“Shucks!”

Lori Verderame

Art & Antiques by Dr. Lori Squishmallows: Collectible toy of the Future

Don’t know which contemporary toy is the best one to buy for everybody on your list this holiday season? While many toys make great gifts, some toys will be collectibles of the future.

What is my pick for the holiday toy of choice in 2021? Squishmallows.

I think these soft, plush toys with cutesy and culturally significant names, complex backstories, and strong designs — and that second for cuddly pillows — are highly collectible and will hold their value with collectors for the long term.

Squishmallows are to the 2020s what Beanie Babies were to the 1990s.

Squishmallows are not only the next big toy craze, they are the current big toy craze. Only a few years since their introduction in the autumn of 2017, the collectible Squishmallows toys in their many versions have achieved the type of widespread interest that was enjoyed by Boyd’s Bears, Cabbage Patch Kids, and Ty Inc. Beanie Babies.

Squishmallows are organized and marketed differently from most plush toys. For example, Squishmallows debuted in thematic squads, like the Fantasy Squad, Prehistoric Squad, Buddy Squad, etc., with certain items included within a category or squad.

Each Squishmallow has its own character name; “squishdate,” which is likened to a birthdate; collector number; character backstory; and, of course, the all-important printed tag.

The fun plush toys are available in four sizes — 5, 8, 12, and 16 inches tall — and range in price from approximately $5 to $20 each. The cost is attractive to all ages. Kids can afford their low price in order to make additions to their Squishmallows collections.

Adults collect them too. In fact, I was interviewed about appraising collectible Squishmallows recently, and the 20-something reporter admitted that she and her friends are wild about collecting the cuddly creature toys, too. That didn’t surprise me, as young adults are enthusiastic plush-toy collectors for many reasons, one of which is that the age group grew up with the 1990s collectible-toy crazes.

Kellytoy, the California plush-toy manufacturer that makes and markets Squishmallows, enjoys widespread interest and sales: more than 55 million have been sold to date.

The complete Squishmallows Squad includes more than 800 plush characters in various sizes. The toys are simple in their design and feature colorful and textural attributes that make the them attractive to the

Photo credit: Staff of www.DrLoriV.com

Squishmallow plush toy, rocio the collecting public. Squishmallows are made from superdinosaur, Prehistoric Squad, collector soft spandex EF and polyester stuffing. Each toy is No. 680. washable. Collectors look for some of the same elements in a Squishmallow as they did in Ty Inc. Beanies Babies. Tags are important to authentication and value, since there are fakes out there trying to imitate the toys. To an appraiser and market analyst like me, Squishmallows have all the stuff that will make them a mainstay in the collectible-toy market for many years to come. Get yours now while you can. All the kids and adults on your holiday shopping list will thank you for it. Ph.D. antiques appraiser, author, and award-winning TV personality Dr. Lori presents antique appraisal events nationwide and appears on The Curse of Oak Island on History channel. Visit drloriv.com, youtube.com/drloriv, or call (888) 431-1010.

Bill Levine

Booming Voice remotely Unsuccessful

My three closest former officemates from the 501 building and I recently met for our first get-together dinner meeting post-COVID. We have kept in touch, even though two of my friends retired in 2007, seven years before my final logoff.

We passed around the annals of the old office coffee club, which included fake bios for members emphasizing their java creds, mixed with real newspaper articles about the club’s charitable donations to Globe Santa.

To this pleasant memory above, I want to add stats from a March 2021 Society for Human Resource Management (shrm.org) piece that listed what remote employees missed most:

• 61% – In-person workplace conversations • 42% – The regular and daily structure of reporting to a worksite

• 40% – Lunches and happy hours with colleagues

• 37% – Reduced interruptions by kids during the workday