Hey, anon! Thank you for putting in the post number that way - it made it so much easier for me to find out exactly and quickly what you’re after. (For anyone interested, it’s this post on prickle/spiky animal party favour fidgets.) It’s ridiculous that Tumblr won’t just let us put links in asks, of course, but that’s a really great way of going about it, at least for a post already on this blog.

Unfortunately, I too am struggling.

I’ve gone through every UK and European-based store on our master post, for example, and I can’t find any of these toys. They don’t seem to be all that common a toy on the OT-styled stores, outside of Stimtastic. Honestly, I think that is because Stimtastic focuses more on affordable/inexpensive offerings, items purchased by teens and adults for themselves, where as OT stores are shopped by parents.

The next step was to investigate party favour stores! Please note that I focused on UK and English-language stores, solely because they’re easier for me to search. It can be hard sometimes to search up a toy even in my own language, but for a toy like this that doesn’t a set product name (compare to a Tangle, spinner or fidget cube) it’s even more difficult. And it was difficult. Anon, I found three listings, all for the same item. I’ve scrolled through several online party favour stores. I’ve scrolled through who-knows-how-many party storefronts on Amazon. I’ve tried variations on “woolly creature” and “spiky party toy” and “hedge party toy”. Nothing.

(If any of our European followers can help us out on this with local party supply stores, I would be so grateful.)

Please note that I don’t know how expensive the shipping is on some of these sites. It might be easier (if you can access these stores and/or have the time) to just check out the party supply sections of your local offline department and dollar shops, as that’s where I’ve found all mine. Additionally, all of these are multi-packs, so you really might be better off just ordering from Stimtastic if your concerns are one of price and not one of the product arriving. I do know there’s European countries where shipping from the US to that country is a nightmare - Italy, for example, was a common exclusion in My Little Pony collecting and trading communities for reasons of getting items past customs, not price.

There’s a 12 pack of wooly frogs (£5.99GBP) available at Party Delights (UK) and Parties R Us (UK). I also found them on Amazon UK for £4.70.

(The frogs are cute! I hope I can find some locally myself!)

These aren’t the animals, but I also found an 8 pack of woolly balls at Party Pieces (UK) for £1.99 GBP.

I’m really sorry, anon, because I know that isn’t a lot of options for you. I hope there’s some listings out there that I haven’t been able to find, and someone else can work some better search magic than I.

[image description: three photos taken on a red watermelon slice background of a brown hedge creature bear: a round ball of protruding plastic bristles with two brown feet, two brown outstretched hands and a rounded bear face with rough-painted pink ears, pink nose and white-and-black eyes. First image shows the hedge bear in a clear plastic bag; second image shows the bear standing by its flat feet on the watermelon pillow; third image shows the bear standing beside a smaller, rounded blue prickle/hedge dinosaur and a red rounded hedge monkey for scale. The bear is almost twice as tall as the dinosaur and a fraction taller, in the head and the size of the ball belly, than the monkey.]

Hedge Creature: $1.99 AUD from Toyworld.

Dimensions: 6 cm x 3.5 cm

These were available in a couple of variations: lion, zebra, tiger, bear.

(The bear could be a monkey - I’m not entirely sure. I think it’s a bear. Think.)

The best thing about these is that they balance superbly, meaning that if you want to display them on your desk as an always-at-hand stim toy, they’ll stand up - something neither the hedge dinosaurs from this set or the hedge monkeys from this set do particularly well (or at all in the case of the monkeys).

The worst thing about them is that the bristles do not stretch, making them good only as a textured fidget. The limbs are a little rubbery and the bristles compress nicely under my hands. The claws on feet and hands and the shape of the head give it a lot of different textures - I really like touching it. It also has a plastic smell, only noticeable when held right under the nose.

If you want more than one, though, for the price, you’re better off getting the sets linked above, as $2 AUD each for a fidget can get a little expensive in comparison.

[image description: four images of prickle fidget animals/hedge animals, shaped like monkeys. The monkeys are show in red, blue, green and yellow and have a prickle ball centre topped with a smiling monkey face, outstretched waving hands, and hand-shaped feet. The faces have white snouts, ears and nose, with small black dots for eyes, all spray painted. Some are better painted than others. First image shows the hedge monkeys in a clear plastic bag with the product name “Alpen Parties for Everyone” in rainbow lettering and a white price tag of $3.50. Second shows the camera focusing on the green monkey, a white person’s thumb and forefinger stretching one of the body’s bristles to twice its length. Third shows the four monkeys free of the bag, the green and yellow monkeys propped against the red and blue ones. Fourth image shows the monkeys compared to two different sizes of hedge/porcupine/prickle ball and two prickle fidget dinosaur creatures.]

Spiky Monkey / Hedge Monkey: $3.50 AUD for a pack of four from a local dollar shop (found in the party section). These are from an Australian company/distributor, so I have no idea as to their availability worldwide.

I really love my prickle fidget toys, so when I saw a pack of hedge monkeys, I couldn’t leave them behind. Unlike my other spiky/hedge toys, these ones are made from a stretchable rubber: arms, legs, tail and spikes all stretch to about twice their length. Because they’re stretchable, they’re softer to touch than the dinosaurs and balls in the fourth photo; the prickles compress under a fingertip. I like that they’re stretchable, though; it fills a hole in my stim toy kit! The tail is really nice to stretch! The rubbery softness, too, means they’re great for rolling in my hands.

(I believe the Stimtastic Mini Hedge Ball set, $1.25 USD for five, is also stretchable, for those wanting the stretchable variations of these toys.)

They have a slight rubbery smell, nowhere near as bad as most puffer toys. They leave a very slight residue on my skin, so slight I’d call it negligible. They don’t bounce. Surprisingly, I can rub away any dust they pick up! People who care about face paint should know that I had to hunt through several bags to find the best set. Most were awful.

Oh, yes! Yes I do! There are many toys that can go on a lanyard key chain, some as they are, some with a little work/creativity depending on the type of fastener you have for the lanyard! I’ve also got a few DIYs I’ve made myself - bead rings attached to a zip lanyard for double stimmy goodness.

Firstly: many squishies come with a cell phone charm strap or a ball chain attachment. Both of those can attach to a lanyard as they are. In my review post this morning I’ve got the macaron ($1 AUD) which is smaller and might be ideal for hanging from a lanyard; Stimtastic has the Squishy Panda Charms ($1 USD). Any squishy with an attachment point will work.

(As I’ve written about the durability of squishies, I’d coat the foam around the attachment point/plastic ring on the squishy with a layer of thick PVA/white glue and let it dry overnight before adding it to the lanyard. This will help the foam not tear away from the ring. I did this to my apple where the ring sheared away completely and it’s solid after drying.)

Secondly: there are Tangles that have lanyard attachments (linked in this post) although they’re rarer and hard to find. However, if you have a lanyard with a string attachment, like those used to attach USB drives to a lanyard or a keychain, those special attachments aren’t necessary and you can use any old Tangle. Just loop it around the Tangle the way you’d loop the cord around the anchor hole on a USB drive, as below:

[image description: a pink, blue, yellow and clear Tangle Jr Textured attached via a bright yellow plastic and cord lanyard connector to a worn Little Twin Stars lanyard.]

Other things can be attached to the lanyard in the same way, as long as there’s something for the cord’s attachment to hitch around: doughnut chewables and silicone beads, any chewable or pendant with a hole in it, a snake puzzle if you fold it so the attachment is in the centre, a telephone cord bracelet.

Thirdly: bead rings (you can DIY it with instructions here or purchase from @werevampiwolf at their etsy or through Stimtastic) are easily attached to just about anything if they’re made from a split ring or clip ring (they all are).

I’ve attached my own large bead rings (made from 50 cm clip/binder rings, available from the stationery section at Daiso) to zip lanyards (also available from Daiso) by removing the standard attachment and hooking the bead ring with two opened chain links.

[image description: three large silver bead rings attached to zip lanyards. Top left: red and yellow zip lanyard attached to a ring bearing round and square yellow, red and orange wooden beads. Top right: a blue and red zip lanyard attached to a ring bearing oval red and blue wooden beads beside red and blue pony beads. Bottom: a pink and green zip lanyard attached to a ring threaded with rainbow-coloured metallic pony beads.]

Fourthly: any standard keychain stim toy or necklace charm. A fluffy/pompom keychain, a tassel keychain, a roller bead lanyard/chain or a small plushie with a cord loop. If the loop attachment is difficult (too small for the above hitch or the clips shown below, for example), use a large jump ring: open it with a pair of pliers, thread it through the loop attachment and the bottom of the lanyard, close it with the pliers.

Fifthly: prickle animal fidgets. (Available from Stimtastic ($0.90 USD) but I’ve also seen them in multipacks at Toys R Us and in the party sections at the more expensive kind of dollar shop.) They have a closed loop on their back that can be threaded through a lanyard attachment, dog clip or a jump ring, like so:

[image description: a green dinosaur prickle fidget toy attached to a white star-print lanyard with a gold dog clip and an orange dinosaur prickle fidget toy attached to a white G2 My Little Pony print lanyard via a silver lanyard clip. Both toys have a square attachment in the middle of their prickled backs holding the clasp of each lanyard.]

Other Stimtastic offerings ideal for lanyards include the Mobius Flower Lanyard ($4.25 USD) and the Keychain Eni Puzzle ($9.60 USD). (@stimtastic​ here on Tumblr, if you want to see what other stimmers have done with these toys.)

In short: there’s many things that don’t need modding at all, and even more things that only need the application of a pair of pliers and a jump ring or two to make them attachable. I hope this gives you some ideas to find the perfect lanyard-portable toy for you!

ETA: @jaydxnalexandxr says,

With tangles, you can pull apart a bit, slide it onto a key ring loop, close the tangle then clip the key ring to a lanyard! That’s what I do 

[image description: twelve small spiky balls on a yellow backcard. The balls are arranged in pairs of bright/fluro green, orange, yellow, blue, pink and purple. The card reads “Party Favours” by brand Choice Kids Corner.]

I found these for $3 AU at a discount party supply store in regional Victoria. They’re cheaper and smaller than the ones you can buy from Big W stores (again, party supply section). They’re about the size of a small bouncy ball or a Chessex D20 die (a little smaller than an MtG spindown D20). They’re not as prickly as the Big W balls: the fronds collapse under my fingers when pressed. They also have quite a strong plastic odour that hasn’t faded after ten days of airing.