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Lego, Pokemon cards or even Spiderman figurines… These are all objects that fill the cupboards of adults who have kept their childish soul, still maintaining a collection that they started when they were younger. They are called “kidults”. At Christmas, they too wait for gifts under the tree.
This is the good news this fall: parents are planning to please their children during the upcoming end-of-year celebrations. According to the analysis of the Junior City firm for the King Cadeau chain*, published in the LSA magazinethe French have decided to increase by 5% the average spending devoted to dolls, construction games and other gifts long awaited by young people. On average, the budget should amount to 132 euros per child. If spending remains measured, it takes place in a context where the French prefer to buy less but better. This was the conclusion of a Circana study published last September. “Fewer small toys under ten euros, but more toys over fifty euros“, had described the analysis firm.
If we follow the trend of the best successes in the toy department since the start of the year, there should be construction games at the foot of the tree (+29% from January to July 2024), electronics for juniors (+26%), stuffed animals (+9%) or even games and puzzles (+8%). But Santa shouldn’t just drop off these packages. Grown-ups should be spoiled too. We’re talking about teenagers first. No less than 80% of parents of teenagers plan to buy at least one toy for their offspring, even if one might consider that “they are no longer old enough”.
Who are the “kidults”?
But they won’t be the only ones. Adults could also be offered toys. These are the famous “kidults”. They are particularly fond of collections. Circana’s analysis indicated that in April 2024, 25% of parents of children aged 1 to 14 formed one, or participated in enriching those of their girls or boys. Concretely, we are talking about Lego, Pokemon cards, superhero and manga figurines, if not miniature vehicles.
These collectors who have bought into the bottle are only maintaining a passion, if not a taste for toys, which they discovered when they were little. It is more men who are concerned, i.e. 34% compared to 28% for women. Brands have already spotted this trend, notably Lego which has developed the Adult Welcome range.
*This study was carried out at the end of August 2024 by Junior City among 752 households with children aged 1 to 18 and 250 young adults aged 19 to 30.