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

My favourite toy as a kid was my Spider Man action figure - think they had to be called that back in the 1980's as it would be uncool for a boy to have a doll

I had several dolls throughout my childhood, but the one that sticks fondly in my memory the most is "Tracey"💖 Tracey was a Zapf creations toddler doll in a blue dress with beautiful long blonde hair that I used to spend hours brushing, plaiting and styling. My mum knitted clothes for Tracey, and I used to push her about in a mini silver cross hardbodied pram.
My best friend had a doll that she called Stacey, so we used to take Tracey and Stacey on lots of play dates
I don't know what happened to Tracey, but I suspect my mum gave her away, as she did with a lot of my beloved and iconic childhood toys without asking me
I have two boys now. My eldest (7) has just never been interested in dolls; he's always been fascinated by wheels and 'things that go'. He's actually inexplicably very sexist and gets quite cross at any suggestion of anything he deems "girly" despite the fact that I've always tried to encourage him to play with dolls etc.
My youngest (2 and a half) is different; he will happily play with my old dolls and my little ponies, etc. I have been toying with the idea of buying him his own dolly for Christmas

My favourite memories were cutting my dolls hair and playing hairdresser. My dolls did look a bit scary afterwards though.

I had many dolls, tiny tears, a dress up doll, and one which walked like . a robot and terrified the bejesus out of me. My favourite doll has to be my girls world hair-dressing doll, I styled, cut, combed, put in a bun, pony tail and when I gave her a hair cut I felt like I was a top stylist.

My sister & I would dress as nurses and throw the dolls out of the windows. We'd then collect them and tend to them with bandages, stethoscopes and pretend medicine.

Showing my age here but I had a Holly Hobbie rag doll I was very fond of. Distinctly remember sitting in the garden with her one summer day and trying to feed her Smarties.

From that I progressed to Sindy and Strawberry Shortcake - which I loved because she had bright orange hair.

Was never really into baby dolls. My dolls were more like companions than babies to me...

I remember having tea parties with my dolls and teddies.

I don't have many memories of having dolls apart from one that cried and wet and I remember being fascinated by the eyes.

My son asked for a little boy doll, he keeps him on his bed, he's called charlie and wears a nappy. He used to push one in a pushchair at preschool sometimes but doesn't play with him now as such.
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I had a baby doll that VIBRATED when it "cried", if you put it on a surface like the sofa or table, it would make the whole thing shake. You had to take its head off to change the batteries. It was my favourite thing ever, despite everyone else hating it!

My sister and I had Tiny Tears dolls, which we called Emma and Gemma. I seem to remember they both ended up with rather extreme haircuts!

my memories are playing with dolls and looking after them by making new clothes and changing them and feeding them from a bottle they were blonde dolls with big blue eyes

I had a beautiful doll bought for me one Christmas with a cot, I decided to cut her hair short, my parents weren't best pleased

I remember being very proud of my first doll and took her everywhere in a little pram. Was upset when her head fell off once!

As a boy in the 1960s I was into Action Man. I had 4 or 5, plus a whole lot of different uniforms that they could change into. I kept them all in a chest of drawers in our glass lean-to at the back of the house.

My favourites were:

• the scuba diver outfit - but a bit difficult getting the Action Man into that tight-fitting rubber!
• the talking Action Man - a string came out of his chest and what he said depended on how far out you pulled the string, which had coloured marks to indicate the changes
• the jungle explorer (maybe David Attenborough style, even then) complete with flat-bottomed boat and outboard motor. I dug a trench in our jungle garden and filled it with water to run the boat up and down.

About 7-8 years ago my DD was into Monster High dolls but never really seemed to play with them, just look at them.

I kept losing my Action Man clothes so I ended up with a naturist army.

I remember my doll had a winnie the pooh purple push chair. I would also use it to push tbe dog around in !

I never liked dolls but was friends with a girl who loved them and had loads including one that did wees and poos!

I had a few dolls, my favourite was my mum’s old doll Annabelle, her head had got burnt on the fire and kept falling off so I had to keep popping it back on but she was a lovely dolly!
My daughter had a dolly which did the full works, feed her, pees, goes to sleep but she never took much of an interest in her!

I had a tiny tears. She had shortish blond hair and I adored her. She had quite a hard body and was very basic compared to dolls now. I am thinking about buying an interactive doll for my daughter for Christmas and there are so many to choose from!

I had an Action Man - I thought it was great fun dressing him up in his various uniforms.

I remember getting in loads of trouble for deciding to be a hairdresser to my dolls lol. My hair-cutting skills weren't up to much.

i used to love playign hairdresserssand cutting thier hair into style!!

I had cabbage patch kids. I had three and played families with them. I also had sindys that I liked to change into different outfits.

my sister and I only 1 year apart, one Christmas we had a doll each for Christmas. Mine had dark hair like me, my sisters had blonde hair like her. She wanted my doll and when she couldnt have it she threw it in the open fire we had in the house so my mother made her give me her doll, but we shared the doll and played together with her and the prams we both had

I had a tiny tears doll & cut all her hair off, then pulled her limbs off I wasn't really a fan of dolls

I used to love my dolls. I had several but my favourites were called Sandra and the other I called Mumma I loved playing with them, giving them cuddles and wanted all the accessories. I had the most beautiful pink pushchair for them sadly Mumma lost her fingers when the family got a Puppy and it decided to chew on her. I remember putting make up on my dolls and ruining them!! The make up never came off. I always wanted a doll that cried or weed but I never did get one my best friend did though we used to giggle so much and make it wee!