Happy 30th Birthday To The Cabbage Patch Kids!

When I was little there were a few toys I absolutely couldn’t wait to get my hands on. Things that I remember being super popular with everyone and I was lucky because I do remember getting some of them! I remember getting my pound puppy who was awesome and then I remember the birthday I FINALLY got a Mr Frosty after years of asking (He didn’t work and had to go back – I was very upset) and I very clearly remember getting my Cabbage Patch Kid! My Cabbage Patch Kid was a special ‘Water babies’ version and not quite like the others. She has a hard body and can, as her name suggests, be taken in the bath! She came with a dressing gown and slippers and of course her birth certificate! The cabbage Patch Kids always come with a birth certificate detailing their name and the day they were born. There is then a further section to be completed by the lucky girl or boy who is to adopt a new dolly and you have to put your name and promise you will look after them! What a marketing genius! I simply adored mine and still have her today! Florence plays with her when we go to my Mum’s!

When I got mine, 26 YEARS AGO! They were probably at their peak of fame! Children were crazy for them all over the world and now, 30 years after they were introduced to the mass market for the first time they are still super popular and because it’s such a special anniversary and such a special birthday, Jakks Pacific who produce them held a big party to celebrate! We were lucky enough to be invited to the event which was held in a closed to the public Hamleys Toy Shop! Think Tom Hanks in the film ‘Big’ and you’re pretty close – the children had the most fabulous time! Florence already has her own Cabbage Patch Kid which was born directly from a Cabbage Patch before her very eyes at the opening of another toy store and she loves her. There’s just something very special about these dolls you see sop she was beyond excited on party day!

CBK Party Day — Travelling to the party and waiting to go in – excitement in extreme measures!

Inside and the fun was just wall to wall. We met giant Cabbage Patch Kids, played 80’s games like pass the parcel and did art and crafts, a favourite of Florence’s! She enjoyed the craft so much that we missed the magic show as she didn’t want to leave the glitter! We also ate some yummy 80’s inspired food and had a party tea in the middle of Hamleys! How good!! The girls holding the party all had fab T shirts saying ‘Born in the 80’s’! I said ‘I love your T Shirt, if only I could wear one, I’m just a year out!’ The lovely lady wearing the T Shirt said ‘Oh I know, I’m a year out too, I wasn’t born untill 1990!’ Made me feel very old… I’m a year out the other way of course and as a 1979 baby I actually turn 34 next week!!

CBK Party Day 1 — We had SO much fin celebrating the Cabbage Patch Kids 30th birthday – LOOK at that cake! It was SO yum with fresh raspberries in the middle!

CBK Party Day 2 — Party games, party food, giant characters, face painting! Oh what a treat!

CBK Party Day 3 — We were sad to leave at the end of the party with one pooped out (and glittery) little boy and girl!

Florence was lucky enough to win a new dolly in one of the party games and so leaving the party, although sad, wasn’t too bad as we got to bring some pretty lovely Cabbage Patch goodies home with us!

CBK Party Day 4 — Florence and her new dolly Kylie Mackenzie have been playing ever since! In our goodie bag we also had mini Cabbage Patch Kids who are too cute and stickers which Florence decorated her older Cabbage Patch Dolly, Louisa Spence (we changed her name due to a certain starry resemblance we think), with stickers from the party!

I’m a big dolly fan and have passed this on to Florence clearly! We love the new dolly Kylie Mackenzie and her cabbage dummy and bottle! She even comes with a receiving blanket! How cute! I think Florence really has her eye on one of the dolls with LONG curly blonde hair, and I particularly like the one with a ‘Rock Star’ T shirt so we may have to add to the collection at some point!

They’re just such fun and the accessories and back story of how they are born in the Cabbage Patch is just enchanting. Each and every Cabbage Patch Kid has the creator, Xavier Robert’s signature on his or her bottom when they leave the Cabbage Patch Babyland General Hospital in the North Georgian mountains of the US to come waiting for a child to adopt and love them! I’ve heard you can even visit Babyland General Hospital – how completely cool would that be! Happy Birthday Cabbage Patch Kids from 1983 on wards, here’s hoping for many more!

There are multiple new lines arriving for the 30th year celebrations including the mini collection and special anniversary kids – how exciting!

For more information on Cabbage Patch Kids please see www.jakks.com.

I was not paid to write this post. I was invited to the party under no obligation to write about it.