So many adults are increasingly embracing their inner child by splurging on children’s toys, but what does this growing trend say about our need for nostalgia and comfort in an uncertain world?
Admit it. We all know someone with an obsession with collecting some form of children’s toy. No, not your niece or nephew or even your own child. But a fellow adult. If that someone comes to mind, might I guess that their toy of choice is a Jellycat or perhaps Labubu doll?
Jellycat toys were an early contender to the adults-loving-kid’s-toys phase of TikTok. The popular brand is best known for their adorable, quirky designs, including plushies that come in all shapes and sizes, from animals to food items like cuddly bowls of cereal or avocados.
And people are obsessed. I’ll make a confession – I have five Jellycats myself. For a time, they were everywhere on TikTok—whether it was people showing off their impressive hoards, their latest buys, or one of the quirky Jellycat immersive pop-up shops. These novelty events would see hundreds wait in line to receive limited editions of the toys, like a full plushie version of a fish and chips meal, complete with battered cod and peas.
READ MORE: ‘Adult toy’ taking the celebrity world by storm but what are Labubu Dolls?
But these are not the only children’s toys taking the adult world by storm. A new toy on the block has been stealing the attention of whimsy-loving grown ups. Labubu dolls, which are a quirky line of collectible figures created by Chinese artist Kasing Lung, have taken the world by storm of late.
Even if you are yet to start building your own collection, you have probably noticed their recent stardom on TikTok. Fans of the odd-looking, gremlin-like creatures have flocked to social media to share their love for the dolls – and their every growing collections.
Ex Love Islander and documentarian Olivia Attwood, 33, took to TikTok to share a number of videos of herself unboxing these collectible figures, gushing over their unique designs. In one TikTok video, Olivia refers to herself as “mummy” while introducing her new Labubu keyring.
The toys, which come individually wrapped in foil packaging, are the latest in a swathe of ‘blind’ toys where buyers don’t know which model they have until they open them up. The hashtag alone (#labubu) has hit 1.1million posts on TikTok, while the searches for the toys online have skyrocketed by a whopping 73% over the last year.
There is no denying that these types of toys are everywhere at the moment. But why are we so obsessed with them? Why, as a generation of working adults, are we choosing to spend our hard earned cash on (not inexpensive) stuffed animals?
Well, as it turns out, Labubu dolls and Jellycats are not the only threat to our bank accounts. It seems that children’s toys in general are becoming more and more popular with over-18s. In fact, in 2024, research group Circana revealed that as many as one in five toys and games are now bought by over-18s for themselves. Another market researcher Appinio confirmed this, finding that 41% of British adults admit to purchasing toys for their own use and enjoyment.
This rise in adult-led demand for children’s playthings could be part of ‘kidulting’ – the trend of giving into your child-like desires and embracing that part of you that still wants to play on the swings or throw a ball around in the garden on a sunny day. It sees grown-ups take to social media to share themselves leaving behind the expectations of how an adult should behave and leaning into the reckless abandon that makes children, well, children. Maybe our obsession with kids toys like Labubu and Jellycat is simply part of this.
To me, this link is obvious. Millennials and some early Gen Zers are the generations that grew up playing with physical toys like Furbies, Barbies and Beanie Babies long before the internet took over our lives. Whilst many of us had access to programmes like MSN and MySpace on our parent’s computers – that had to be connected to the internet via telephone cable – we spent the most part of our free time simply playing.
As a self-confessed former Build-a-Bear addict and die-hard Sylvania Families collector, I firmly believe that our love of all things fluffy, cute and mindless is a way for us to reconnect with the innocence of our childhood pre-internet. A way for us to escape the stress of everyday working life, when the most important thing was what lunch would be at school tomorrow or if we might persuade our parents to take us to the local toy shop on the weekend.
Life, as many adults will openly admit, is hard. Living in the throes of a cost of living crisis and a tumultuous global political landscape, no wonder some of us feel like we just want to escape it all and throw it back to simpler times. Our love for children’s toys and our willingness to splash the cash on them is a symbol of this. I, for one, say we should all take a moment out of our busy, working lives to remember and reconnect with the innocence of our childhoods – even if that is in the form of funny little friend with bunny ears or a cuddly croissant with a smiley face.