Hottest, Strangest, Grossest Toy Trends of the Holiday Season

Toys are like zebras or bison—they tend to move in herds. Usually it’s not just one toy doing one thing, but many toys doing the same thing at the same time. These industry trends are particularly obvious during the holidays, when the hottest toys of years often fall into clusters.

Here are a few of the toy trends that have little humans going gonzo this holiday season…

1. Interactive Toys – Whether its Pomsies that want you pet them, Fingerlings that want you to hold them, Grumblies that want you to smack them, or the remade Teddy Ruxpin, who just wants your ear, toys that talk and interact with kids are the thing this year.

2. Mystery Creatures – Turns out kids are a lot like gambling addicts who love the feeling of not knowing if the dice will roll their way. From mystery versions of Hatchimals, LOL Surprises, Crate Creatures, Scruff-a-Luvs, and a thousand other toy brands packaged so you can’t tell exactly what’s inside, the (somewhat) unknown has somehow become a big draw.

3. Poop Games – For centuries, kids have delighted in poop and flatulence—getting a lot of delight from jokes, songs, and sounds related to toilets, butts, and bathrooms. This year that delight has made its way into the toy world with games like Don’t Step In It and Gas Out, as well as Sticky Unicorn Poo and the Play-Doh Poop Troop Set.

If you’re looking at this list and thinking to yourself “boy, toys sure have gotten weird”, well maybe you’ve just forgotten about that collection of Madballs you used to have.