So I’ll be honest — I failed — I finally succumbed and fell into the world of Squishmallows. I was so proud of myself for ignoring the squishy round stuffed animals when they started popping up on my Tiktok timeline eight months ago. In fact, I was almost cocky about it. No, I thought as I watched video after video, I will not fall into this trend, but after two weeks I caved.
Now, I don’t know if it was the stress of the last semester of university, my sinking feeling of dread over soon entering the “real” world, not getting into my Masters program of choice or accepting a year-long contract, or maybe a mix of it all. But when I saw that little squishy body at the Michaels checkout, I grabbed one on my way up to the cash.
It was rational, fine, I thought. One Squishmallow that looked like my old dog. This would be the sole Squish of Alexandra’s collection. But then the very things that pushed the Squish onto my timeline started to come to the surface — a burnout former gifted kid, with hyper-obsessive ADHD qualities, a collector, an adult with income and a desire to cling onto her youth until the bitter end. I fell. And, as I so often do with new hobbies, I fell hard.
And now I guess I should really explain to those unaware what Squishmallows are. It’s easy to forget that not everyone is in the same social media microbubble as you. According to the Squishmallows website, the squishy bouncy round stuffies first came onto the scene in 2017. They describe the feeling as “marshmallow-like” and I tend to agree that they’re right.
But the world of Squishmallows can now almost feel like a competitive sport. There are rushes to the store to get the exclusive ones and they sell out online in minutes. I’m even a part of some Facebook and Snapchat groups.
Then there are the scalpers. People will buy up the Squish in huge amounts and “scalp” shelves with the intention of selling them online for ridiculous amounts of money. It can really take the fun out of things, but I also find it super fascinating that there is underground stuffed animal scalping going on.
With most of the people I have talked to online, there is also a sense that the circumstances of this year and the pandemic drove them to this hobby. So many of us are also very similar, but that isn’t a hard and fast rule. I’ve met people for socially-distanced trades and spent time just talking outside. We can bond over more than just our love for Squishmallows.
I remember so vividly sitting in the back of my best friend’s car as we listed to her amused parents the endless reasons why “no, Webkinz are not just a trend” and why “yes, in fact, we will have our collections forever”. And I can’t help but feel a cruel deja vu is coming back my way. There’s no way Squishmallows will be the craze they are forever, but at this point, I’m happy to be along for the ride when they are.