Christmas gonks are perhaps the most popular, but you'll definitely find gonks all year round, from Easter gonks to Halloween gonks. Throughout the festive season, you'll find Christmas gonks dressed in warm coats, wearing red hats or carrying winter accessories, such as sledges and skis. Looking like miniature versions of Santa Claus, they are available to buy as room decorations, tree decorations and door stops, as well as printed on everything from festive bedding to scatter cushions. Gonks are quirky, gnome-like figurines with faces that are almost entirely covered by a large hat and fluffy beard (you can only see their cute bulbous nose). Christmas gonks — unique little figurines with long bushy beards and long knitted hats — are often considered to be the Nordic version of Santa Claus. Inspired by gnomes and hobgoblins found in Scandinavian and Nordic mythology, their popularity has been continuing to surge over the years.

We were one of the first to spot the gonk phenomenon and customers are loving them more and more every year,' says Frances O'Sullivan, Christmas gonk buyer at Poundland. 'It's frankly gonkers! Other gonk-mad celebs like Stacey Solomon have driven the trend. Santa better watch out – they're almost as big as he is.' What is a gonk?