Cabbage Patch Kids
It's from 1983, before you were born.
- Maker
- Coleco
- Type
- Soft-sculpture dolls
- Debuted
- 1983
- Note
- You 'adopted' them, complete with papers
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About
As of 2026, it's 43 years old.
Cabbage Patch Kids weren't bought — they were adopted, each with a unique face, a name, and official adoption papers, a bit of marketing genius that made kids feel personally responsible for their squishy-faced new sibling. They debuted in 1983 and immediately caused chaos.
The 1983 holiday season produced full-blown 'Cabbage Patch riots,' with parents brawling in toy-store aisles over the last available doll — one of the first true manufactured toy shortages turned media frenzy. It would not be the last (see: Tickle Me Elmo).
Distinctive, collectible, and the cause of genuine parental combat, Cabbage Patch Kids are the dolls that proved scarcity plus sentiment equals stampede.
Cabbage Patch Kids through the years
Adoption mania
Holiday-season shortages spark fistfights in toy aisles.
