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From the “better late than never” file, Mo recently reminded me of the guest blog post I wrote for Melanie at meli-mello last February. Melanie had done an open call for bloggers to share a “toy story,” be it about their first toy, their favourite toy, or anything else related to toys. I eagerly came aboard to tell the story of my first truly beloved toy, my Oopsie Daisy Doll. Never before had I wanted a toy so badly, but getting me my desired Christmas present wasn’t so easy…
In 1988, when I was just three years old, I wanted one particular toy for Christmas more than anything else. After seeing the commercial on TV, I just knew I had to have my very own Oopsie Daisy doll. Much like a real baby girl around 8 months old, Oopsie Daisy was learning to crawl, and, again mimicking reality, Oopsie Daisy would fall down fairly frequently because she was still learning, after all. But, rather unfortunately, the similarities to real life didn’t end there: Whenever Oopsie Daisy fell down, she would cry out “Mama, mama!” until someone picked her up again.
Despite this rather annoying premise, I still had my heart set on an Oopsie Daisy doll for Christmas, and my wonderful parents were determined to make my holiday wishes come true. Little did they first realize, however, how difficult it would be to track down this doll. It turns out the Oopsie Daisy doll was on every little girl’s wish list in ’88, and stores were selling out of them almost immediately after receiving new stock. There are stories of parents fighting over the dolls, similar to the Cabbage Patch phenomenon of 1984 and the Tickle Me Elmo craze of 1996. My family lived in Montreal at the time and the toy was nowhere to be found in the city.