New all time low in fashion

[candycane]

I loved my Sasha dolls. I've still got them!

CC

 

[Twilight]

I loved my Sasha dolls. I've still got them!

CC

Gotz made beautiful dolls & Sasha dolls always had such wistful faces. I was a very careful child, looked after my toys & was devastated when my best friend/mortal enemy scrubbed my Tiny Tears face with Vim & it went green A couple of years ago I had an idea for a children's book & wrote the first three stories, I knew how my characters looked but needed something tangible for one of them, I love Etsy & one day found this seller. I've bought two of her dolls, one is my protagonist & one comes out for Hallowe'en, they are exquisite.

NilasDolls - Etsy UK

Shop items by NilasDolls located in Lviv, Ukraine. Smooth dispatch! Has a history of dispatching on time with tracking. Speedy replies! Has a history of replying to messages quickly. Rave reviews! Average review rating is 4.8 or higher.

www.etsy.com

 

[candycane]

I'm a big doll person. I sell a lot of dolls clothes on a hobby business basis. I've made so many friends around the world because of this and they are wonderful folks.

CC

 

[Twirl58]

I have a baby doll who is older than me. My Nanna was an avid knitter and the doll, Janet, was in the wool shop window modelling baby clothes, she asked if she could buy her and gave her to me when I was about 6 months old. She is quite large with a vinyl body and limbs but her head is hard. She has sleeping eyes which used to scare my brother because he reckoned that they moved on their own Also her hands come off and he used to put one in his mouth with the fingers sticking out and pretend to be Dracula! I think that the only possible explanation for these was to drain the water out when I gave her an over enthusiastic bath.
For over 50 years she has sat in my bedroom, wherever that may be, in a small rocking chair that was one of the last Christmas presents that my Dad bought me, I would have been about 6.
It's from Woolies with a cowboy and horse carved in the back rest. I have seen them on ebay but I am afraid that I will never make my fortune out of selling it although I never would.

 

[Vienna]

You rarely see young children with dolls and prams these days. Right from toddler age they`re glued to a tablet of some kind or their parent`s mobile phone and watching cartoons or something on iplayer or you tube. They do tablets specifically for very young children. Board games are another thing they rarely do, things such as Ludo or Snakes and Ladders.
I remember getting a childs version of a Silver Cross pram one Christmas. It was white with a pink hood and cover and had an oval shaped transfer of pink roses on the side of it. I also got a baby doll which had a pot head, no real hair just pretend curls moulded into the pot head and she came dressed with a matching coat and dress and bootees.
After Christmas dinner my Dad would get out the games compendium which was in a wooden box and the boards were wood too. Snakes and ladders, Ludo, Draughts, Tiddlywinks or we`d play Snap or Happy Families.
Rupert Annual, Beano, Dandy , new pencil crayons and a colouring book or a jigsaw would be played with at the end of the day and just before bedtime when Mum wanted us to quieten down after a very early morning to see if Father Christmas had been.
When I see kids the same age nowadays from toddlers to 7/8 year olds, many of them don`t actually seem to know how to play especially when they`re alone. No imaginary tea parties with plastic tea sets, no dressing their dolly and other toy friends and talking to them or playing teachers and sitting them in rows whilst telling them 2+2 makes 4. No quiet time with pencils, paper, paints, jigsaws and what saddens me most of all is just how many kids don`t love or like books. No playing marbles with a sibling or a parent or rolling ping ping balls into a propped up colander and calling it table football because you didn`t have the real thing.
No fancy dressing up outfits but pretending to be a Princess whilst wearing an old net curtain, your sister`s hairband, Mum`s shoes and some plastic flowers your Mum had got free with Daz washing powder.
Making dens under the big old table and using a clothes maiden and a sheet as the entrance, playing with Mum`s button tin and using different sized buttons to make a necklace or going outside with an old clothes line whilst skipping to your friends singing "one two three O`leary"
And so it goes on and on, memories rarely rekindled nowadays because many kids are old before they`ve been young or their imagination is rarely used because they don`t have to create games, dressing up outfits, pretend kitchens made from cardboard boxes, dens under a table etc etc etc. They have the real McCoy handed to them on a plate and their idea of quiet time is to log onto the internet or 24/7 TV channels. Yes I know kids need to be tech savvy these days but I also think they also need to learn how to play and how to occupy themselves in a creative imaginary way. Call me old fashioned.

 

[Twirl58]

You rarely see young children with dolls and prams these days. Right from toddler age they`re glued to a tablet of some kind or their parent`s mobile phone and watching cartoons or something on iplayer or you tube. They do tablets specifically for very young children. Board games are another thing they rarely do, things such as Ludo or Snakes and Ladders.
I remember getting a childs version of a Silver Cross pram one Christmas. It was white with a pink hood and cover and had an oval shaped transfer of pink roses on the side of it. I also got a baby doll which had a pot head, no real hair just pretend curls moulded into the pot head and she came dressed with a matching coat and dress and bootees.
After Christmas dinner my Dad would get out the games compendium which was in a wooden box and the boards were wood too. Snakes and ladders, Ludo, Draughts, Tiddlywinks or we`d play Snap or Happy Families.
Rupert Annual, Beano, Dandy , new pencil crayons and a colouring book or a jigsaw would be played with at the end of the day and just before bedtime when Mum wanted us to quieten down after a very early morning to see if Father Christmas had been.
When I see kids the same age nowadays from toddlers to 7/8 year olds, many of them don`t actually seem to know how to play especially when they`re alone. No imaginary tea parties with plastic tea sets, no dressing their dolly and other toy friends and talking to them or playing teachers and sitting them in rows whilst telling them 2+2 makes 4. No quiet time with pencils, paper, paints, jigsaws and what saddens me most of all is just how many kids don`t love or like books. No playing marbles with a sibling or a parent or rolling ping ping balls into a propped up colander and calling it table football because you didn`t have the real thing.
No fancy dressing up outfits but pretending to be a Princess whilst wearing an old net curtain, your sister`s hairband, Mum`s shoes and some plastic flowers your Mum had got free with Daz washing powder.
Making dens under the big old table and using a clothes maiden and a sheet as the entrance, playing with Mum`s button tin and using different sized buttons to make a necklace or going outside with an old clothes line whilst skipping to your friends singing "one two three O`leary"
And so it goes on and on, memories rarely rekindled nowadays because many kids are old before they`ve been young or their imagination is rarely used because they don`t have to create games, dressing up outfits, pretend kitchens made from cardboard boxes, dens under a table etc etc etc. They have the real McCoy handed to them on a plate and their idea of quiet time is to log onto the internet or 24/7 TV channels. Yes I know kids need to be tech savvy these days but I also think they also need to learn how to play and how to occupy themselves in a creative imaginary way. Call me old fashioned.

Wow that has brought back so many memories!
We used to put rose petals in water, shake it up in a bottle and call it scent-probably smelt better than some modern offerings.
Mud pies and bang a bit of chalk on a stone from the garden to make icing on the top.
So many things that I still did with our girls.
Oh and shaking milk and salt in a jar hoping to get butter. We never did but it kept us amused for days at a time in the school holidays wondering if today was the day that we would enjoy fresh butter for tea

 

[Silver Fox]

Thanks Vienna for reviving so many memories, we must belong to the same childhood era! I would draw in my colouring books for hours and although I had a doll, it was never a favorite.My white Teddy bear went the same way, Teddies were golden not white!Our imaginations were stretched and being an only child I entertained myself for hours, something which I have even drawn upon during the past year, that being content in my own company.I am so envious of you having a Silver Cross doll’s Pram though, I think mine was second hand and remember feeling so envious of two other girls I knew who had their Silver Crosses!
Children of the early 50’s? I had just started school when it was the Queen’s Coronation 2 days before my birthday.At school we were given the choice of a commemorative spoon, tumbler or mug.I do remember thinking the mug looked the best value, still have it somewhere.

 

[Clothescloth]

Are little girls still allowed to play with baby dolls and prams? I’m sure the non binary and gender neutral brigade are in meltdown over such an abomination!

 

[Silver Fox]

Wow that has brought back so many memories!
We used to put rose petals in water, shake it up in a bottle and call it scent-probably smelt better than some modern offerings.
Mud pies and bang a bit of chalk on a stone from the garden to make icing on the top.
So many things that I still did with our girls.
Oh and shaking milk and salt in a jar hoping to get butter. We never did but it kept us amused for days at a time in the school holidays wondering if today was the day that we would enjoy fresh butter for tea

I did the rose petal scent, then tried it with grass, just got dirty water.

 

[Clothescloth]

Thanks Vienna for reviving so many memories, we must belong to the same childhood era! I would draw in my colouring books for hours and although I had a doll, it was never a favorite.My white Teddy bear went the same way, Teddies were golden not white!Our imaginations were stretched and being an only child I entertained myself for hours, something which I have even drawn on during the past year.I am so envious of you having a Silver Cross doll’s Pram though, I think mine was second hand and remember feeling so envious of two other girls I knew who had their Silver Crosses!

I am an only child too. Many hours drawing and reading on my own. My favourite was my teddy bear too, and I still have him, although he is now completely bald, loved to death! He lives in the overhead cupboard above my bed.

 

[ERICS MUM]

Vienna, your post reflects my 1960’s childhood perfectly. I still love stationery, after going into Woolworths every week and looking at exercise books and colouring pencils. My favourite was a rainbow pad - small notebook containing pages of different colour paper.

I was fascinated by the imperial measurements on the backs of most exercise books - Rod, pole and perch, gallons, quarts & pints, furlongs and fathoms etc. !

 

[Vienna]

Thanks Vienna for reviving so many memories, we must belong to the same childhood era! I would draw in my colouring books for hours and although I had a doll, it was never a favorite.My white Teddy bear went the same way, Teddies were golden not white!Our imaginations were stretched and being an only child I entertained myself for hours, something which I have even drawn upon during the past year, that being content in my own company.I am so envious of you having a Silver Cross doll’s Pram though, I think mine was second hand and remember feeling so envious of two other girls I knew who had their Silver Crosses!
Children of the early 50’s? I had just started school when it was the Queen’s Coronation 2 days before my birthday.At school we were given the choice of a commemorative spoon, tumbler or mug.I do remember thinking the mug looked the best value, still have it somewhere.

Many of our toys were secondhand SF but we didn`t realise it or we simply weren`t bothered because it was quite common for kids in our area to get secondhand stuff.
The Silver Cross pram was one of the few new Christmas presents I got. The baby doll had belonged to my older sister who`d outgrown playing with dolls and Mum had knocked up a new outfit after sending her to the Dolls Hospital to have her wonky eyes fixed.
Mum always bought annuals which could be shared with my younger brother such as Beano or Dandy and the same with jigsaws or games. We never had new bikes or scooters and she`d buy one off someone who`se child had outgrown it and my Dad would fix it up like new. Apart from new nighties and a dressing gown, there were no new Christmas outfits and I wore my older sister`s castoffs for years until I outgrew her.
My younger brother had a Davey Crockett hat and he loved it but Mum had made it herself from an old fur stole and my older brother and sister`s shoes, clothes, wellingtons, coats, hats and gloves were never thrown away but patched, repaired, hems lifted or let down, new buttons , new zips and so on and then passed on to us younger ones.
I think I was about 14 before I started getting all new clothes and that was because my older sister had left home after getting married at 21 and I was by then a good 3 or 4 inches taller than her and broader too.

 

[Twilight]

Vienna you're not old fashioned, you're right & many of the things you've written about we do with little granddaughter. I think that there's a happy balance about most things in life & she does watch films, loves CBeebies & listens to music on YouTube - how else would she have been shown Gayla Peevey singing I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas? However, her imagination is fed when playing with her dolls, tea sets, doctors kit & books & she acts out many of the things that happen to her through her dolls, most of whom have been affected recently by having something 'natched' from them as happened to her on her birthday. She also has a mud kitchen, a mum who is happy to draw chalk pictures with her on their patio & a dad who takes her out on his bike. As for second hand items this child, born in 2018, has had pre-loved gifts from us for her last two Christmases & her 3rd birthday that was 2 weeks ago, mainly because I knew what to get her & wouldn't buy new from China, she also had a Laura Ashley dress that was vintage 1980s & still had the label attached. I'm 62 so grew up in the 1960s with dolls, bikes, board games, Spirograph, books by the shelfful & was lucky enough to have a Silver Cross doll's pram, shiny black body, cream interior, huge wheels - I loved it

 

[Twilight]

Vienna, your post reflects my 1960’s childhood perfectly. I still love stationery, after going into Woolworths every week and looking at exercise books and colouring pencils. My favourite was a rainbow pad - small notebook containing pages of different colour paper.

I was fascinated by the imperial measurements on the backs of most exercise books - Rod, pole and perch, gallons, quarts & pints, furlongs and fathoms etc. !

Me too!

 

[Twilight]

Are little girls still allowed to play with baby dolls and prams? I’m sure the non binary and gender neutral brigade are in meltdown over such an abomination!

Defo & when my daughter has her little boy later this year he'll have all the same toys as his sister so eventually he'll have to option of playing trains, kicking a ball, rocking on a horse or, heaven forfend, pushing a pram. These people who TELL others how they should behave need to butt out. Years ago, when woke was something we did after being asleep, I read an article written by the aunt of a little girl who she had recently baby sat. The tot was just over two & her aunt could hear her talking so listened at the bedroom door & heard her telling her toys to sleep & blowing them kisses. It turned out that she was wrapping her cars in her clothes & putting them all together because she wasn't allowed cuddlies or dolls in case she became 'conditioned'. I think denying a child something because of your beliefs is cruel & quite arrogant.

 

[loveallthingsitalian]

We didn’t get any toys or sweets during the year but at birthday and Christmas we got a really good present.

Often it would be something like a pram then my gran would buy the doll and my uncle (married much later) bought (well gave my mum the money) all the clothes. or if it was a bike they got the bell and saddle bag. And that was it full stop. Things were bought and the extras became their presents.

As small children we didnt play family board games, just us and a friend but we then moved abroad where there was no TV so board games and cards became our only source of entertainment and they were mammoth sessions and very competitive.

Funnily Mr L has no interest in either board games or cards. I do online card games, crosswords and sudoku each day .

 

[Vienna]

Vienna you're not old fashioned, you're right & many of the things you've written about we do with little granddaughter. I think that there's a happy balance about most things in life & she does watch films, loves CBeebies & listens to music on YouTube - how else would she have been shown Gayla Peevey singing I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas? However, her imagination is fed when playing with her dolls, tea sets, doctors kit & books & she acts out many of the things that happen to her through her dolls, most of whom have been affected recently by having something 'natched' from them as happened to her on her birthday. She also has a mud kitchen, a mum who is happy to draw chalk pictures with her on their patio & a dad who takes her out on his bike. As for second hand items this child, born in 2018, has had pre-loved gifts from us for her last two Christmases & her 3rd birthday that was 2 weeks ago, mainly because I knew what to get her & wouldn't buy new from China, she also had a Laura Ashley dress that was vintage 1980s & still had the label attached. I'm 62 so grew up in the 1960s with dolls, bikes, board games, Spirograph, books by the shelfful & was lucky enough to have a Silver Cross doll's pram, shiny black body, cream interior, huge wheels - I loved it

Your granddaughter is a lucky little girl to have parents and grandparents who stimulate her the way you all do. My granddaughters were the same and even though they are now at high school and aged 12 and 14 their parents still insist they have time away from phones, TV or internet and they do something practical.
They both love art and crafts and spend hours drawing and designing.
During lockdown when their school was closed their Mum or dad got them involved each day in something new. One day they may bake cakes, another day they`d be tasked with prepping and cooking dinner, they gardened, sowed seeds and made their own bird feeders, their Dad built them an outside mini gym with bricks and tins as weights and as an Army officer he showed them how to exercise safely, he also showed them some basic DIY and got them sanding down some chairs and helping to paint them, they learned how to knit, they went on walks and bike rides with my son and the oldest girl who`se interested in design and fashion began customising some of her clothes, shoes and bags.
They had to be out of bed, fed and dressed in good time for their online lessons and after their lessons they had a few household chores to complete such as cleaning cat litter trays, feeding the cats, walking the dog, washing the dishes and tidying their rooms before being allowed to chill, do their other activities or anything else.
Once they`d had a full active day they`d settle down for a movie night, choose a film off Netflix, make some popcorn and watch a film as a family. My son was home for several months because he had a really close shave with Covid and was lucky to pull through so keeping the girls active was good therapy for him too. Of course the girls would have a moan now and again or initially they`d seem disinterested in doing something but once they got into the swing of things they gave it their all.
Their Dad loves history, especially Military history and during lockdown he got them helping with starting their family tree and researching the war their great grandad was killed in and the medals and awards he`d got for bravery. Plus finding out where the battlefields were and what is the meaning of Poppy day, the Cenotaph and other Miltary interests. The younger girl really got into it and was fascinated to the extent she`s asked her dad to take her to see her great grandad`s grave in France one day.
Hopefully when they`re grown women with kids of their own they`ll encourage their own children to stretch themselves, try new things and learn new things, your lucky granddaughter will do the same.

 

[SusieSue]

I have a doll phobia.

A couple of years ago we had to do a display of 3ft tall dolls behind the tills because they were a special offer, I couldn't work behind the counter because I was convinced the dolls were looking at me, I could really feel their eyes boring into my back.

I used to be a cleaner for a lady who had her childhood doll in a crib in her bedroom, the first thing I did when I arrived in the morning was cover it with a towel.

 

[loveallthingsitalian]

Vienna that sounds wonderful but the biggest thing is that they have parents who are interested in them and prepared to give up their time to start them off . You don’t have to be sitting over them all day in fact it’s better that once set up safely kids have enough common sense to get on with it.

 

[Brissles]

I too was an only child in the 50's until my brother came along when I was 7. My grandparents usually bought most of our 'toys', and I remember my proper carriage built dolls pram and a proper miniature wooden cot, then I had a pair of clear plastic toy high heels, while my brother had a Fort complete with soldiers, and the Airfix models kept him happy for hours. Like others, we also had our fill of Annuals - Beano, Dandy, Bunty, Girls Cristal, Schoolfriend which would be read after Christmas Dinner.

Doesn't it show, that in those years after the war when there was so little money about, our lives were almost identical ? reading the above posts, and no doubt living in all areas of the country, yet there we were doing exactly the same on Christmas Day. And another thing, I don't ever remember any old folk spending time alone, because there was always family looking out for them. We might be more connected in this digital world, but we've never been so far disconnected from each other.