When I was a kid, my father worked for a coffee brand that was owned by Kraft. While I was always kind of fuzzy on what exactly his job was—something to do with computers?—there was one thing I knew for sure: He had access to the company grocery store. Growing up, my marshmallow cereal was Post Alpha Bits, never Lucky Charms. My juice boxes were Kool-Aid. And the go-to weeknight dinner my sister and I requested constantly was, of course, Kraft Mac & Cheese.
We had it so often I eventually swore off eating it altogether, believing that I’d already exhausted my lifetime allotment of Mac & Cheese. I was the one college student who cringed at the blue boxes whenever they appeared in the communal pantry. Even now, in adulthood, I’m primed to notice whenever Mac & Cheese enters the chat, blue box or otherwise.
So I was as surprised as anyone when I started seeing a wealth of Mac & Cheese pop up, not in the grocery stores but in the toy aisle. This year, Mac & Cheese is a toy trend unto itself, and one I admit I didn’t see coming, even given my family history.
But I should have been able to predict it. Food-themed play has always been around, but a newer generation of food-themed toys has been on the rise for a while now—the gooier, stickier, and squishier, the better—from Jellycat Amusables to squishy dumplings to all the various butter-themed toys that kids seem to be clamoring for. And, if my own childhood is any indication, what gooey food do kids like better than good ol’ Mac & Cheese?
Just like the butter before it, the Mac comes in squishy-toy form, done in conjunction with Kraft itself. (You can also get squishy versions of Kool-Aid, Jet-Puffed Marshmallows, Jell-O, and the Oscar Mayer Wiener, all items frequently requested during my dad’s office grocery runs.)
When we brought kids into the Good Housekeeping Institute to test toys for this year’s Good Housekeeping Best Toy Awards, the Kraft squishies were a big hit. “[My daughter] thought the Mac & Cheese and marshmallow felt great,” said one parent of a 9-year-old toy tester, “and the food shapes were super cute!”
The game Smack n Cheese was also a winner in our testers’ books. It’s ostensibly a matching card game, with a twist: Whenever players get a match, everyone races to slap a “smack-a-roni” noodle that squeaks. With this one, the theme was definitely part of the appeal. “He loves Mac & Cheese, so it was right up his alley!” said the parent of an 8-year-old tester.
And the toy box isn’t the only place where my most-eaten childhood dinner has shown up. It’s turned up on bookshelves, too. Some Good Housekeeping Institute book testers this year were treated to Mac & Cheese: The Origin Story by Michael L. Benner and Alison Hawkins. No surprise: They ate it up (pun intended, sorry). The kids loved the cheesy (sorry again) humor. “My daughter’s favorite joke was, ‘What's a pirate's favorite cheese? Cheddarrrrrr,’” one parent said. “We walked around the house saying that joke for days.” Another reported: "The plot was adorable, but it's the jokes throughout that really kept me going."
So I guess that’s another thing about Mac & Cheese toys: They’re inherently unserious, which may explain their popularity. After all, it’s hard to stay stressed if you’re squeezing a squishy glob of cheese and noodles, or trying to get a rubbery elbow macaroni to squeak.
