Gaming consoles, Lego flowers, plush collectibles with $200 price tags — welcome to the modern toy aisle, where the target customer just as easily has a mortgage as a naptime.Sales of toys marketed to grown-ups have surged in recent years, as adults snap up everything from collectible figures and building sets to nostalgic reissues of childhood favorites.
Experts say it is part of a broader cultural shift some are calling “kidulting.” Simply put, this trend revolves around the embrace of play, whimsy and childhood comforts well into adulthood, often as an antidote to the stress of modern life.To learn more, I spoke with a therapist and toy industry experts to understand what’s driving the trend and got the lowdown on which toys are topping adult wish lists right now, and where you can get them.Are more adults buying toys for themselves? The short answer is yes — and it’s not an entirely new phenomenon.
“We’ve seen trends of this nature for decades,” says Kiki Jacobson, a licensed mental health therapist and certified financial therapist.“There was the Beanie Babies craze from the ‘90s, Tamagotchis, Furby, Silly Bandz and now Pokémon cards have reemerged.” What has changed is the scale.”There has been a clear rise in adults buying toys for themselves,” says Lynn Rosenblum, associate professor of toy design at Otis College of Art and Design.
“Circana, the company that tracks global toy sales, reported that U.S.sales for recipients aged 18 and older increased 18 percent during the first half of 2025, with that growth split nearly evenly between males and females.” That’s not a niche subculture — it’s a measurable shift in who the toy industry is building products for.Part of the explanation is nostalgia.
These products appeal to “kids who never grew up,” Rosenblum says, and to adults who still enjoy collecting, building or simply owning toys, especially ones tied to their own childhoods.But nostalgia alone doesn’t explai...