A Short Review of Squishables

Squishables are: "Giant, round, fuzzy stuffed animals.  Hug them. TM" (from the website).   That's a pretty perfect description.  The thing is, it is almost impossible to walk past one and not hug it, as we've discovered at my house.  Let me tell you how I found out about these adorable toys.

It is a Christmas tradition in my house to have one large, unwrapped stuffed animal under the tree on Christmas morning.  Santa has always done this, and it adds to the excitement and magic of the morning...and it gives the kids something to look at while my husband and I sleep a bit longer.  The thing is, my eldest son is 14 years old now and has, suddenly, entered the realm of "young adult."  In other words, he no longer gets super-excited about stuffed animals.

My younger son, however, is a big fan of sticking with tradition, and also a fan of video games, so his "stuffed animal" this year was easy to choose: the Portal 2 Plush Turret with Sound, found at our favorite store, Think Geek.  I am a stickler for being fair and equal, though, and so I was really struggling with what to do for my older child.  Then, two days before Christmas, I walked into a local toy store and saw this:

It is large and huggable and adorable...and kinda gross.  Perfect!  

It has a belly button: 

I took a spin around the store to mull over the price tag (I think this particular store had it marked up to $60 (!!!).  Caught up in the last-minute excitement of it all, I decided to go for it.  I felt really good about my decision.  I had a spring in my step!  As I walked back through the store to fetch it, however, I saw another customer being handed a big, round, wrapped package at the checkout counter.  Uh, oh.  Bad feeling.  I got back to the shelf where the Squishable had been and sure enough--that woman had bought my Squishable!!  Panic!  Of course that was the last one (they offered me a raccoon instead, but come on--a raccoon??) and now I was absolutely positive that this was the perfect, must-have, awesome solution to everything.

I raced home and logged into Think Geek (because they have everything that is cool) and sure enough, THERE was the Squishable!  For cheaper!  This particular one is actually called a "Worrible," it turns out.  Unfortunately, I had missed the Christmas ordering deadline by a half hour.  A half hour!  Gah!  I called Think Geek on the phone and begged and pleaded with them, but, friendly and great as they are, they were unable to give me any guarantees.  I was so bummed out.

Don't worry--you know there's a happy ending because I have pictures.  After a lot of internet searching, Amazon came through for me and the Worrible arrived the day before Christmas.  Phew!  My son loves it.  It is so funny to watch this tall, manly child of mine hugging a fluffy, disgusting stuffed friend.  You don't know my son, so I can tell you that he falls asleep cuddling with it every night.  I think it is wonderful.

One of the best things about these toys is the selection of animals, and the way every single one is made with just enough detail for it to be unbearably cute, and also recognizable as the unique animal that it is.  (Except this: I have no idea what that is).   I am biology teacher, and so I really appreciate the diversity and obscureness of the critters.  In our house we already have the manatee:

And the narwhal:

I am thinking we can just use these instead of throw pillows from now on.  Here I have posed them with some common objects so that you can see how big they are!

  

My niece now has the dragon.  I need to get my other niece the platypus (I mean, it's a stuffed monotreme for goodness sake!).  My nephew has another Worrible.  My mom wants the saber-toothed tiger and my husband wants the jellyfish (or the octopus).

They come in many sizes:  the ones we have are 15 inches, but there are also "minis," which are about 7 inches in diameter, "micros," which are are only 3 inches in diameter, and then "massives," which are like bean bags--24 inches in diameter.

I highly recommend spending some time at Squishable.com just looking at the variety of cuteness.  There is something for everyone!

Summary:

Age Level	3 and up
Value	Good.  Slightly pricey but BIG.
Quality	Very good--nice soft, huggable fabrics and really cute designs.
Packaging	No packaging!  Yay!
Collectable?	No.  But you could collect lots of them...
Versatility	In our house, they are used for cuddling, and also to prop up heads for reading at night.  Also, the dog likes to chew them.
Overall	Definitely Recommended