural events. With the highly anticipated Marvel superhero cinematic extravaganza Avengers: Doomsday<\/em> looming on the horizon, the festive list features two distinct Doctor Doom toys: a \u00a345 Lego bust and a \u00a330 action figure, aiming to capture the pre-release excitement of comic book fans.<\/p>\n

There is also specialized representation for J-Pop fans on the list, courtesy of a collectible figurine of the computer-generated pop star Hatsune Miku. The 16-year-old vocaloid, whose distinctive singing voice is entirely generated using specialized music software, continues to command a massive global following and is scheduled to play a high-profile concert at London\u2019s O2 arena next month.<\/p>\n

The complete Hamleys festive list highlights a diverse mix of interactive technology, traditional playsets, and collectible merchandise designed to dominate retail shelves through the end of the year. Among the selected products are the Hamleys Movers & Shakers interactive pet priced at \u00a335, the aforementioned Hamleys Thunder Unicorn at \u00a375, the Barbie Nutcracker doll at \u00a330, and the PlayDoh Stamp & Spin Pizza playset at \u00a325. <\/p>\n

Rounding out the selection of fifteen items are the social word game Articulate Under Pressure at \u00a325, the Primal Hatch Megalodon at \u00a355, the standalone Doctor Doom action figure at \u00a330, the Hamleys ScorpiX RC transforming car at \u00a350, and the Hatsune Miku figure at \u00a328. The list also features the viral Big Squij at \u00a310, the Numberblocks sing and record music player at \u00a327, the Lego Doctor Doom bust at \u00a345, the Ready, Pedal, Go interactive Peppa Pig at \u00a330, the traditional Hamleys Wooden London taxi at \u00a325, and the Hamleys Magic 3D Track set, which retails for \u00a360.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A cartoonish banana that is addictively squidgy and, in the words of expert buyers, "really difficult to put down" is officially tipped to be among the must-have toys this Christmas season, according to retail buyers at the world-famous toy store Hamleys. Retailing at \u00a310, the "slow-rise, squeezable, sensory" fruit taps directly into the broader "squishies"…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2211,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[336],"tags":[3063,3062,338,181,159,215,178,25,24,337,3064,2197,150],"class_list":["post-2212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-toys-and-play","tag-bananas","tag-cartoon","tag-children","tag-christmas","tag-entertainment","tag-experts","tag-hamleys","tag-haves","tag-must","tag-play","tag-slated","tag-squishy","tag-toys"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/babydollliz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2212","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/babydollliz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/babydollliz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/babydollliz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/babydollliz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2212"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/babydollliz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2212\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/babydollliz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/babydollliz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/babydollliz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/babydollliz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}