Cabbage Patch kids turn 30

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the Cabbage Patch Doll. The launch of this doll created a fever in the North American Continent that remains the stuff of legends.The company underestimated demand for the dolls and there were not enough made initially. People punching each other out, trampling each other to get a doll. Long line ups, bribing store employees, wait lists and more. (fistacuffs anyone?)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sOlIvx7Pvs#t=18

My sister and I got ours the same year on my birthday (her birthday is a month later and she had an amazing temper, she is spicy and very entertaining to this day, and was younger (like maybe 3) and the concept of waiting was not one she was into at that time). How I remember the story of them getting the dolls goes like this.

back in the 80's
My mom and dad went to the USA (north dakota) on a shopping trip leaving us with Grandpa and Grandma. They waited in line for hours and hours and hours to get the dolls for us. I find this sort of hard to reconcile with my one parent anyway. My dad, if there is even 1 person ahead of him in line at a store, will put the stuff down and leave the store. He is also the person in the 12 items or less line that will count your items and say "13 items? My.......you are gutsy". Did he really wait in line for more than 10 min? Doubtful. But I bet my mom did.

Anyway, I had a blonde yarn hair doll named Emma Jane and my sister had a brown yarn haired doll named Holly Anne - very wholesome all American mid west names. Each doll came with an "adoption" certificate and a tattoo on the dolls bum cheek. I still have the certificate in my baby book. This year I found out my friend had a doll named Ludemilla Emanuella - wow that would be hard to say when you were 5. 

I only ever got one - which is perfectly fine - but I was always sort of envious of an elementary school chum who had 6 or 7. She was the only girl in the family and sort of spoiled. She had one with corn silk hair and she had a baby one. She might have even had a cabbage patch kid of colour, which for Manitoba was the most exotic thing ever!! She also had every my little pony in the collection but let's not go there right now. I can remember holding the corn silk hair doll and thinking how lucky she was to have it and how much I wanted one.

I have boys now so I don't get to go down toy memory lane very often. But maybe they will have girls one day and then they can play with Emma Jane who currently lives in a tote in the basement.

The basic model and the corn silk hair model