{"id":646335,"date":"2026-10-14T17:14:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-14T17:14:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/646335\/"},"modified":"2026-10-14T17:14:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-14T17:14:11","slug":"merry-squishmas-10-squeezy-banana-on-list-of-top-festive-season-toys-retail-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/646335\/","title":{"rendered":"Merry squishmas: \u00a310 squeezy banana on list of top festive season toys | Retail industry"},"content":{"rendered":"

A cartoonish banana so addictively squidgy that it is \u201creally difficult to put down\u201d is tipped to be among the must-have toys this Christmas<\/a>, according to expert buyers at Hamleys.<\/p>\n

The \u00a310 \u201cslow-rise, squeezable, sensory\u201d fruit taps into the \u201csquishies\u201d craze that is fuelling a high street boom in toy sales. In the coming weeks, 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.<\/p>\n

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<\/a> and more than 600,000 on Instagram tagged #squishies. The most popular official brand, NeeDoh, has 1.1m TikTok followers.<\/p>\n

Victoria Kay, the head of buying and merchandising at Hamleys, said the \u201csquishy craze is only really just getting going\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe demand is huge. 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Squishies are the biggest toy trend of the year, according to Andrew Murphy, who runs The Entertainer, the UK\u2019s largest chain of toy shops. Some theories suggest their viral success is because of their stress-relieving powers or simplicity, but he suggests the \u201cdegree of fanaticism from kids under 10 for these products is not explainable in any rational way. It\u2019s just a real, deep desire\u201d.<\/p>\n

The squishies craze is good news for independent toy shops, he said: \u201cIt will be increasing sales in total by minimum of 30%. Most of their costs are fixed so they\u2019ll probably be doubling the profit for the year.\u201d<\/p>\n

One for J-Pop fans. The collectible figurine of the computer-generated pop-star Hatsune Miku<\/a>. Photograph: Hamleys<\/p>\n

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 \u00a310 are growing fastest, with an extra \u00a3100m worth of these so-called \u201cpocket money\u201d items sold during the period thanks to the clamour for World Cup stickers and squishies.<\/p>\n

As for Christmas<\/a> \u2013 still 72 days away \u2013 Hamleys says this week is when shopping for the festive season \u201cofficially\u201d 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 \u00a310, the Big Squij toys are the cheapest. while the remote-controlled flying Thunder Unicorn\u201d is the most expensive at \u00a375.<\/p>\n

The list of 15 items includes evergreen favourites such as Lego, Barbie, Peppa Pig and PlayDoh. With the upcoming Marvel superhero extravaganza Avengers: Doomsday<\/a> on the horizon it features two Doctor Doom toys \u2013 a \u00a345 Lego bust and a \u00a330 action figure.<\/p>\n

There is also something for J-Pop fans with a collectible figurine of the computer-generated pop-star Hatsune Miku<\/a>. The 16-year-old vocaloid \u2013 her \u201cvoice\u201d comes from music software \u2013 is playing London\u2019s O2 arena next month.<\/p>\n

Hamleys festive 15<\/p>\n

Hamleys Movers & Shakers interactive pet \u00a335<\/p>\n

Hamleys Thunder Unicorn \u00a375<\/p>\n

Barbie Nutcracker doll \u00a330<\/p>\n

PlayDoh Stamp & Spin Pizza playset \u00a320<\/p>\n

Articulate Under Pressure \u00a325<\/p>\n

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Primal Hatch Megalodon \u00a355<\/p>\n

Doctor Doom action figure \u00a330<\/p>\n

Hamleys ScorpiX RC transforming car \u00a350<\/p>\n

Hatsune Miku figure \u00a328<\/p>\n

Big Squij \u00a310<\/p>\n

Numberblocks sing and record music player \u00a327<\/p>\n

Lego Doctor Doom bust \u00a345<\/p>\n

Ready, Pedal, Go interactive Peppa Pig \u00a330<\/p>\n

Hamleys Wooden London taxi \u00a325<\/p>\n

Hamleys Magic 3D Track set \u00a360<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A cartoonish banana so addictively squidgy that it is \u201creally difficult to put down\u201d is tipped to be…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":646336,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[146,85,46],"class_list":["post-646335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-israel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=646335"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646335\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/646336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=646335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=646335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=646335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}