Charlotte Edwards
Journalist
Amanda Hope
Amanda with her Jellycats collection
Amanda Hope fears how she spent on her collection of soft Jellycat toys, but estimates that it is more than £ 3,000.
“They are so cute and cuddling,” said 36 -year -old Surrey software specialist. “There is something so irresistible in their happy little faces!”
Amanda is part of an increasing number of adults buying toys for themselves.
And it’s not just the jellycats, they are also Lego Plastic Bricks and Sonny Angels dolls filling Tiktok flows while people publish videos of their latest purchases.
According to the Toy Industry Research Group Circana, one in five toys is bought by over 18 years.
Research revealed that the purchase of collection of collection had positive advantages for mental health that helped adults to face the troubles.
Eggs with faces with cups of smiling coffee, Jellycat’s craze had a great impact on the toy industry and a Tiktok trend to unpack Sonny Angels has put the tiny dolls in large demand.
These toys are not necessarily cheap. Jellycats vary from £ 11 to more than £ 700, while LEGO gift sets for adults can cost up to £ 730.
So why do so many adults spend their disposable income on toys?
Getty images
An angel of Sonny is a mini plastic cherub that carries a variety of hats and outfits
“The popularity of Sonny Angel and Jellycat illustrates Kidult’s growing trend,” said Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown, who covered the retail sector for many years.
“Although world -scale toy sales experienced a low drop of 0.6% overall in 2024, collecting toys saw record sales.”
Sonny Angels is sold in blind boxes, so customers never know what they will get and can therefore buy more.
Ms. Streeter thinks that “the desire to be part of a Fandom universe” feeds sales and the need for nostalgia “in the middle of adulthood stress”.
Lego therapy
She lynn
She collects Lego as well as the Jellycats
She Lynn, 23, estimates that she spent £ 2,300 for her Jellycat collection and around £ 500 LEGO collecting.
She thinks that the appearance of the LEGO building can help adults go out from their hectic lives.
“I find that it is quite therapeutic to build. It helps me to spend a very well stressful day,” said, who works as a project coordinator.
“And it’s fun to have some of your favorite characters.”
She says she would probably have more LEGO if it was not at the cost.
“For some of the largest LEGO sets, they tend to reach a higher price so that they are not so easily achievable,” she said.
Amanda Hope
Amanda started buying jellycats in 2021
In addition to selling toys, Jellycats began to put pop-up “experiences”. Currently at London Selfridges, you can buy soft toys exclusive to fish, sold by an assistant pretending to fry and put salt and vinegar on your selected tenets.
Amanda visited the pop-up twice, once and for herself and once to get a gift for a friend.
Videos of such experiences have millions of views online, with fans that are mainly published – the same goes for the unpacking trend of Sonny Angel.
Melissa Symonds, Executive Director of Toys among Circana Analysts, thinks that social media play a big role in advertising and toy sales.
“Millions of people watch social media,” she said.
“They rediscover the ancient favorites and even the marks that are involved in current trends are beginning to make social media aware.”
‘I buy a few each month’
Jessica
Jessica says that having a jellycat on the way gives her something to hope
Jessica, twenty-two years old, frequently bought Jellycats and has built a collection of more than £ 1,000, which she publishes on Tiktok.
“On the day of pay, I stand one or two, and a few others throughout the month,” said the Ipswich sales assistant.
“When I had a bad day and I know that a Jellycat is on the way, I can’t wait to see it in real life and add it to my overflowing shelf.”
She compares soft toys with Ty Beanie babies, one of the largest toy trends in the 1990s.
“I have the impression that the pleasure of collecting and displaying the two is similar.”
Ty now has a new range called Beanie Bouncers
Jellycats and Sonny Angels often sell quickly with retailers.
“This makes it in turn the prices that can be billed in private re -evaluations,” said Susannah Streeter.
This is something I lived when she wanted to buy the Peach Jellycat which became viral last year but could not find it in stock nowhere.
She ended up paying double the price on Vinton, and thinks that you should not be allowed to resell online toys at high prices.
This blurred fishing became viral last summer and is currently exhausted on the Jellycat website with crooks now selling counterfeits online
According to Melissa Symonds of Circana, the Kidult trend shows no sign of slowdown.
Although she thinks that Jellycat stands out to manage “to strike this ideal point to obtain collectibles at all ages, but also attractive adults and at a fairly high -end price”, she says that there is other brands that slam in his heels.
She points Ty, Aurora and Posh Paws like those to watch for the next plush toys.
