Expert consulted: 
If you’ve been seeing butter squishies anywhere and everywhere lately, it’s because they’ve become the latest toy fad. Just like how butter yellow infiltrated summer fashion last year, butter playthings have taken the toy industry by storm—and kids and adults alike are obsessing over the phenomenon.
The biggest players in the game are butter squishies, which, yes, are quite literally oversized sticks of packaged “butter” that you can stretch, press, and squeeze. Butter-themed slimes and plushes are also wildly popular.
What’s the reason behind this seemingly sudden craze? For one, they’re squishy, and squishy toys have been buzzing for nearly a decade. “Squishy toys are another way kids are getting out of the digital world and into the analog one. They like feeling different textures other than the smoothness of a phone or tablet screen,” explains Deputy Editor Marisa LaScala, who covers parenting and toys.
Perhaps it’s also the comfort of seeing something familiar, or the calming pale yellow hue. Social media definitely played a big part, with creators sharing satisfying videos of scooping butter out of an ice bucket or tapping and squeezing butter toys for ASMR appeal.
Just a few months ago, LaScala and a few other GH staffers attended Toy Fair, the annual trade show that showcases toy trends for the upcoming seasons. They reported seeing a significant amount of butter-themed toys from multiple companies, including a 20-inch-long plush from Fiesta Toy.
But overall, LaScala says, “It's hard to predict or understand why some things just take off. One day it's llamas and axolotls, the next it's butter. It could be tied to the butter-yellow trend, but it's just as likely it developed on its own.”
Many of our staffers have already hopped on the trend, with one saying, “My family saw these in a candy store at the beach and we all got one—they were a huge hit!” Another admitted to searching for one for herself earlier this week, and I myself might just do the same...
Check out some more butter-themed toys below, from butter slime to putty.
Marisa (she/her) has covered all things parenting, from the postpartum period through the empty nest, for Good Housekeeping since 2018; previously, she wrote about parents and families at Parents and Working Mother. She lives with her toy-collecting husband and daughter in Brooklyn, where she can be found helping out her team at bar trivia or posting about movies on Twitter and Bluesky.
