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Looking back over the years, I must say that one of my favorite toys was a pair of chou chou doll twins that I received from a donation center one Christmas when I was about 7 years old. I loved how my mother would always say she thought my babies were real because they sat up just like real-life babies did. Of course, that to me meant that I had the best of the best, and I used to dress them up in real clothes and all.
Also, I can recall a hot pink Barbie car that I would drive around our apartment all day long, picking up “passengers” at their “bus stops” and taking them to their destinations. I guess public transportation has always been a very important part of my life.
What were some of your favorite childhood toys?
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The chou chou dolls sound super cute 🙂 My favorite childhood toy was named Ali the Alligator, a little green alligator plushie I’ve had since I was five. She was so cute and I loved her, I don’t think I’ll ever throw her away.
Amily,
I love the fact that Ali the Alligator is still with you to this day. I don’t think I actually have anything from my childhood besides baby clothes, so I find that quite astonishing. Also, before you described what Ali was, I was picturing that alligator whose teeth you had to put down one by one to see if you could get all but one down without it’s mouth chomping down on you. Does anyone know what toy I’m referring to?
I had quite a few favorite toys, but I think the most special one was Kirsten, the American Girl Doll from Sweden. I got her on my birthday when I was in first grade (I turned 7 that year), she was so special to me that I brought her to school that day and she sat at my teacher’s desk while we did our studies. Every year, I would dress her in one of her “best dresses” and a doll faux fur coat and hat and take her to out to dinner with me. Each American Girl Doll has a story and I remember reading Kirsten’s story more than the others, it touched me emotionally and I think I cried every time I read that book.
I also really loved the Beanie Babies growing up. My uncle used to sell them as a side business, so I ended up with tons of Beanie Babies. I had many of the cats – and when McDonald’s were giving out Tiny Beanie Babies, we would get a happy meal just for the toy and other family members would give me their Beanies too. I would have parades with all of them lined up, I’d “teach” them school lessons. My mom still has one of them in her car for company especially when my cousins need to play with something during long car rides. They are great!
Valerie,
I had no idea that the American doll collection went as far back as when we were younger. For some reason I always had the impression that they had just recently began to get popular. I love the great recollection of detail you have of your doll’s dress and how your teacher would be the one to hang on to her while you were in school. I bet with such attention to detail like that you would be great at things such as those card memory games they use to have growing up as well. Thanks for sharing a piece of your history with us.
Luz
American Girl came out in 1986, so a little less than 10 years before I was born! I definitely have a strong memory, I try to pay as much attention to detail as possible. This was such a great topic, thank you for starting it!
Ahh, my favorite childhood toys were definitely barbie dolls and bop it. My cousins and I would stay up all day and night acting out our reality and different movies that we saw with our dolls. We would dress them up, name them, and create lives for them that continued for years. It helped to realize and understand color and gave me a lot of time to help grow my imagination. Let’s just say it very serious lol…My grandmother would buy all of these upscale barbie dolls (Princess Diana I’ll never forget it) .. and tell me not to open them up. SHe always said they’d be worth something in the future but at that point, I didn’t care lol I would open them up and ruin them. Barbie dolls were a huge part of my life at one point, right before I got into video games and riding bikes outside. It was so refreshing to think about that lol I still have some pieces of barbie clothing and a barbie or too still laying around in my things.
I also still have my bop it. That thing helped me with following directions and active listening.
I never was a baby doll person.. those American dolls still creep me out a little. The closest to the baby dolls I got were the cabbage patch dolls. I hate those too but my mom always insisted that I needed one lol