Remember back in the ’80s when the moms went all crazy-like for Cabbage Patch Kids at Christmastime? Remember the fights in the aisles of Toys R Us? And the waiting lists at the stores?
Okay. Probably not. More likely, you remember the stories of the gaga-going parents for these adorable little dolls. Everyone had to have one, right?
Did you?
Little with her new Fashionality Cabbage Patch Kid
I did. Her name was Ricki Sue, but I changed it to Melissa Sue the day I got her. That day was Mother’s Day, 1983. My sisters and I came downstairs, ready to celebrate a day for our mom, and our parents surprised us with gifts. I still remember my sisters’ dolls names, too. Jo Becky and Bertha Ursula.
Later that year, we pooled our money and bought a preemie: Jed Benjamin. And a year later, another preemie, Gertrude Sue, was added to our family.
Last Monday, Big (taking a sick day from school), Little and I returned from the grocery store to find a cardboard box delivered from FedEx. Expecting a shipment of clothing, I asked Big to grab the box and open it. Never did we expect a yellow box. With a doll inside. A beautiful doll. I couldn’t hide this doll from the kids and wait until the holidays. I had to open it. I had to touch her, to smell her, to make sure her belly button was still an outtie and her bottom was authentically autographed “Xavier Roberts.” I had to touch her perfect, chubby vinyl face. I had to smell her.
Yes. As I ripped Jemma Skylar from her box, I recognized that she was the real thing. I had a Cabbage Patch Kid to pass on to my daughter.
She is the real thing. Absolutely everything that we remember from our love affair with one of the biggest fads of the 80s hasn’t changed very much. Her hair is now silky rather than yarn. Her clothing is updated. We were sent Fashionality Sporty Girl, a doll from the new Fashionality line, which retails for $49.99.
Also updated is Cabbage Patch Kids’ online play area. (I mean. Of course. There was no online anything in the 80s.) Kids these days can play on the website, and they can also register their Kids and build a family tree.
So excited about giving my baby girl a Cabbage Patch Kid, I emailed my PR contact and asked her if I could give one to one of my readers. Sorry, readers. I never do that. Consider this an early-holiday present, ‘kay?
I wanted to share my love of these dolls with you.
So. Yes. I’m giving one away.
Enter to win a Fashionality Cabbage Patch Kid
Really simple. For your mandatory entry, please tell me a Cabbage Patch Kid memory in the comments on this post. Tell me your doll’s crazy name. Or how many you had? Or how you felt when your best friend got a new one? Or how proud you were to carry her with you everywhere. Maybe you have a funny story about the Kids. It has been so fun to walk down memory lane, I want to do it with my readers.
Extra entries:
- Share this post by tweeting it to your followers. (post a link to your tweet after you tweet it.) Or use this example tweet (fill in the blank):
My favorite @cpkusa memory is _____. #giveaway to #win a Cabbage Patch Kid: http://wp.me/pHY8M-1dR from @justprecious - Follow @justprecious on twitter and tell me in the comments.
- Subscribe to Just Precious by email and tell me in the comments.
© 2011, Julie Meyers Pron. All rights reserved.
I loved mine- her name was Gertrude and I can’t remember the middle name but Gertrude stuck with me lol. She was an African American one because I picked her to “be different”
I’m Hispanic and all my cousins had the regular ones so I had to get one that was unique. Loved that doll to death!! She ended up at a yard sale 
oh, that is SO Toy Story, Clarissa!
I had 5 Cabbage Patch dolls and a Koosa. I remember the preemie dolls being my favorite (bald ones with the pacifier in the mouth).
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yay! I follow you on twitter! I LOVE cabbage patch kids and I had a Koosa, too!
He had red curly hair and his name was Clayton Robert. My mom brought him back all the way from Hong Kong in 1984. My bro was a baby so my mom gave me all of his baby clothes and they fit Clayton perfectly. I remember rocking him to sleep in my brother’s cradle. She even bought him a Preemie one. My second one was a girl w/blond hair Coral Mellie. Oh the memories.
I love Cabbage Patch Dolls! I took mine everywhere with me, her name was Patty.
She looks adorable with her cpk. I had a cabbage patch kid, a boy named Myles Ziggy. I wanted him to sound tough so I renamed him Butch.
I can not remember my doll name, but I can remember I got her for Christmas and she had red hair and I dressed her up like a rock n roll singer lol. I loved her so much and I carried her everywhere I went.
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I had a Cabbage Patch Kid when I was little, and I longed for this pink cradle for her for months, and finally got it for Christmas. I was over the moon! I still have cradle, even though the doll is long gone!
I wanted a cabbage patch so badly when I was a child. I finally got one for Christmas and I was so happy!
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My favorite CPK memory includes my own daughter. Of course I had several of these dolls (still do :P) and each had wonderful memories attached. However, my favorite memory was when we took our daughter to the Babyland General to see the CPK being “born” and let her pick out her first doll – one of the babies that make sounds (retailed for $20-something bucks!) She named her Ting Ting Tang, after her beloved Aunt Ping Ping
She still sleeps with her, takes care of her, and pushes her around in the doll stroller. I am so glad that these adorable dolls are still around for our daughters and sons to love.
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My received my first Cabbage Patck kids doll I recieved as a Christmas present. I loved it. I still have the doll.
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I got a preemie one because I was a preemie.
I remember having tea parties with my sister and neighbors. We would all bring our cabbage patch kids along and dress them in pretty dresses and serve them tea and scones (all imaginary of course).
i do remember my mom had one:) had the adoption papers and all:)
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My nana waited in line (she says overnight but I don’t believe it) to get my first one. My niece would looove the one in the giveaway!
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My doll was named Jenny… she had yellow hair and green eyes. I would teach her the alphabet on my little chalk board.
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I was a little to “old” for the whole cabbage patch kids craze
However despite the fact that I was in middle school at the time I secretly wanted one.
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I remember Cabbage Patch dolls were hard to come by when my daughter was little. I waited in line for hours to buy one for Christmas with no luck. I was so disappointed. But… on Christmas morning there was a Cabbage Patch Doll under the tree. My husband had bought one and it was a surprise to both me and our daughter.
My first Cabbage Patch dolls name was June Sabina. She was the first new doll I had ever got (I usually ended up with my older sisters old dolls), and I took her everywhere. I use to stuff her at the bottom of my sleeping bag before I went to sleep-overs so that I could bring her without my mom finding out (we weren’t allowed to take our toys out of the home).
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I have one, that i love it. I don’t remember her name but I have all the time with me. I found one in a yard sale a few uears ago and buy it for my daugther.
My daughter wanted a Cabbage Patch doll in the worst way. I stood in line for over an hour to get her one. And then I had to buy myself one! We ended up with 4 dolls that year. The next year we traveled to GA to visit the Cabbage Patch Factory. My doll’s name was Brianna.
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I had three cabbage patch dolls. And when I was in high school, my best friend and I decided that it would be fun to take our cabbage patch dolls out for a nice dinner and a tour of our town. There must have been something more to it (at least I hope so) for us to take our beloved dolls (That we had not played with in years) out—but we did. We took pics with them and brought them to the olive garden for dinner.
I have vivid memories of getting my first real Cabbage Patch Kid for Christmas in 2nd grade – I even have a picture: http://www.flickr.com/photos/euregirls/3199726461/. It was the first of many, and I played with them all the time. I’m so disappointed I didn’t keep them for my girls. My younger girl is in 2nd grade this year, and I know she’d love one!
Mine was Tanya Patrice. She smelled of baby powder and I loved it. My parents were one of the crazy people grabbing up a cabbage patch at the store. Tanya even travelled the world when I studied abroad. Now she sits in my sons room and it makes me smile
My son’s cabbage patch was named Nate Alain. My father’s SO stood in line for 2 1/2 hours to buy him for my son’s first Christmas. There weren’t too many boy dolls around in the 80s. We still have him in a box in the shed. Saved for when my son has kids.
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Mine is the first one i ever owned. It was when they first came out and I really wanted one. My mother worked for a retail store as was able to get me one without all the craziness
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I remember standing in line all night and being the first to choose and my daughter named her eleanor- have no idea why, but she loved it to pieces
My aunt was the one who would buy me cabbage patch kids since my parent’s were’t really able to afford them for me and my aunt loved buying them for me since she didn’t have a daughter herself.
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I really wanted a cabbage patch doll when I was younger. I know my friends mom went crazy to get her one at the store. My mom could not afford one so instead she made me 2. She made me a boy and a girl doll along with lots of clothes. I loved them so much, but still wanted a real cabbage patch doll too. I never got one.
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I remember my first Cabbage Patch Kid. I had seen the commercials on tv and I REALLY wanted one, so, my big sis saved up some money and bought me one for Christmas.
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I remember that the kind I really wanted for Christmas was a preemie. My mom somehow found one (that was in the days when there were melees at stores!). Her name is Emmie Clarissa and now my daughter plays with her!
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My Cabbage Patch memory is my cousin got one months before I did and we used to take turns holding her while we watched tv! I finally got one for my birthday when I turned 7 or 8.
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I only had on cabage patch doll when I was younger. I dont remember her name but my parents still have her and when we go over to visit my son and my daughter both play with her. She has red yarn like hair and some random clothes that I dont think are original. I do have one of her dresses up in my closet though because when I was born I was so tiny that my mom would dress me in her clothes
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omg! I can’t believe these are still around. I played with them as a little girl and had several of them. I love the one with the yellow hair the most. Her name was Carrie LOL. I would love to win and give one to my 8-year old daughter. She loves her babies and is such a good mommy
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I remember receiving my cabbage patch doll (which I still have) and promptly naming her Marissa. I loved taking her everywhere!
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I remember my first one, but not her name. I can remembeer all of the nonsense lines at Toy’s R Us and the waiting lists. I made “friends” with the other girls in lline and we talked about what dolls were were hoping to get. It was so special and thank you for making me remember that time!
I was in high school when the cabbage patch dolls first came out. I also worked part time in a store that eneded up getting a shipment of them in 2 weeks before Christmas. All I can say is that people can be very crazy when they want to get something fr their children!
I actually never had one of these growing up!!! LOL!
I think they are so cute though
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She went all over with me – I named her Susan.
I remember my mom and aunt going out to try and get them for us for Christmas- we got them Christmas morning, but were told it nearly cost my mom a night in jail because of the fights over them at the store, lol. I got a boy and my sister got a girl~
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I loved my cabbage patch doll. Her name was Lynette.
I remember my first one. I was sitting in the car waiting for my mom with my dad and she came out of childs world and had a big box… I looked at it and it was a cute one with brown hair and freckles…
I laughed because I was so happy!
I remember going to the store with my mom and actually getting one. It was one of the department stores that is no longer around. This was at the height of the cabbage patch craze – all of the other stores in the area were out but my mom found some – we went and adopted him and took him home!
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I loved my Cabbage Patch back in the 80s! Her name was Glenna and she had red pigtails.
One Christmas I got 4 different Cabbage patch kids, my mom LET me keep 1 and I had to give the other 3 away to a child in need. It was the hottest gift that year, but I had 10 already what can I say my dad could not say no.
oh how i miss my cabbage patch kids dolls! Gosh, I think I had 5 or 6? My favorite was Erika and she had blond, crinkly pigtails!
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buddy was his name!
Well, when I got my first (and certainly MOST special Cabbage Patch) I was too young to remember it. My big brother, who was 10 was given some money from our parents to buy me a ‘second birthday’ present. Being the spoiler of surprises, and knowing that most likely I’d have more fun with a box than anything, he wasn’t very sly and sneaky. While walking through the store the day before my birthday we came across the doll aisle. My big brother grabbed two baby dolls from the shelf and put them in front of me. That was when I fell in love with Emily. Her ‘birth name’, I believe was Alyssa Lynnete. As time went on, unlike most dolls that come and go, Emily was there to stay. That is how I can justify this story as ‘my memory,’ because though the beginning is nothing more than a story that has been passed on from my mother…. Emily and I made memories for the years to come. I can remember laying on my ‘big girl canopy bed’ when I was about 4 years old. It was a cool, rainy, autumn afternoon and we (Emily and I) laid there listening hum of the rain on the roof and the tapping of raindrops hitting the window. We had countless ‘High Teas’ together, she was always so polite! Emily sat with me in restaurants, in my carseat as a toddler, and slept with me every night. Emily has since been retired, but she still my girl. I hope to share the same love for a doll with my daughter some day. Emily was my BEST friend!
I absolutely LOVED my cabbage patch kid as a kid. Her name was Theresa and I took her everywhere. Recently I passed on my CPK to my daughter and she was excited to have something that was mine as a kid (sometimes me being a kid is a hard concept for her to get! lol) Anyways, we saw a commercial for the new CPK’s on TV last week and she is excited to get one of her own!! So I’m hoping to win so I can pass on the excitement!!
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my dolls name was julie just like mine and I still have her today now my daughter plays with her:)
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Im an 80s baby so i had tons of cabbage patch dolls! they were my favorite!
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I had to have one, but I wanted twins. It was 1983 and that was impossible. People were getting trampled on in KMART to get one! Christmas Morning Came and I got two a boy name Kerry and a Girl named Kittie, they looked exactly alike. Santa went through alot of trouble to make my dream come true. I remember falling in love at first site, and to this day with my own children I try to capture the magic I felt seeing those little faces. I still love cabbage patch kids. Its sort of a problem, I cant get enough of them, I would LOVE to have this so much, so my Ten year old could have a new one, or I could..mmmm Yeah me
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I subscribed to you!! LOVE your blog, even though you didnt ask us too, I am now following you on Facebook. Love this giveaway! This is on my want BAD list. Thanks for doing this one! :)))
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I have a cabbage patch kid from decades ago, and her name is Alvina Lara. I still have her to this day, and when I take her out for my niece to see her, my cat likes to bit her fingers.
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my brother giving me one as a Christmas gift!
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my dolls name was prescilla- i’m so glad i still have her for my little girl
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I have an older sister, so I got a few “hand me down” Cabbage Patch dolls that I loved but never named before I got my first new one for my birthday one year. I named her Michelle and still have her to give to my daughter someday:)
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Cabbage Patch became popular just as I was approaching adulthood, the little girl I babysat for really wanted one. I would sit outside of Toys R Us waiting for their trucks to come in and stalk the store to see if they had any of the dolls. Unfortunately, I was not able to get one that year. Thank goodness she had a wonderful Christmas anyway. I would love to win this and give it to her now, 30 years later.
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I had seven cabbage patch kids…and I remember when I was sick and home from school, I would gather them all together and line them up on the couch with me. There was barely any space left for me to lay…LOL
Congratulations, Julie H of Florida–the Cabbage Patch Kid winner! her comment was number 85, which was randomly selected by random.org. Thanks to everyone who entered!
I had one doll I called Sunshine and now my 5 year old plays with her all the time.
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When I was a kid my cabbage patch dolls name was Betty, I LOVED her soooo much!
My favorite memory of having a cabbage patch growing up was the Christmas I turned 6. I wanted Santa to bring me a CP doll sooo badly but I really wanted a girl one and I was afraid I would get a boy doll.
my dolls name was ruby, she had red hair!