To think Sindy was better than Barbie

[JenniferBooth]

The Barbie film has brought back memories of my Sindy doll and accessories i had in the early 80s. I loved this Sindy evening dress and i wanted it in a full size version. https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/678214025122537700/

I love pink but there was/is so much of it with Barbie whereas Sindy accessories were all different colours and quite tasteful. I had the four poster bed and the writing bureau. And the gig and horse.

I did that too. My Sindy was actually taller than Action Man and I would have liked to have bought a Paul for her but I decided she could have Action Man for a boyfriend and then I could use my pocket money to buy her more clothes.

I had brunette Sindys with blue eyes, so they looked like me.

Never really see a blue eyed Barbie who isn't blonde haired (there may have been a couple I missed), so never felt she represented me.

My parents thought Sindy had a more wholesome look than Barbie, so Barbies were not allowed in the house, but did have tons of Sindy things including the brown horse, the car, an apartment in a suitcase & a ton of furniture as well as clothes.

My mother gave them all away when she decided I was too old for dolls, so all gone now sadly.

My favourite of the new Sindys is the Fashion Blogger though as her hair is gorgeous.
https://www.argos.co.uk/product/9515417

I had that exact Gala Sindy! I don't think you really got a choice. Your parents were either Barbie or Sindy parents and that's what you got for Xmas and developed an allegiance to. I know my Sindy got down and dirty with Action Man in a way she would have NEVER with a Ken.

I have a Sindy house from the 70s. It's fully furnished with everything you can imagine to have in a home. The detail in Sindy goods far outweigh Barbie. I am 50.

My absolute favorite was the Xmas I got Sindy horse AND a bright yellow Sindy car with tent. I also know, as an adult, that was the Xmas my Dad had lost his job and my Mum worked overtime so she could get it. I didn't even ask for it, she just knew I'd love it. These little memories will never go away, even if they are no longer with us.

My sister and I had a big collection of Sindys. The year we got the house for Christmas with matching mustard yellow bathroom suite, complete with working shower, was epic.

My mum, like others, also knitted her outfits. I had a storage suitcase that a single doll and her clothes could fit into. My fave was roller skating Sindy with red sparkly outfit and yellow skates. Someone mentioned doing up the ballet shoes, that brings back memories.

I did move on to Barbie towards the end of my doll years. One year (think it must have been 1983 from Google search) all the girls in my year wanted Crystal Barbie for Christmas. Went to a neighbourhood Boxing Day party that year and about 8 of us girls all bought her along. Also had peaches and cream.

Lovely memories and can’t wait to see Barbie film

oooh found red roller Sindy on Google, 1982. She must have been my last before the Barbie takeover.

I had Sindy and Barbie. Barbie was always the nasty bitch in my imaginary play. Sindy was the nice one! I had a horse for one of them and they had some kick arse riding boots and jodhpurs. I spent hours playing with them, happy memories!

If anyone has a Gayle, the black Sindy doll, look after it, they are selling for £1k+ on Ebay, Space Fantasy Sindy with pink hair is selling for £500+. Even the clothes are selling for silly prices, especially the 1960's ones.

Loved Sindy and Action girl.

I was never into dolls, but my cousins were definitely team Sindy! They also had Tressy and Girl's World and Stretch Armstrong. I also remember a Baby Alive doll that was totally revolting, as you fed it and it pooed. I much preferred lego and Top Trumps and my Jaws game.

I had both but more cindy, my sister had more Barbie.
I was madly in love with some of the barbies Beauty but cubby felt more realistic to me back then

I had a Sindy can also remember having the horse and yellow car.

My mum find Sindy and action man, naked under my bed, in a missionary position!

I preferred Sindy, but one of my absolute favourite presents I ever had was peaches and cream Barbie. A few years ago they made a special anniversary edition and I wish I had it. She had the most beautiful dress. I would really love to have another one. We had the Sindy bedroom set (white and gold like the picture above) and the Sindy kitchen set (also like above), I'm pretty sure they were from a car boot sale or my sisters old set. Every Christmas my mum would buy me a set of clothes and shoes from Argos, not the proper Sindy/Barbie stuff but a non brand. I'd love it. My brother had action men and the tank. Obviously we'd play with them together.

Am I the only one who never pitted them against each other?? When I was young, they were just different dolls with different names (I used to give them their own names anyway) Barbie would happily cook a roast chicken in Sindy’s little light up oven with real sizzling sounds!

Sindy always had such good furniture. It's so hard to find furniture now for barbies, and what there is is flimsy and bad quality. There are so many sindy items still sold today on eBay and vinted showing how well made they were that they've lasted all this time.

I had the kitchen with a plug in food mixer that went around, a sink with a tap that worked! A table lamp that worked. Still have the working shower and I also have the hair dryer that sadly no longer works. So much attention to detail that is now lacking. Also the clothes cost more than a whole barbie these days.

Sindy and her accessories and furniture were excellent quality.

Barbie was a mean-faced school-bully trailer-trash crack-addict.
🤍 Sindy 🤍

I forgot the furniture! I had a Sindy wardrobe!

Despite not being well off I had a lot of toys (perhaps making up for a less than ideal childhood) so had quite a few Sindy's and one Tressy. I don't remember any of my friends having Barbie, it just wasn't a thing.

I loved my Sindy house and had all the furniture including a shower where you filled a compartment with water then pumped it through a hose so the water came out of the showerhead. I also had the 'Wall of Sound' which was amazing in the early 80s. The fire crackled, a cat meowed and you could plug a hoover and lamp in to a socket.

I remember my DM being really upset when she found out my DF and step-DM had gotten rid of all my Sindy stuff that was in the loft. I was in my late teens at the time so wasn't bothered but I would have loved to have given them to DD.

@TattiePants On a thread about girls comics from the 80s (Mandy Tracy etc) which was a thread on here several years ago, an MNer said she had found some of her own old Mandy comics in her parents loft, gave them to her eight year old DD to read who loved them and said they were much better than the tat type comics on offer today. I loved the Mandy comic and got it every week Sometimes Tracy too and the odd Bunty

@JenniferBooth I don't know if you can remember the Tree Tots Tree House? My DF also gave that away but my friend's DM kept hers and all of our DC's loved playing with it. Some of the old toys really were the best.

@TattiePants the 80s was a great time to be a kid.

I was also Team Sindy (born 1969) and was given ballerina Sindy in the mud 70s.

I recall an off white three piece suite, the “working” salon style hairdryer, The dressing table as well.My dad built me a fabulous double wardrobe and I had a lot of clothes. I also had the more Bohemian Daisy, and a tiny Pippa with a blue and yellow T-shirt dress and little kidney shaped yellow telephone.

I played with them into my early teens and only really stopped when some of my grammar school contemporaries found out and royally ripped the piss out of me.

In my 30s my Dad found me some still vintage boxed Sindy furniture which I have been lovingly storing in a wooden chest in shipping container on a friends land. Unfortunately the large amount of stuff in said storage had to be moved quickly quite recently and some furniture including said trunk cannot be accounted for…. I was quite gutted …..

I also remember Kellogg’s running a promotion / competition on the back of a cornflakes packet for pretty much the entire Sindy collection available at the time. You had to collect enough little Sindy heart logos from cereal packets to enter, which I diligently tried to do, but my poor Mum was too busy to get involved so that came to nothing. But I remember dreaming over that piece of cardboard, looking at all the pictures and dreaming of winning for months…..

Fabulous thread - thank you for the happy memories ☺️