Tuesday, February 16, 2010

What was old is new again

As a mom, I have found that so many things that were popular when I was a child, have either had some staying power or have returned to popularity. That is a bit hard for me to gauge, I didn't shop much in the toy aisle between my childhood and having children.

Remember Cabbage Patch Kids? I can remember wanting one so bad that first year that they were available. I didn't get one that year. I remember hearing tales of people waiting outside of the store for hours upon hearing a rumor that there would be a delivery. I did eventually get one. One thing that always struck me were the names that they gave to those dolls. There weren't any Elizabeth or Kate or Charlie or Nick dolls, no they had unique names. Mine was Fayette Rory. Fayette was certainly a name I had heard before but I didn't know or know of any. Rory at the time I had never even heard of it. These dolls with their signed bottoms are still on store shelves (or back on store shelves). My daughter has my doll, so I haven't gotten close enough to see if they still have unique names or if they have just made so many that they had to start using traditional or popular names.

What about Strawberry Shortcake? I loved my Strawberry Shortcake dolls. I had a few of the figurines, Lemon Meringue, Lime Chiffon, and Lem 'n Ada (they were twins). My dad fashioned two beds for me out of some trim and a thin board. He stained them and gave them to me for my figurines. I still have them. Strawberry is back on shelf again. She has movies and books and one thing that I have noticed is that the figurines have changed - the dolls are larger and softer than those from my childhood.

Remember the Smurfs? I can remember countless Saturday mornings watching the Smurfs. I had a lot of the little collectible figures and even a homemade pillow that was a Smurf. My son enjoys the Smurfs. We check the DVDs out from the library occasionally for them to watch. It brings back a bit of my childhood. I have even seen stuffed toys and Smurf village toys at the store.

What about Rainbow Brite? I have to confess that she was a little after my time. I remember her and I know some of my younger cousins had Rainbow Brite things, but I never actually did. She's back. Again, they have modernized her a bit. I remember this young girl:

You can see the new Rainbow Brite here. As you can see, in the animation, she is taller, thinner and more grown up than the Rainbow Brite of my childhood. You can learn more about the relaunch of Rainbow Brite on the Hallmark official Rainbow Brite website. They have a line of toys for the updated characters that are available at Target and soon will be available at Toys'R Us. I wonder if they will bring back the cartoons or relaunch them to DVD? You can also watch some animation shorts here.

Giveaway!

Thanks to MomSelect and Hallmark, I am able to offer a giveaway for two readers to receive one Rainbow Brite activity CD. These CDs contain games, puzzles, a picture maker, coloring pages, the Rainbow Brite theme song and much more.

Primary Entry:
Which Rainbow Brite doll was your favorite or which do you think that special little girl in your life (daughter, niece, granddaughter, neighbor) would like best? You can find them all here.

Additional Entries:

Share this giveaway with friends - on your blog, on Facebook or by e-mail. Leave me a comment letting me know how you shared.


Follow @ABusyMomofTwo on Twitter and tweet about this giveaway. You may complete this entry once per day.


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Giveaway will remain open until February 24th at 6 pm. One winner will be selected using a random number generator. The winner will be contacted by e-mail (be sure to leave one!) and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be selected.

I received no compensation for this post. All opinions expressed in this post are mine. I received some interactive CDs from Hallmark and MomSelect to experience for myself and to share with friends, family and readers.

5 comments:

Sarah J said...

It would have to be rainbow bright herself!!

sarahkayjordan@sbcglobal dot net

Shannon said...

I would like Rainbow Brite for my niece! I had one as a child.

soncrazed@(aoldotcom)

Heavenly Savings said...

I loved Rainbow Brite as a girl and I know my daughter would too!

Kwhiz84(at)live(dot)com

Jennah said...

Rainbow Brite for sure.... my daughter would love this. Do you remeber shrinky dinks? I had R.B. and smurfs.. those were soo much fun!!

kittytech2003(at)yahoo(dot)com

Jennah said...

I am an e-mail subscriber @ jmrs2008(at)live(dot)com

kittytech2003(at)yahoo(dot)com