Blame this trend on millennials … although the Scots got there first

UNICORNS are on the march, and their popularity is driven by millennials (who else?) who are now reaching parenting age themselves. Last weekend, Kim Kardashian West, the reality television star, held a unicorn-themed birthday party for daughter North West, posting a picture of a pony with a colourful horn attached to its head on Instagram.

“Social media trends are influencing toys more than ever, such as the unicorn craze,” says Juliet Ward, Argos’s head of toy buying.

An Instagram search for #unicorns serves up almost nine million posts – and you’re just as likely to find women in their 20s swimming with unicorn inflatables or wearing spiral horn headbands as children playing with unicorn toys.

The foodie world is inundated, too. Unicorn noodles are a garish concoction of purple and pink squiggles sprinkled with yellow stars – imagine Barbie on a rainbow diet. There’s a unicorn bagel which – let’s be honest – looks like Play-doh. And last year Starbucks was sued after its Unicorn Frappuccino was deemed similar to a New York café’s unicorn latte.

A unicorn and prosecco festival was held in Leeds last weekend, promising the “World’s Largest Inflatable Unicorn” and “Unicorn cocktails”. And a colleague, 26, who’s on board with the trend, has a unicorn pencil case.

“My stepsister gave it to me, it’s pink and blue. I love it,” she explains. “No swimming pool is complete without unicorn inflatables.”

Unicorn love isn’t new. The creature is the national animal of Scotland, used on royal coats of arms since the Middle Ages.

“They represent every happy dream that we’ve ever clasped our little hands together and tried to wish into reality,” writes one poetic internet forum user.

No matter how corny (sorry) they can be, unicorns are everywhere – one more thing millennials have taken to its peak.