Cabbage Patch Babies & Cabbage Patch Kids

Cabbage Patch Babies, such as the original Miranda, have proven exceptionally popular among doll collectors.  What began as a toy experiment by Atlanta designer Xavier Roberts quickly snowballed into a national phenomenon in the early 1980s.  Roberts named his creations after a 20th century novel called Mrs. Weeks and the Cabbage Patch.

Cabbage Patch Kids and Babies are distinguished from other dolls by more than just their super-soft plush bodies and homespun yarn on their heads.  By design, each Cabbage Patch Kid is unique.  The sewing and machining process is explicitly randomized to ensure unique features.

During the height of the Cabbage Patch craze, news reports documented numerous scuffles between parents vying for presents for their children.  The Cabbage Patch Kids also inspired numerous send-ups, including a novelty baseball card like series called the Garbage Pail Kids.  (These cards became cultural phenomena in their own right, and they now retail for up to hundreds of dollars at collectors' auctions.)

Coleco carried the dolls from 1983 to 1989.  Owners today go to great lengths to find good parents for prospective adoption.  There are dozens of official Cabbage Patch collectors' clubs, and many people work either part-time or full-time as restorers of the dolls.  Some cultural observers have remarked that the Cabbage Patch Kids' emphasis on "mass customized individualism" proved to be a harbinger of the mass market internet-based economy that fuels much of consumer shopping today.