Two decades on, they are now the must-have item for children - who can now customise and trade the devices.
She told the Guardian: "Several people have asked me: 'Aren't you really mad?' But for me I'm just pleased that something I designed is something that people understand and really works for them.
"There's just a lot of circumstances in modern life when you're boxed in, you're cramped in, and we need this kind of thing to de-stress. It's also fun. That's the thing about culture, once everybody starts doing it, it's kind of OK."
A JustGiving page has even been set up, attempting to raise £20,000 ($37,600) for her, to make up for her profits that never came to be.
But they have not come without controversy - an Oxfordshire school banned fidget spinners amid claims that the controversial new 'craze' is a scam.
Pupils at Heyford Park Free School near Bicester are no longer allowed to bring in the gadgets.
At least one expert has debunked claims that they are a health aid.
Dr Mark Rapport, MD and Director of the Children's Learning Clinic at the University of Central Florida's Department of Psychology, doubts that they help ADHD and autism sufferers.
He said that while his current and past research indicates that many children with ADHD benefit from some forms of movement when engaged in challenging cognitive tasks, he has not come across any studies examining the potential benefits or adverse effects of fidget spinners.
His study found that children with ADHD who participated in activities involving 'gross body movement,' which is movement of the limbs or large parts of the body, performed better than those who sat still during memory tasks.
But he said fidget spinners don't require the user to engage in gross body movement, which appears to increase brain arousal necessary to engage in many cognitive tasks.
"Using a spinner like gadget is more likely to serve as a distraction than a benefit for individuals with ADHD," he said.