If you were a kid in the 1980's, you had to have one of these.

That is, if your parents could get one.

It seems like every year there's one item that every kid just has to have. I imagine it was the same when I was growing up (Not a Gen X'er here, more of a Baby Boomer), and is still true today. I can't keep up anymore with all the video games, players and electronics. But I did have a couple young 'un's in the 80's and oh boy, do I remember the craze.

No, more than a craze for some people. An obsession.

This was the toy...excuse me, doll...that every kid had to have. And I mean girls and boys. Coleco began mass marketing the Kids in 1982 and by Christmas 1983 they were the rage. And kept raging and raging and raging.

I remember working at a radio station in Rapid City and we built a big contest with the grand prize being a Cabbage Patch Kid.

That's right, weeks of registering for ONE Cabbage Patch Kid. Why? Because you couldn't get 'em, they couldn't keep them in stores. This was the one thing that people would stand in line for for hours (or days) and when the store door opened....

...a stampede for the dozen that were in the store. And you've heard the commercial phrase 'when they're gone, they're gone'? Well, in this case it was apparently true. You'd see news stories of people literally getting into, uh, fisticuffs over a box with a Cabbage Patch Kid in it. It made national and worldwide news. Don't believe me? Check out the video:

So now then you Gen X'ers, you folks that are a generation below me, did you have one? I don't think I'm spilling any secrets when I say both my kids did. (No, they didn't get them the year they were 'hot'...patience kids, patience)

See Also:

More From KYBB-FM / B102.7