Why more and more adults are reaching for soft toys

Young adults are powering a surge in sales of "squishy" toys, the latest craze. The toys-for-adults market is now estimated to be worth £1 billion in the UK.

Last month, data released by market research firm Circana indicated that "kidults" – adults whose interests are traditionally seen as more suitable for children – now account for almost £1 of every £3 spent on toys . One in five children's toys and games are sold to adults buying them for themselves.

Melissa Symonds, Circana's executive director of UK toys, said that, for many adults, soft toys and collectible figures offer comforting nostalgia and represent "escapism from global turmoil". But is it healthy to devote so much attention to our inner child?

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Gargantuan collections

Once upon a time, a young person would "leave behind their old, distressed childhood toys" when they "flew the nest", wrote Ellie Muir for The Independent. But now it's "become acceptable" to "accumulate a gargantuan stuffed toy collection" that "competes with one owned by a toddler".

The latest kidult must-have brands include the Squishmallow, "a hybrid between a pillow and a stuffed animal", and the Jellycat, which "transforms household objects or food items" into a "cute, plush form" to be "squeezed and hugged".

With 65% of Squishmallow buyers aged between 18 and 24, , there's a "big, big uptake" in toy companies "really targeting" adult consumers, Rebecca Deeming-Mitchell, senior communications manager of the British Toy & Hobby Association, told the BBC.

Scared to grow up

Nostalgia and the "Peter Pan Syndrome" are important drivers, said the broadcaster. The "boredom and anxiety" of the Covid lockdowns further boosted the market for "playful collectibles", wrote Susie Mesure in The Telegraph.

Does this mean that Gen Z are "scared to grow up?", said Muir. Not exactly. According to experts, the "boom" in adult toys is a sign of a generation that is "ageing in a way that is more curious and playful compared to their forebears".

"Hugging a fluffy croissant" or "smooshing a smiling cauliflower" is an "instant serotonin boost", according to psychologist Veronica West. It's like owning an "emotional support animal, minus the vet bills or the risk of it peeing on your carpet".

Why can't adulthood "include joy and softness?", she added. The world "sometimes feels like a horror movie", and Gen Z has simply chosen a "coping mechanism" of "cuddling a fluffy pineapple", and "honestly, they might be onto something".

There is a difference between "childish behaviour" and "childlike behaviour", said Joshua Dale, a professor of cute studies at Chuo University in Tokyo, with child-like behaviour "having a sense of curiosity and wonder, and a willingness to learn new things". Adults are not regressing to childhood, but the definition of being an adult is "changing and becoming a little more flexible".