by Doc – Owner, Founder, Has a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics and Is Using It to Analyze Millennial Irresponsibility Through the Guise of a Labubu Clone
Updated October 16, 2026. This post originally ran in May, back when the Golden Ticket drop was a release date and a rumor. Since then the golden dumpling got found, Five Below changed its purchase limit, RMS hired a licensing agency, and there are a lot more editions to hunt. I’ve rewritten the parts that aged badly.
I did not plan to write about glitter dumplings. I had other things going on. Yet there comes a point in a man’s life when it becomes clear that his intention for the evening is usurped by the calling of Fate – specifically, looking into the latest “millennial tax” sweeping the trends market.
I get it more than I should. I may even like differently-colored shiny things more than you, dear reader. I’ve written about amiibo economics and Pokémon card market stupidity on this website already, and what’s happening with glitter dumplings right now is well understood: it’s definitely-not-gambling-but-kinda, and it has a lot of colors to it. The recipe is there, it’s just not my shiny thing. So we trudge on.
What Even Is a Glitter Dumpling Squishy
Okay so a glitter dumpling squishy is, at its absolute core, a small squeeze toy shaped like a bao bun (those little round steamed dumplings, smiley face on top, the kind you’d get at an American Chinese food place), and it comes sealed inside a tiny basket. It’s a loot crate. The exact same mechanic as cracking a Pokémon booster pack: you pay your money, you open the thing, you pretend that you care because the camera is rolling and if you don’t break a million views you can’t make rent. Oh my goodness, you’re so surprised, this one has sparkles. That’s the trend.
The “glitter” part is the rare pull, and I want to be very clear that RMS (the company that makes these, more on them in a second) designed this rarity system on purpose and it is, honestly really well targeted towards the same people who like Labubu. Most of the dumplings you pull are just going to be solid colors. Boo hoo, poor you, but every so often you crack open a steamer and the squishy inside has glitter particles suspended inside it.
It is at this point that a TikTok trend streamer would lose her mind. I mean full meltdown: screaming, running, grabbing whoever is standing next to them. To steal a line from Bill Burr, “they run out of the room like they just saw a witch!” It’s just Pokemon cards for girls, basically.
RMS USA and the Crazy Fun Brand: These Are the Real Ones, Buy These
The authentic, original, actually-correct glitter dumpling squishy is made by RMS USA, operating under their brand Crazy Fun. They’re based in North Andover, Massachusetts, and I respect what they’ve built here. It’s not every day that you can copy a scam from somebody else and still make it work as well as they have.
Stop me if you’ve heard this before: RMS designed a tiered rarity system, they rolled out new series with new chase variants, they kept the retail price at five dollars and the products themselves are at least kinda pretty to look at. Their CEO Zack Farber has said publicly that the community has turned every dumpling drop into an event, which tells me the people running this company understand exactly what they made and why it works. That’s not nothing. I’ve written about Pokemon TCG pricing getting stupid and amiibo prices going haywire, so it’s refreshing to see a collectible toy line where the manufacturer is not actively gouging you at the source… openly.
Now. The fakes are everywhere, and this matters. Amazon, TikTok Shop, Shein, random marketplace listings. There are a ton of off-brand glitter dumpling squishies that are inspired by (read: ripped off from) the RMS originals, some of which are fine and some of which are noticeably worse in terms of slow-rise texture and material quality. I know, I’m shocked too. We all remember where we were when we heard the news. Five Below’s own FAQ says the materials in the dumplings it sells have been checked by independent labs against federal and state requirements. That’s the maker standing behind its own product, which is a thing you can’t get from a no-name listing where you can’t even tell who made it.
The internet dweebs have gotten pretty good at spotting dupes: if the listing doesn’t say Crazy Fun or RMS on the steamer box, treat it as a knockoff until proven otherwise. That’s just the reality of any viral toy product in 2026: the moment something blows up, seventeen Chinese manufacturers have a version on Amazon within a month. Except for amiibo; that role was filled by Lego Dimensions.
Every Variety, Ranked by How Badly People Want Them
This is the section Google probably sent you here for, so let me just walk you through the full rarity tier from bottom to top. Think of it like a rarity tier list. One caveat first: RMS doesn’t publish pull rates, and Five Below’s FAQ says rare variants are made in limited quantities and that it can’t guarantee any particular color or rare item in a purchase. So this order is community consensus plus my own judgment, not an official odds table.
- Solid Color Standard Dumplings: The base pull. These are the commons, the filler rares, the “okay I guess” of the dumpling world. You will get a lot of these.
- Rainbow Mystery Series: The standard Series 3 offering (that’s the $5 size), with a slight step up in presentation and color variety over the mini Series 1. Most collectors who are actually hunting for the good stuff are doing so by farming these. This is your baseline experience.
- Holographic / Iridescent: Rare-ish. Gives off a pearlescent shimmer when light hits it, and RMS has since put out holographic editions in purple, pink, green and blue, plus a Cherry Blossom Pink one. People like pulling these. Not the thing anyone’s screaming about, but a solid pull.
- The Themed Editions (new since spring): RMS has kept the drops coming, and shelves and listings now include Tie Dye, Neon, Sunset, Seashell, Sherbet, Treasure and Starlight editions, among others, including a couple of scented ones. Many of them advertise their own rare chase variant, so what counts as “rare” depends on which edition is in your hand. If you only own the original rainbow set, you are now behind. Congratulations.
- UV Color-Change Dumplings: Like a photochromic lens, but it’s a squishy bao bun. The community correctly calls these rare-tier, and the UV reveal mechanic is a clever product design touch, adding a second reveal moment after the initial unboxing, which is just smart. Congratulations.
- Glitter Dumplings (Standard): This is the reason your Five Below shelf is empty (aside from paying the employees Five Below minimum wage under the table). The glitter is suspended inside the squishy material itself, so the whole thing sparkles and shimmers, and pink glitter specifically has become basically the iconic pull of the entire line. I know, I got shivers just thinking about it. There are thousands of TikTok videos of people absolutely losing it over a pink glitter dumpling, including @keagan.rayne, whose reaction video with her friend is apparently what pushed this from “weird niche toy” into “people are driving 50 miles to Five Below” territory.
- Galaxy / Cosmic Glitter Variants: The upgraded glitter pull. Multiple colors of glitter suspended in the squishy simultaneously, giving a galaxy or nebula visual effect, and some retailer listings now bill a “Galaxy Glitter Gel” dumpling as the super-rare chase. Significantly harder to find than standard glitter, even more dramatic when you pull one. Go show your friends.
- Golden Glitter Dumpling: Previously the top of the rarity food chain, the holy grail of the entire line. It still commands a premium, but some of the listings I found were closer to $20 than $100, so the days of automatic triple-digit prices may be over. I have thoughts on that, too.
- The Golden Ticket Dumpling (“Goldie”): May 16th, 2026, and the hunt is over. Just when you thought the golden dumpling was the ceiling, RMS, ever a paragon of originality, went Willy Wonka on you. The Golden Ticket Edition dropped at Five Below on May 16th with exactly one gold Mystery Dumpling in the entire run, hiding a ticket good for a $1,000 Five Below shopping spree, with purchases capped at one per customer per day during the drop. (The catch was always that there’s not $1,000 worth of worthwhile items in Five Below). It’s been found. Five Below posted a congratulations to the winner on Facebook, and commenters on that post say it was a kid in Las Vegas who pulled it, which, fine, good for the kid. A mail-in sweepstakes ran alongside the drop through July 31st, with a separate random drawing for people who entered by postcard once the golden dumpling turned up. The run also included super-rare silver dumplings for everyone who didn’t hit the jackpot. This whole thing gave me Magic the Gathering: Lord of the Rings energy, what with the One Ring card and all.
- Jumbo / Giant Dumpling: remember the Mega Yarn Yoshi amiibo? It’s back, in pog form! (That one was for the millennials). Seriously though, it’s exactly what it sounds like.
One important note: each series, Series 1 (the mini, $1 originally), Series 3 (the standard $5 size), and the jumbo, has its own unique glitter variant, which means if you’re a completionist, the mountain you’re trying to climb is significantly taller than it looks at first glance. That’s by design.
Side note here, but what do you think is the likelihood that dumplings streamers will pay top dollar for the rarest one, put it into an already opened the basket, reseal it, and then “unbox” it live? Then they can resell it to make the money back and they’ve gotten the viewership out of it. Just me? Okay.
Where to Buy Glitter Dumpling Squishies, Because You’re an Adult With Responsibilities For Pete’s Sake
Let’s talk about what you’re actually going to pay and where.
Five Below: The Right Answer, Unavailable Half the Time
Five Below is where these are typically sold and where you should be buying them. Series 1 minis at $1, Series 3 standard size at $5, which were the going prices this spring and are, frankly, great prices for a collectible blind box toy. The problem is the shelves are basically perpetually empty because the moment a restock hits, they’re gone within the hour.
Five Below’s own customer service FAQ, last updated October 14th, says essentially “we know, we’re working on it, they ARE coming back.” It also now has a hard cap: since August 10th, it’s 5 dumplings per person per day, in stores and online (or five of any mix of squishy products), and they say the limit may change. The limit has bounced around since spring: three per person at one point, one per day during the Golden Ticket drop, five now. That tells you everything you need to know about scalpers in this trend. Maybe they’ll leave Pokemon cards alone now? Fat chance.
My advice: call your local Five Below and ask when shipments typically hit the floor. Some store associates are friendly about this. Show up that morning. Don’t be the person buying five of them every day, that’s cringe, everyone hates that person. I hate it out of principle.
Amazon: Where You Actually End Up
Realistically, Amazon is where most people are going to end up buying these, and that’s fine. The main tradeoff is that most Amazon glitter dumpling listings let you choose the color you want, which removes the blind box element but also guarantees you’re getting glitter and not a solid blue bun you didn’t ask for. But where’s the fun in not gambling?
Make sure you’re buying Crazy Fun / RMS branded product. Seriously. The knockoffs are right next to the real ones in search results and they’re not always easy to spot. Here’s the one in this list that is named for the brand:
And these are third-party listings with generic titles. They may be perfectly fine squishies, but nothing in the name says RMS, so check who the seller is before you click buy:
- Glitter Dumpling Squishy with Box, 2026 Upgrade
- Ultra-Rare White Glitter Bun Blind Box
- Random Glitter Dumpling Squishy Box, 2pc
Walmart: Fine, Occasionally Useful
Walmart carries them in blind mystery packs including their “Will You Get Glitter?” branded sets, which is possibly the most on-the-nose product name I’ve ever seen, and I used to work at Walmart back in the day. That listing advertises a shot at the Super Rare Shimmering Starlight Dumpling, but it showed as out of stock when I checked on October 16th, and the $29.99 price came from third-party marketplace sellers, not a Walmart shelf price. Treat Walmart.com as a marketplace for these. The Rare Pink Glitter Dumpling Mystery Box is also listed there specifically. Stock is hit or miss but it’s worth checking if you’ve already struck out at Five Below and don’t want to pay Amazon prices.
Target: Newly Worth a Look
RMS lists Target alongside Five Below, Walmart and Amazon as a retailer for the line, which my original version of this post forgot to mention. I can’t tell you what’s on any particular Target shelf, so check your store’s stock in the app before you drive over, and the Crazy Fun page on RMS’s site is the place to see what’s current.
Showcase: Worth Bookmarking for Limited Editions
Showcase has become a solid secondary retailer for the limited variants that tend to go viral, including the Glitter Mystery Bao Bun. If you’re hunting specific rare variants and Five Below has let you down repeatedly, check here.
TikTok Shop: Proceed With Caution
TikTok Shop is full of listings, including from creator affiliate links, and a meaningful percentage of them are counterfeit. If you’re buying from TikTok Shop, at least look for the Crazy Fun branding.
eBay: The Scalper Tax
eBay is where the price gouging lives, and I want to be direct about this: it is bad. Back in April, Axios quoted a collector who watched prices climb from about $6 to $45 or more online, and reported third-party sellers listing squishy toys at as much as ten times their usual price, driven by people buying up retail shipments to flip. The listings I sampled in October ran more like $20 to $40 for common editions, with the rarer stuff higher: one seller wanted $89.99 for a blue glitter variant billed as super rare. Those are asking prices, not sold prices, so don’t mistake them for what anything is worth. Same story as amiibo scalpers in 2015, same story as Pokémon ETB scalpers in… well, right now.
Here’s my actual take on eBay for glitter dumplings, and I say this as somebody who has never bought a glitter dumpling but is intimately familiar with scalping economics: don’t do it unless you cannot find a specific variant anywhere else. The secondary market for these is inflated well beyond what the product is worth as an object, and paying $30 or more for a $5 toy is a choice you will feel weird about afterward. Promise me you’ll put food on your kid’s table for buying this, okay?
The bottom line on pricing: Five Below if you can get there at the right time ($1–$5, five per person per day), Amazon if you want guaranteed access with a small markup, Walmart and Target as backups, eBay as a last resort where you will absolutely overpay.
Is This a Fad? Follow the Money
Here’s the part I can’t help myself on, because I did, in fact, study economics: this stopped being just a toy a while ago. In early August, Earthbound Brands was named the exclusive licensing agency for Mystery Squishy Dumplings, with plans for toys and games, apparel, accessories, home goods, food, and entertainment. RMS says the line has sold more than 40 million units worldwide and racked up billions of social media views. Congratulations to everyone involved in turning a squishy bao bun into a lifestyle brand. I’m sure the dumpling-branded hoodie will be tasteful.
Five Below’s numbers are the other half of the story. According to coverage of its second-quarter results and earnings call, sales grew 22.9% to $1.26 billion with comparable sales up 14.1%, and its CFO put the dumpling’s direct contribution to comp growth in the low single digits. The bigger effect was foot traffic: people who came in for a dumpling and left with other stuff. Five Below’s CEO, Winnie Park, also said the dumpling had been on its shelves for about five years before anyone cared, and that the company only leaned into the trend after noticing it on social media. That’s smart business, and also a reminder that the people selling you the thrill of the hunt benefit when you keep hunting.
RMS has said more rare drops, line expansions, and retail surprises are coming later this year. So the hunt isn’t ending anytime soon. Neither, apparently, is the dumpling.
The TikTok Situation (You Can’t Separate This Trend From the Platform It Lives On)
I want to be very clear: this trend does not exist without TikTok.
@keagan.rayne is the creator most associated with the initial viral explosion. Her reaction video pulling a pink glitter dumpling with a friend, and the screaming-and-running reaction, is one of the videos most frequently cited as the one that pushed this from “niche toy” to “people are driving 50 miles to Five Below” territory, and that kind of authentic moment is impossible to manufacture and RMS had the good sense to embrace the organic creator ecosystem around these instead of trying to corporate-ify it. Smart.
The hashtags: #glitterdumpling, #viraldumplings, #dumplingsquishy, #fivebelowfinds. That last genre is actually useful content, people doing genuine due diligence on the knockoff market, which is more than you can say for most content on any social media platform. I have to give them credit for that at least.
@RMS USA is active on TikTok and engages with creator content, which is the correct thing to do. A company that understands its own product’s success is a company I have mild positive feelings toward, even if it’s… less original than most.
God help us all.
