Mumsnet users share their memories of playing with dolls with Baby Annabell

[LucyBMumsnet]

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Most people have some fond memories of playing with dolls in their childhood, from sweetly changing their nappy and rocking them to sleep, to taking them everywhere or ‘customising’ what they look like. Baby Annabell would like to find out more about your memories of playing with dolls, as well as how your children play with their dolls.

What was your doll’s name, and do you still like it now? Did your doll cry real tears, drink real water, burp after feeding, or need its nappy changing? Or did you have to make pretend because the technology wasn’t available yet? What were your favourite games to play with your doll? How does your child play with dolls now? How does it differ from how you played with dolls?

Share your memories on this thread and you will be entered into a prize draw where one lucky MNer will win a £300 voucher for a store of their choice (from a list).

Thanks and good luck!
MNHQ

Standard Insight T&Cs Apply

Cutting and styling their hair. My Mum was not impressed!!

I never played with dolls and I'm not sure why I didn't have any! I loved going to my friends' houses to play with theirs but I was more interested in the accessories and playsets. My sister and I got a massive doll playhouse one year for Christmas but we didn't have any dolls to put in it only furniture.

Mine was a Zapf creation with closing turquoise eyes and long red hair. Really stunning. I spent most of the time pushing her in a pram or buying her newborn baby clothes in charity shops as I loved dressing her in different things as there weren't clothes available to buy separately. She was soft bodied with hard arms and legs and head. Trying to find a doll for my dd4 who had closing eyes, beautiful hair and a lovely expression, not a starey mad one was impossible, so I gave her my old one! I always think of Sarah Crewe in A Little Princess and the kind of doll she had, a beautiful one, not a bald, wetting one.

I was a doll addict. And they are still a bit of an obsession. I usually had a new doll every Christmas. As an adult, American Girl Dolls are my favourite !

I had one favourite doll which my granny won in a guess the name of the doll competition at a Christmas fair. She was a large baby doll dressed all in pink crochet clothes & she was very pretty with lovely soft hair.

Oh, sorry forgot about names etc. My most favourite doll was one of the original Zapf Creation dolls and had no functions - I think she was the size of a 3 month old. I called her Barbara. You can't get them like her any more! :(

I had these two dolls, absolutely loved them until my cousin came around to play! Play hairdressers that is, she cut all the dolls hair off and I cried for days. Never played with dolls again. We laugh about it now, but I was devastated at the time.

My dolls weren't run of the mill dolls like Tiny Tears ; I had a Wonder Woman kick ass action doll and an Eagle Eyes Action Man for starters. I was given a Sindy doll at one point, but I cut her hair to my mum's horror and gave her tattoos 😂

I had one doll called Rosie and a toy high chair which I absolutely loved (more than the actual doll I think!) But I was always more into teddies. My dd loves her doll though.

My first doll was Rachel she was used when I got her I was disappointed because she had brown hair I wanted a blond dolly. Rachel has moved through my family my niece had her for a while and she's now home again with me My daughters played with her for a while Her clothes were made by hand for her and she has had many outfits over the years She's currently wearing a frou-frou. Dress and sleeping in a bespoke Moses basket She is decidedly tatty and has earned her retirement but I don't doubt that my future grandchildren will enjoy her and her lovely outfits in the future. First dolls are really special and I'm glad that I still have her

Loved my life size doll and pushchair also had Cindy but not Barbie daughter also had life size dolls and Barbie along with Polly pocket and loved them all

My doll was a rag doll, I called her Lisa, after my big sisters best friend. But I rarely played with her, she had a blue dress and blue and white stripy legs, she sat on my shelf and just looked pretty I was a bit of a tom boy and playing with dolls was not my thing. Funny my daughter is very much the same .

i had one doll when i was about 5 and i named her Lilly! I loved this doll so much and didnt go anywhere without her. I still have her now. I'm 36 and can't bare to throw her away. She's sat on top of my wardrobe hahaha

I loved my dolly. I named her Elizabeth after the Queen. She liked biscuits, going in toy shops and hated baths and roast dinners. Same as me at the time, what a coincidence
When I look back at photos of me and her I wish I had brushed her hair a bit more.

I remember pushing my doll in a battered old secondhand pushchair. My daughter also played with dolls. I kept two of them in our loft and now my granddaughter plays with her mum's old dolls.

My first doll was a tiny tears, that I loved to bits, I called her Tina and I took her everywhere. I used to love dressing her up and taking her for a walk in her pram.

My first doll was a tiny tears, I think, everyone at school wanted one apparently but I don't even remember it. Later on I wanted my dolls to be as realistic as possible but I couldn't get their hair to lie like real human hair, their clothes were mostly too stiff and trying to get one to sit on the (essential) horse was tough. I had a few well loved outfits from a local market that worked best, the cheap materials were flimsy enough to look the part and the riding hat and boots were treasure!

i had a homemade doll that my aunt made for me, i loved it. my kids now have the luvabellas and some new american doll called cry babies- its all about the crying ones and the one who can suck a dummy and wee etc.

I had an early baby born doll . It's name was Greta ( I honestly don't know why ) I didn't really play with it much. I didn't want anything for Xmas that year but my parents bought it for me anyway.
I also had various blonde barbie dolls that I really liked ( they were blonde , slim and pretty- everything i was not as a child , I adored them)
I also had a boy cabbage patch doll called Harley.
I vaguely remember my dad sending me a doll in a wedding dress when I was about 4. It walked and lit up. It scared the crap 💩 out of me lol.
I had a baby giggle and go and I still hear the demonic sounding giggles now
My best friend had two dolls -little miss make up ( iced water gave her make up ( and little miss magic hair ( the water gave her colourful hair streaks) I wanted both but never did get them.
I also wanted a tiny tears and tiny Timmy. He would wee and to me it was hilarious that a doll had a willy 😂

Me and my best friend used to spend hours building forts, then setting it up as a huge house for all my barbies. I had a voice recorder toy that obviously became barbie's voicemail, and we would take turns taking it hone and recording her voicemails for the next day!

Not a huge fan of dolls but I loved a human sized dolls head I had that I could brush it's hair and add accessories on to it.

I had a few hard-bodied baby dolls, including one who cried and whose eyes closed when you laid her down. I dressed and undressed them, and used them for pupils in my “school”. I remember an old lady at church knitting me some knickers for them that were much too big.

I wasn’t allowed Barbies, but did eventually get a second-hand Sindy house with an amazing elevator.

As with my soft toys, I strongly remember just “knowing” what their names were: nobody named them for me; I didn’t “choose” their names or even like some of them much; I just looked at them and intuited what they were called.

Oh, and how could I forget?! I also had an amazing Rainbow Brite soft-bodied doll with bright orange wool hair, an iridescent crinkly dress, and shiny clumpy shoes. She wasn’t even slightly creepy in the way that pretty much all plastic dolls are (I think it’s their oddly chilly skin and glazed eyes!!!)

I was a weird kid 😁 I always played with my dolls in a cupboard...it was their world 😂😂😂

I loved my Tiny Tears doll. Playing with her was about looking after her--changing her clothes, cuddling her if she cried, changing her nappy, taking her out in the pram. I still played with her until I was about ten. I also had a Sindy, but she wasn't a baby, she did grown up things. My brothers had action man toys, Sindy used to try to kiss them, which my brothers hated. My mum made lots of clothes for both dolls, and I really enjoyed changing their outfits.