Cabbage Patch Kids

by Micah Black

Back in the 1980's, I was just a little kid, the oldest of three girls. We always had a lot of toys, many of which my grandmother would pick up second hand at yard sales in the city. I remember a couple of toys that we didn't get though - toys that occupied my mind and fantasy world, and that I would have given my right arm to possess. The most coveted toys of all, for just about any kid at that time, would have to be the Cabbage Patch Kids.

How these toys mannered to capture the attention of millions of children the world over, I'll never know. They weren't even particularly cute, with their molded plastic heads, unmoving eyes and hair of yarn. And yet, somehow these dolls held the key to the hearts of kids around the globe.

I think part of the appeal of Cabbage Patch Kids had to be the adoption papers. Getting a doll that had already been pre-named was a pretty novel approach. However, it must have been more than mere dolly names that caused the hysteria surrounding Cabbage Patch Kids - especially at Christmastime. The crowds of shoppers went absolutely wild! There were even news reports of masses of people stampeding, trampling other shoppers, in the frenzy to get one of these dolls for an eager boy or girl waiting at home.

The marketing behind Cabbage Patch Kids was sheer genius. The world was held captive, enthralled, becoming willing pawns of marketing like never before. To this very day, I even remember the price of one of these dolls: an elusive $34.95, just out-of-grasp for our family to enjoy, as it would have been over $100 to send the three of us to cloud nine, out of sheer joy. This was simply money our family didn't have.

I think our other grandmother took pity on us. She wanted to buy us the dolls, but between the three of us and countless cousins, she would have ended up spending thousands of dollars buying Cabbage Patch Dolls for all of us. So instead, she invested hours on end, painstakingly making dolls for us by hand. These dolls had hand painted faces, were anatomically correct (thanks to a few drinks we suspected), and were each clothed in beautiful handmade clothing.

Sadly, we were all pretty disappointed with this make-due attempt by our grandmother. Although we smiled bravely and put on a happy face, we were dying inside. These were not Cabbage Patch Kids at all! The other kids would laugh and know we were poor. This simply wouldn't do!

In the end though, we came to love our dolls. As we grew older and reflected on our childhoods, we came to understand the real love that our grandmother put in to all of those dolls. Real thought and an exorbitant investment of time and effort. Many of my toys are long gone, but to this day my special doll sits on a shelf in my bedroom, as a testament to our grandmother's love and a memory of the hysteria of the Cabbage Patch Kids era.

If you go to any department store today, you may well find Cabbage Patch Kids stocking the shelves. This comeback attempt has not even scraped the surface of the success of the original batch of Kids. I don't know if the marketing is no longer as effective, or maybe the magic has simply been lost, but the Cabbage Patch Kids will always stir up fond memories in my family.

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