Plush bouquets are an increasingly popular gift for Valentine’s Day—as well as for Mother’s Day and other gift-giving occasions—and character/entertainment licensing plays a role in the sector.
The product consists of plush figures assembled in a plush wrapper, like a bouquet. Some of the plush items are specially designed to combine character likenesses with flower motifs, while others combine plush blossoms with characters. They can include anywhere from four to six plush characters per bouquet to just one or two plush figures, with the latter often being boyfriend and girlfriend or two friends. A few are offered as blind-box collectibles that the purchaser can combine into a bouquet.
A sampling of the players involved in this category, along with representative examples of their offerings, includes:
- Mexican toy company Grupo Ruz, which sells licensed varieties featuring character pairs such as Snoopy and Woodstock, Sonic and Amy Rose, Chucky and Bride of Chucky, Stitch and Angel, and Garfield and Odie, as well as larger bouquets such as one featuring the four characters of Bluey and her family.
- Just Play, which markets bouquets under the various franchises in the greater Disney family in a variety of formats, from two characters with plush hearts to five characters combined in one bouquet. Properties include The Nightmare Before Christmas, Star Wars, Mickey and Minnie, Spider-Man, Lilo & Stitch, and more.
- Jazwares, which sells several bunches in different color schemes highlighting Hello Kitty along with several other Sanrio characters. The toy company also offers a Minimallows bouquet based on its own Squishmallows franchise.
- Smoko, which has a bouquet combining three Miffy plush “flowers” and five plush tulips as part of its broader Miffy plush assortment. The company also offers several bouquets featuring its own kawaii characters, the Smoko Friends.
Plush bouquets—including both licensed examples and proprietary offerings from the likes of Hershey and Build-A-Bear—are sold in a variety of physical and online retail outlets, from mass retailers such as Walmart and Amazon to specialty stores such as Hot Topic, among others.
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