Cabbage Patch kids

[AquaGirl]

This is a story from back in the 80's when people were all into Cabbage Patch Kids. I live just North of Cleveland, GA which is where Xavier Roberts, the inventor of said dolls lives. My mother was, at the time, the director of an art gallery. Mr. Roberts had an exhibit. Most of it was actual painting and sculpture that he did but there was a small exhibit of original Cabbage Patch dolls. They were one of a kind from his private collection and he was adamant that no one could touch them. He really just wanted recognition for his art, I think but understood what he was known for so he added the dolls in like an afterthought. He refused to do any doll autographing or appearances except for opening night.

This gallery is in an old city that has a lot of old moolah. The exhibits are normally attended by board members, people who are genuinely interested in culture and occasional field trips. However this one attracted connousseurs of a new kind. Not kids. Grown women who begged, pleaded, cried and even tried brute force to hold, purchase or steal these dolls. They brought their own "babies" to see their "brothers" and "sisters". They said their "babies" would "cry all night" if they couldnt take their new friends home. This would be the only time security had to be hired as my 115 lb mother could not keep them off the "babies".

Note: this was a sighting, as I was the only child who was allowed on the premises at the time. And, odd or not, Mr. Roberts arranged for a special tour of Babyland General (the museum of the Cabbage Patch dolls-the thing has a mother cabbage that gives birth, it's totally worth a look) for me, signed my doll on its front so it now has 2 signatures, haha, and let ME hold MY favorite original doll before they were packed away. So he was nice to a 6 year old. Just wary of middle aged women. With good reason.

[pageantmama]

I LOVE Babyland General. I remember the first time I went and got to witness the miracle of birth. They made an announcement over the speaker for a nurse to come and they hooked up the IV of TLC to the cabbage, then nurses stood around telling it to push and pulled out the baby. It was so cool! And then they asked for names and they chose two people and used one of the names for the first name and one for the middle name. Another time that I went the baby they pulled was one of the ones that they started making with ears. She held it up and said Oh no, we planted this one too close to the corn, he has ears!

[Redbeard]

I do have to say that some of those people frighten me. Not "Oh, she's wacky" but "When will I turn on the news and find that she took a butcher knife to Toys R Us to liberate the dolls held prisoner there"

[b2addm]

I do have to say that some of those people frighten me. Not "Oh, she's wacky" but "When will I turn on the news and find that she took a butcher knife to Toys R Us to liberate the dolls held prisoner there"

Yeah, that's the same feeling I got.

[MoonCat]

That craze was actually kinda scary. I knew someone who told me that she in a store once while a Cabbage-Patch buying frenzy was going on, and the mood was so pervasive that she ended up buying some stuffed animal that she didn't really want because she couldn't resist the buy!buy!buy! vibes.

[Racket_Man]

That craze was actually kinda scary. I knew someone who told me that she in a store once while a Cabbage-Patch buying frenzy was going on, and the mood was so pervasive that she ended up buying some stuffed animal that she didn't really want because she couldn't resist the buy!buy!buy! vibes.

and people thought the Tickle-Me-Elmo crazy-shit was bad.

but then again Irv knows about the Zu-Zu pets insanity.

[Akasa]

My aunt had a friend who worked for Toy Us's when that was going on and they held a couple Cabbage Patch Kids for her for us and they kept them in paper bags so while the ladies were fighting over dolls they hustled them out in paper bags to the register in safety. The only year I got what the cool kids were getting for xmas.

[BrenDAnn]

I have i think 5 or 6 Cabbage Patch Kids upstairs. My first was a redhead with braids, if I recall. I was always so excited to get them for Christmas or my birthday! Oh and I also have one that's plastic that tans when you take it out in the sun. XD I've heard stories of the craziness of the CPK frenzy, and I'm glad I'm not old enough, or wasn't involved enough, to remember!

[AquaGirl]

I have i think 5 or 6 Cabbage Patch Kids upstairs. My first was a redhead with braids, if I recall. I was always so excited to get them for Christmas or my birthday! Oh and I also have one that's plastic that tans when you take it out in the sun. XD I've heard stories of the craziness of the CPK frenzy, and I'm glad I'm not old enough, or wasn't involved enough, to remember!

That sounds like the one I have. I named her Dorothy Jean Carrots. No I don't know why. I was 3, what do you want?

[Sedorna]

I had the redheaded braided Cabbage Patch Kid doll, too. What was her official name? I think it was Rebecca Lynn or something like that. I just called her Cabbage.

I got it the Christmas I was five years old, and my dad got it by going up to the Customer Service desk and quietly paying for it. After that had been done, he got a ticket which he took round to the loading dock where a worker was handing the dolls directly from the truck. What he gave you, you took, and were grateful.

But boy, did I love that doll. I know it was a "craze", but I honestly loved playing with Cabbage.

[AquaGirl]

But boy, did I love that doll. I know it was a "craze", but I honestly loved playing with Cabbage.

Oh, me too. After DJ, I also had one of the actual babies. Those and my American Girl doll were like my cell phone is now. I never put them down.

[Miss Maple Leaf]

I was born in '85 and somehow missed the fad myself. I was only vaguely aware of what the dolls were growing up, and only because one of my cousins (who's a few years older than me) had one.

I did want one myself, but only because she had one and I thought it was kind of cool. I had no idea that they were such a big thing until I was older. The big fad toys for me were Care Bears.

And I recently found out that another cousin of mine had named hers after me, which I thought was pretty cool.

[AriGriffin]

I had a friend growing up whose mother was one of those extreme doll collectors. She made my Mom, friend, and myself go to Babyland General as a side trip on the way to Callaway Gardens.
I was more into stuffed animals and model horses as a kid than baby dolls, so I was bored out of my mind. All I really remember was thinking that everything was extremely expensive. Friend's Mom bought me a doll. I never played with it and it ended up either in a donation bin or going to my cousin.

[Princess J]

I had a couple of those. One was a kid, the other was a baby. I don't remember which one it was, but I know the name of one of the dolls was Candy Shana, which now sounds like a stripper name to me.

[Andara Bledin]

I remember when this one hit. I was going from tweenie to teenager and the only dolls I'd ever really cared about was my old Raggedy Ann, a Malibu PJ, and my brother's friends' JI Joe figures that we'd pose in unseemly displays.

I've always thought that doll style was hideous and I'm glad my mom knew me better than to get me one.

^-.-^