Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to include the correct name of the Trinketween vendor, Leanna Cortez of The Sonny Print Shop.
It was noon on the outskirts of North Long Beach, and serious trading was underway.
On the last Sunday before Halloween, about 200 die-hard trinket collectors took over a small corner of Heartwell Park for the fourth annual Trinketween Picnic.
The Halloween event celebrates trinkets: small, cute figurines meant to be collected and displayed, with a focus on Sonny Angel figures. Sonny “is a cute and angelic little boy who wears all sorts of different headgear,” according to the trinket’s website. While the 10 vendors sold their wares, some attendees lounged on picnic blankets and mingled, while others displayed their collections to sell, trade, or simply show off.
“The whole thing kind of started as an accident,” said Monique Fraile, the event’s creator and organizer.
In 2020, Fraile, who goes by “Momo,” created her dessert business, Momoz Berries, and began attending pop-up pastry events.
Fraile began collecting Sonny Angel figurines in 2023, as a joyful hobby and possibly to spark some interest among her customers.
“I would have crazy big lines at my dessert booth,” she said. “Sometimes, not even for the desserts, just for people wanting to either look at the Sonny Angels or trade them.”
Fraile would attend trinket pop-up markets, but noticed most were far away — deep in Orange County.
“I never really saw any around our area, like in Long Beach or deep LA,” she said.
So in 2023, she created Momoz Sonny Club and hosted her first real Sonny Angel community pop-up.
“My first event, maybe like 30 to 40 people went, and I guess word of mouth just started happening, and then that’s kind of how we got to it being something bigger,” Fraile said. She now hosts a monthly trinket meet-up in Heartwell Park.
Tiny trinkets, big business
The business of trinkets has grown into a billion-dollar industry.
Pop Mart, the China-based parent company of popular collectibles like the Labubu plush, reported record revenue of $5.38 billion for the 2025 fiscal year in its official annual results announcement.
The parent company of Sonny Angel and the glow-in-the-dark Smiski, Japan-based Dreams Inc., reportedly earned $25.3 million in 2025 just from its U.S. online stores, according to Grips Intelligence, which tracks daily e-commerce and retail sales.
Many of the collectible trinkets are sold in a blind-box format, meaning individual figures from featured collections are sold in sealed packaging. Part of the allure is that collectors don’t know exactly which figure they will get.
Critics and mental health experts argue that the gambling-like nature of blind boxes could negatively impact collectors — especially young children. Younger collectors run the risk of developing gambler-like risk assessment or hoarding-like behaviors, according to a February article in Psychiatric News, although authors say more research is needed.
While outlets and experts debate the root causes of the trinkets’ sudden rise in popularity, Fraile doesn’t overthink it. She acknowledged that blind boxes add excitement, but the appeal, she said, is simple.
“It’s just a matter of them just being cute,” she said. “Like sometimes people just like seeing cute stuff. It brings joy.”
Building community
Each month of Momoz Sonny Club events has its own theme, but with Halloween being Fraile’s favorite holiday, October is always Trinketween.
Vendors Leanna Cortez and her boyfriend, Brad, have spent two years making and selling custom 3D-printed display shelves designed for Sonny Angels and other trinkets.
They’ve worked mostly with Fraile from the start.
“We appreciate her events,” Cortez said. “It does really feel community-oriented. We’ve been to others that are more market-oriented. Here, there’s vendors — but there’s also people trading; it’s just a good vibe overall.”
Other vendors, Alexi Ortiz and her mother, Isabel Ortiz, knit and sew custom clothes for Sonny Angel figures.
The pair started making and selling clothes in 2022, after Alexi got her mom into Sonny Angel collecting and the two decided to combine their hobbies: knitting and trinkets.
“Basically, this is my little job slash hobby,” Alexi said. “I enjoy it. I’ve always helped my mom do her crafts and stuff.”
Alexi was already making her trinket clothes when she met Fraile and even traded some of her clothes for Fraile’s desserts. After Mommoz Sonny Club meetups began, the Ortizes became regular vendors.
The day also included an all-ages scavenger hunt with prizes, costume contests for kids and adults, and a raffle with prizes donated by vendors and others.
Litzy Ortega, a 24-year-old teaching aide from South Gate, was a first-time visitor to Trinketween but a longtime collector “of just about anything cute.” She saw the event advertised on TikTok and brought her friends. She stayed all day and said she would definitely return next year.