Has anyone outside of the US (and Canada) ever heard of Caboodles? The origin story varies, but someone was inspired by seeing a woman using a fishing tackle box to hold her makeup, and the Caboodles case was born. Caboodles are made by the Plano Molding Company, which started out in 1952 making tackle boxes. I still use my vintage Caboodles box, and when I saw that the American Girl 1980s doll Courtney has a Caboodles box as an accessory, I had to buy it. I got it with my Kirsten doll order, and now I have a vintage Caboodles, a modern Caboodles, an American Girl Caboodles, and a Barbie Caboodles. Caboodles Barbie was the very first doll that I acquired as a collector, given to me by Mr. BTEG in 1993 or 1994. She of course came with her own Caboodles case.
We'll start with the Barbie case, as that is the least interesting. The plastic handle stays straight up, and there is nothing on the inside. Still, I like having it in my Caboodles collection. I never knew that I would get another one in a doll size!
The modern Caboodles case is the least like the other three. I saw it for a good deal on Amazon Prime Days and picked it up. I use it to hold a lot of my eye shadow products. It's the only one that I own that has a mirror.
My American Girl case is very much like my vintage one, fittingly. Of course, Courtney's year is 1986, and Caboodles didn't appear on the market until 1987. It also seems that the very first Caboodles cases looked different, standing up taller and having two drawers that pulled out in the front. Still, I'm pretty sure I had my personal case by 1991, and possibly earlier, so they're not that far apart in age. Courtney just couldn't have had one in 1986.
As you can see, the cases look extremely alike from the outside. Courtney's even has the small rectangle indentation, where you could stick a plate ordered from Caboodles with your name on it.
The insides also look very much alike, down to the drawer compartments.
Here's what Courtney's case came with. I don't want to open up the pack of nail stickers, but they contain 4 sheets of stickers in different colors. When I saw the can of hairspray, my first thought was "LA Looks!" so I think they got the style right. Rave hairspray also apparently used something like this color scheme.
The outside of the eyeshadow case. I remember CoverGirl being the go-to eyeshadow for the younger crowd back then.
I haven't measured every dimension, but the American Girl case seems quite close to scale. My main problem is with the banana clip. It should be worn laying against the entire back of the head (I've worn them!) The entire length of this one only covers about three-quarters of the back of an American Girl head. I also feel like the hair pick is a bit small. I still needed to get this set for my Caboodles collection!
For a little fun, I'm posting two pictures of myself in all my 80s big haired glory, from 1987. I was going out for the night and had just gotten my hair done. :)
I did hear about Caboodles, but I just thought it was an American word for "makeup case", I didn't know it was a brand. I liked seeing your Caboodle collection, definitely something different. The doll-size ones are the cutest, there's always so charming about miniature things. I used to use one of those teasing combs like the one from Courtney's case when I was little.
ReplyDeleteI love your 80s throwback photos! You look so beautiful and happy in the first one. Hope you had a fun night that day.
Have a great weekend ahead!
Caboodle actually means a group or collection of something. It's used as well in the idiomatic phrase "the whole kit and caboodle," meaning a group of things in their entirety. I guess Caboodles were supposed to hold all your makeup? The doll sized ones are cute; the larger ones are practical. But I do like having minis of things that I own.
DeleteI'm glad that you like the photos, and thank you. :) I did have a fun time out that night.
LOL, 1987 is my birth year! I'm loving that bow you're wearing in the second picture! That's odd that AG would screw up a year like that, since they usually do their research before adding something to a doll's collection...or as far as I know, they do. Either way a Caboodles case is a cute thing for Courtney to have.
ReplyDeleteBig bows were all the rage in the 80. They were so feminine, and I liked wearing them. I think AG probably just figured that Caboodles were so iconic for their time, that being a year off wouldn't matter.
DeleteActually, there've been a number of small complaints circulating around the internet about inaccuracies in the American Girl Courtney line. For example, there was something about AM and FM being in the wrong positions on the boom box. Some people seem to be arguing that things like this show Mattel doesn't care as much as Pleasant Company did about historical accuracy or the integrity of the American Girl brand, with Mattel taking a 'near enough is good enough' approach. I really don't know enough about the matter to have an opinion one way or the other. But one of my sisters is very critical of Mattel's overhaul of American Girl.
DeleteSigned, Treesa
Oh, I know that Mattel doesn't care as much as Pleasant Company did about historical accuracy, just because of the changes that they've made with the BeForever line. I especially know a lot about fashion in Samantha's time period, and what they've done with her clothes is awful. I don't see how they could get the boom box thing mixed up; I presume that they had to look at an old school boom box to even find out how one looked. I grew up with boomboxes but I wouldn't be able to just create a realistic one complete with dials and all, off the top of my head.
DeleteI remember my niece, who was born in 1977, having a Caboodle case. She had a similar hairdo to you in that photo too! I could practically put all the makeup I own in a change purse. That one you have the eye shadow in would hold all the make up I've owned in my lifetime! This is why I never needed a Caboodle...for makeup anyway. I think I have one with doll shoes in it!
ReplyDeleteI wasn't allowed to wear makeup at all until my father moved out and my parents got divorced. My youngest daughter got me into makeup, and now I just find it fun to wear. I think at one time, I did use my case to hold doll stuff.
DeleteAww, thank you, Linda! We are about the same age; my birthday is July 1968. Next week, in fact! I still have that denim jacket; both of my daughters have gone on to wear it. American Girl Courtney also has a jeans jacket in her collection; as you say, they were really popular back then.
ReplyDeleteI find it charming how much the AG case is similar to my precious vintage case.
I don't recall seeing the actual cases Barb, but I do remember people using the word when kids moved out of home "with their whole kit and caboodle". I never knew what a caboodle was until now. 🤣
ReplyDeleteYou do have a nice collection there, I love the way they are stacked and I'm sure your dolls will appreciate having them in their size too.
Love the photos of you, the first one reminds me of the young girl who danced with John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever. In the second you simply look beautifully innocent!
Big hugs,
X
I'm glad that people like the picture of them stacked. It's fun having something in different sizes. I think that my AG girls will like having somewhere to store some of their little bits and bobs, and of course Barbie is all about makeup and style. :)
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comments on the pictures; it's so sweet!
We had a caboose that we kept all of our makeup for dance competitions in. It might have been a knock off though.
ReplyDeleteI'd forgotten about banana clips! My Mum always wore them. I could never work out how they worked though. We used to hold them in front of our eyes to pretend to be Geordie La Forge from star trek lol
There have been lots of off-brand makeup cases over the years. I own one, because of course I do. Banana clips were easy to use, just unclip one end, place the whole length under the bottom of your hair at the back, then pull the sides up and clip at the top. Kinda created a mullet style, now that I think about it. XD
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