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

I didnt have a baby doll of my own. The larger, more lifelike ones were just coming into fashion in the mid 80s and I was desperate for one but alas no.

I remember in primary school having a playdate with a girl who had a Baby Alive that ate!! :o I was so impressed by it. She was more than happy to let me play and not at all stingy with sharing Annie as she called her. I can still remember that lovely playdate in the spring sunshine, sitting in her garden with white blossom trees and we were singing Edelweiss

I had a limited edition (back then!) Brunette tiny tears and her brother Tim.. i loved these two babies! They drank real water and wet their nappys too!

I still have my Theresa, a hard bodied Rosebud doll from the 1950s, with painted on curls, and still dressed in the blue frock my mother knitted. I must admit she's normally kept out of sight these days, as the AC have pronounced her creepy... I had another baby doll, a black one, that once went with me into a den made of blankets over the clothes horse and came out with her face staved in - I was devastated. I think I must have asked for a Tressie ("her hair grows!") for Christmas three years running, but my mother disapproved of "teenage" dolls and just ignored the pleading. I never had a doll's pram, but did have a lovely rocking doll's cot, possibly made and hand-painted by my dad.

Oh, I've just seen that someone earlier mentioned a bride doll. I got one of those one Christmas, and was over the moon, but I always thought her too grand to play with, dressed in all her finery. I used to love undressing and dressing her, fastening her veil back on with her headdress. .

I loved Tiny Tears

I loved my teeny tiny tears and would take her for countless walks up and down the garden path in her pram often shared with the family pet rabbit

I remember getting a baby doll when I was about 13yrs old, I was more immature than other girls my age and I loved that doll They were a new trend so I'm surprised I even got one. I don't remember any other baby dolls except for a floppy ragdoll type doll that I had, she had a floppy hat and a floral dress and I have a feeling my grandma made it.

My favourite two dolls as a child were my Sindy doll and my Strawberry Shortcake doll, I can still remember the synthetic strawberry smell. They were best friends and I used to make houses for them using things from my bedroom like stacked books for walls and folded clothes for bed. My brother has a Castle Greyskull from He-Man, I made Sindy and He-Man get married with Strawberry Shortcake as bridesmaid then moved them both into Castle Greyskull and booted He-Man over to live in the toy box. When Strawberry Shortcake needed her own house poor Skeletor quickly found himself wedded and Snake Mountain taken from him. Then I got a Sindy Dream Room doll house for Christmas which was far nicer so my brother got his castles back and Sindy and Strawberry upgraded to new digs. The elaborate games continued with lots of add-on items from various bits from around the house including extra rooms made from shoe boxes, sofas made from cassette boxes opened and turned backwards, and extra characters from old ornaments my mam's gave me like a little porcelain cherub who was the baby they nannied for and a blue glass bird who was their pet.

My youngest DD is 2yo. She has a baby doll that she loves. He's called Egg. I don't know why, she just calls him Egg and he gets dragged around all over the place. He wears a purple dress, a pink cardigan, and purple knickers that I had to crochet because she said his bum was cold and I couldn't find any doll trousers. I asked if she would like Santa to bring her a new doll and she said no "my don't want new baby, my only love Egg".

My youngest girl (two years old) is sooo into her dollys its amazing too sit and watch her play Mummy, She has different outfits, bottles, changing bag and a flimsy buggy. I love seeing how she cares for her dolly just like I use too! I'm sure she'll be playing with her dollies for a long time. My eldest daughter (5) isn't much into dolls, but my three year old son likes too hold the doll or put it in his monster truck for a spin lol!

Sorry last post messed up -

When I was about 6 years old I used too have one dolly named "groovy" (after groovy chick thing) lol. it was a baby Annabelle from 1999 and came with a potty and bottles. I had got my dad to buy soo many accessories for that doll, i dread too think of the cost! I always used too be pushing my doll around in the old LAdy bird buggy the red one with black spots! She came everywhere with me..outside too play, eat dinner and slept in my bed. I use too love pretend changing her, pretending too be a mummy (perhaps because my mother was useless!) but it gave me alot of comfort too look after a doll. I was 11 when we got a new puppy and grew out of the doll regrettably i wished I'd kept it!

My youngest girl (two years old) is sooo into her dollys its amazing too sit and watch her play Mummy, She has different outfits, bottles, changing bag and a flimsy buggy. I love seeing how she cares for her dolly just like I use too! I'm sure she'll be playing with her dollies for a long time. My eldest daughter (5) isn't much into dolls, but my three year old son likes too hold the doll or put it in his monster truck for a spin lol!

Mine definitely peed in a potty, and I think it cried real tears. I remember my gran had one that really cried (it was horrifying!)

I had a Tiny Tears doll that I loved.

I have one memory that still haunts me.. My Fave doll Sammy which had lovely pig tails. My elder brother had his friend over for Tea one day after school and thought it was a good idea to use my dads electric shaver to give her and my other dolls Mohicans. Many years later same friend was his best man and could not resist mentioning this in his speech. :(

I had a baby doll I loved and cared for. My grandad made me a cot and my aunt knitted clothes for her. I thought I was the luckiest child in the world that Christmas

I loved playing with my dolls. My favourite was one where you cranked her arm and her pony tail grew. I had a lot of barbies handed down from my cousins and 1 Sindy doll which I wouldnt play with as she was slightly fatter and 'not as pretty' as Barbie. That breaks my heart that I felt like that as a child. Im so glad that the world has moved on - I saw a little boy the other day who was proudly carrying a doll and was showing it to people in the shopping centre.

I never had a Barbie because they were too expensive but I did eventually get a Cindy but to me that was never quite the same! My mother used to tut if I spent my money buying clothes for her! I did buy myself a tall doll that could walk (moveable legs) and she was called Theresa and had long golden hair.

I found dolls a bit creepy to play with, especially the when one of the blinking eyes got stuck. I preferred the soft toys like animals and teddies. We would have little parties and I suppose I was being a parent and they were my babies.

When I was a child a family friend brought me a doll from Vietnam dressed in her national costume and I called her Lotus Blossom, I played with her and imagined what her country must be like
{I eventually went to vietnam 2 years ago, and its as exotic as Lotus Blossom had me imagine)
I still have her over 50 years later and because I had sons she is still living with me

I now have 4 granddaughters and hope one them will eventually adopt her and love her like I have

I remember having a baby Annabell when I was tiny that I pushed in a pram around the living room for ages. I didn't know why you'd want one that cried and had a wee, it was a bit much for me. When I got a bit older it was all about Bratz because I thought they looked cool and had much nicer clothes than Barbie.

I had about 20 cabbage patch kids. I loved them and still have all of my childhood ones. My first was an all plastic o e called Alistair Malcolm. He would come in the bath with me. And had a blue and yellow bathrobe and slippers, and ginger hair. My cousin used to tease me mercilessly about him. (And still
Does!)

My only doll-related memory is a Christmas in the early 90s, I must have been around 9-10.
My mother asked me if I’m excited for my big present. I said: ‘I hope it’s not a doll’.

It was a doll.

I had a 'My Child' doll which my mum bought because I had asked for a Cabbage Patch Kid and she thought they were hideous. She had lovely dark hair and soft fuzzy skin and I called her 'Chevrolet' because I thought that was the most beautiful name ever. I also had my mum's walking talking doll that she had had as a child in the 50s. Her name was Rebecca-Jane and she could still walk with help, but no longer said 'Mama' except for perhaps once a year or so when she would suddenly attempt it, usually at night, and scare me rigid! She had little hair, and although we bought some to stick on to her bald patches, we love her just how she was so we never got round to it. It was lovely 'sharing' a toy with my mum.

I had a Tiny Tears doll for Christmas when I was little. My mum spent weeks knitting a wardrobe for her! I was delighted to have 'a baby' and spent hours feeding her with the bottle and then sitting her on a tiny potty! I can still remember how that doll smelled (delicious) and the way she felt in my arms. My mum told me she felt the way a real baby does when you hold one. I found out she was right about 20 years later! I'll never forget the excitement of that Christmas, and I sometimes wish I was little again and could spend hours playing with a baby doll (despite having had three real ones!)

I got a ballet dancing doll for christmas when i was about 7, she wore a pink tutu, and you held the crown on her head so she could dance, i remember finding the box in the wardrobe a few weeks before christmas, i used to play with her , then carefully put her back in the box.
Had to act all surprised when i opened her on christmas day.

I had a doll back in the 70s which was called a First Love Doll. My mum used to make all my dresses & knit me jumpers and cardigans. Every time she made me a dress she made one in the same fabric for my doll, same with knitted items. My mum says she has the doll all wrapped up somewhere, she can't remember where! Apparently she is lying in her cot.