2023 Home and Family Trends: A Year in Review

Our Year in Review report reflects on ten of the most important catalysts of 2023 exploring what this means for the future of home, celebration and family life.

The ripple effects of these behaviours and events are set to shape a number of trends over the coming years. Here we show a short extract from the full 2023 Home and Family Trends report, outlining 3 out of 10 important themes. See how each of themes will evolve over the coming years when you register for free membership to our Basics subscription, and access the full report.

2023: A Desire for Playfulness

Powerful forces were once again at play this year, with the climate emergency, culture wars, cost of living realities and ongoing global conflict all undermining householders’ sense of well-being, safety, stability and security.

However, polar to this backdrop of challenge, disruption and rapidly rising crisis fatigue, a more optimistic outlook emerged, one grounded in a desire for playfulness, personalisation and achievable abundance. We saw this unfold in a number of ways, from the rise of the Kidult toy market and elevated at-home dining experiences to greater awareness of Neurodiversity amplifying creative expression and inclusive design.

Y2K Mania

From the billion-dollar Barbie movie and the iconic return of the Furby to the Christian Cowan x Teletubbies collaboration and Typo’s Carebear home range, 2023 was a year of feel-good Y2K nostalgia. The emergence of the ‘Kidult market,’ a consumer group finding comfort in the past whilst navigating turbulence and uncertainty in the current day was (and continues to be) the driving force behind this.

Family Redefined

With the ongoing effects of turbulent financial realities and shifting social norms, we’re seeing households and families transforming, as the traditional understanding of family setups is reimagined and redefined. It’s estimated that 1 in 3 families in the UK are a ‘blended family’ in 2023. Multi-generational households are also on the rise, alongside the concept of ‘chosen families’ and households built on ‘love, not DNA’.

Embracing Neuroinclusivity

This year saw the rise of child and adult neurodiverse diagnoses, which is in part driving a societal shift to help conditions such as Autism, ADHD, Dyslexia and Dyspraxia become more visible than ever before. Increasing awareness led to a greater number of brands and designers exploring new perspectives on neurodiversity. PBS KIDS announced Carl the Collector, its first animated series featuring a lead character on the autism spectrum, whilst a Thomas & Friends special featured the franchise’s first autistic character, Bruno the Brake Car. Getty Images also partnered with global media agency Mindshare and Hiki to launch their #AutisticOutLoud collection.

Get to know your future consumer

During a time of mass disruption, never before has it been more essential to understand the underlying motivations of the future consumer. If you are a designer working up to 2 years ahead or a brand marketer working on your annual communications strategy, our trend platform ‘My TrendBible’ offers exclusive insight into the shifts in householder and changing family dynamics with design translation and messaging applications.