Cabbage Patch Kids

In 1983, Cabbage Patch Kids were one of the hottest toys around. Unfortunately, there weren't enough dolls to go around, and fights broke out in shopping centers around the country. This was before eBay and the internet changed the way that we shopped for collectible and rare items around the world. If you didn't get the dolls when they came out, your child didn't get them. In later years, people would fight over other hot toys, from Tickle Me Elmo to the Wii, but the Cabbage Patch Fights seemed to have topped them all.

I didn't get my first doll until the next Christmas season, in 1984. By then, Coleco (the company that was making the dolls at the time) realized that the dolls were selling like hotcakes, and stepped up production.

Photo by Just4You at SXC.hu.

My two dolls were named Nicole and Charlene. All Cabbage Patch Kids come with their own birth certificates, and these were the original names given to them. Charlene was a bald preemie, which were smaller than regular dolls, and Nicole was a normal sized doll with yellow yarn hair.

Of course now, Cabbage Patch Dolls come in all sizes. You can find them with different nationalities. You could even find Presidential Cabbage Patch Dolls for sale during the last election!

My daughter got a Cabbage Patch Newborn named Hillary for her fifth birthday. She really loved that doll. Took her to the zoo, almost left her at the zoo gift shop (we went back and got it), took it everywhere with her. When we flew to visit the grandparents for Christmas, she accidentally left the doll at her Aunt's house... her Aunt actually drove back to the airport and got the doll delivered to the airplane for us, so she wouldn't have trouble sleeping that night.

On April 4, 2008, our house caught on fire. My husband saved Hillary from the fire, and she went to Grandma and Grandpa's house across town with us. My daughter was very happy that Hillary was saved.

We lived at Grandma and Grandpa's for a month, until the house that we currently live in opened up for us to move into. As we gathered up our stuff, suddenly Hillary was missing. We had a very sad girl on her hands.

What I do know, is that Hillary survived the fire. She made it to Grandma's house, and was last seen there. But we have not seen her at Grandma's house, even though she's looked and looked. Maybe we'll solve the mystery someday.

Photo of my daughter and Hillary, copyright 2007 Brookelorren. Have you seen the doll that has gone missing?

Cabbage Patch Dolls can be washed fairly easily. You can give them a bath in the bathtub. You can also put them in a pillowcase, and then put them in the wash. I've washed my old Cabbage Patch Kids this way for years.

Some dolls have cornsilk hair, rather than the yarn hair. You can wash these Kids' hair with a little shampoo and conditioner.

While Cabbage Patch Kids can go in the washing machine, don't put your real kids in there.

If you have an old Cabbage Patch Doll collecting dust, you might want to clean it up and give it to your daughter, if you have one. My daughter has enjoyed playing with my two original dolls, Nicole and Charlene (although if she treats them poorly, I reserve the right to take them away).

Old Cabbage Patch Dolls might need a little bit of repair. Charlene had a seam around the neck that was starting to come undone, and she needed some belly button repair. Nicole needed some sewing around the arms. Considering that these dolls are about 25 years old, I don't really consider that to be so bad.

If your old doll needs some repairs and you need help, check out my lens on Fixing Stuffed Friends.