My Caboodles Collection (Doll and Human Sized!)

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. :)

Teen Skipper and Teen Courtney in Fashion Avenue

Remember when Mattel vaulted Skipper's age from 12 or so, to 16? Only to magically de-age her again? I do like the Teen Skipper dolls, even if I like Skipper to be her younger age. Whatever happened to cousin Francie, though? Did she head off to England in her quest for all things mod? Anyway, I just got a Teen Skipper outfit off eBay, so I'm showing my Teen Courtney in that outfit, and Teen Skipper in another Fashion Avenue outfit.

I need to get some sort of backdrops for my photos. We'll pretend the girls are sitting along a picturesque river walk, talking about fall classes, fall clothes, and keeping that brat Susie from being elected Homecoming Queen.

Here's what the outfits look like without the overshirt and jacket. Courtney's outfit is tagged for Teen Skipper, while Skipper's outfit is tagged for Barbie. I'm pretty sure this dress wouldn't fit Barbie. I think I'll see if I can find this outfit online.

The Fashion Avenue and Fashion Fever lines were great for clothes; shoes were rather meh. Our girls wear the same style shoe, in colors that match their outfits. The molded seam line is at least a nice touch.

The other type of shoe Teen Skipper usually got in her fashion packs was this one with the flower, again coming in several colors.

In addition to the outfits and purses that you see above, Courtney's outfit also came with matching sunglasses. They're cute in that they resemble vintage Barbie cat's eye frames. They're goofy in that they are a uniform color. Are we supposed to believe Courtney can see out of these?

Does it matter if I wear these at night? Can't see out of them either way.

Are you on the hunt for Fashion Avenue/Fever outfits?

Mattel's Teen Trends Courtney

In 2005, Mattel introduced the Teen Trends line of dolls. They were 17" dolls, each with her own personality, which was reflected in her fairly detailed clothing. I picked up Courtney, the preppie doll. My family was never rich, but I did try to dress preppie in high school during the mid-80s. The other dolls produced were Gabby, Deondra and Kianna. According to Wikipedia, there was also a doll named Rayna who was brought out a couple of years later. The joints at the shoulders, elbows, hips and knees are all strung. Courtney can look a little bit up and down, and also side to side. Each doll originally came in a thick cardboard wardrobe case, with room for the doll, space to hang her clothes, and a little drawer for her extras. Individual outfits, each tailored for a specific doll, were also sold.

If the dolls didn't all have the same face mold, it was at least very similar. Courtney has dirty blond hair, light brown eyes, and pink full lips with a slight smile.

She wears silver ball stud earrings and a nice necklace for an inexpensive play doll. She also wears a short-sleeved polo shirt and a denim jacket with a lot of detail. The jacket does not close, though.

She can't stand up by herself; her knee joints are rather floppy. I don't think that's a result of string deterioration, since the lower legs don't hang loose. It just seems like the knee joint doesn't fit together sturdily.

And with the legs I discovered a problem with this particular doll: she has developed the dreaded sticky leg syndrome. When I touch her lower legs or arms, a tacky residue is left on my fingers. This may also be what stained Courtney's otherwise awesome preppie khakis.

The belt on Courtney's pants looks like a man's tie. Mattel did something similar with one of the Fashion Fever outfits which I recently picked up. Unfortunately, I broke the stiff plastic chain belt that the Fashion Fever tie was woven through, and the pants didn't fit my Fashion Fever doll, nor the J-dolls. So you won't see a picture of that now. Here's Courtney's pants, though.

Courtney's outfit finishes off with sandals that highly resemble Dr. Scholl's Originals, which were all the rage during part of the 80s, and maybe the late 70s. It's all kind of blurry now, and I may be getting them mixed up a bit date-wise with Candie's. Those were rather similar, slip-ons with a wide strap and wooden base, but often with a high, chunky heel.

Courtney's other flaw, besides the sticky plastic, is her hair. It's an uneven mess that feels very much like the straw that it resembles.

This is especially confusing since one of the things the doll seems to be meant for was hair play. Courtney came with the hair items below: three rubber hair rollers, a soft suede-covered headband, a clip, and a decorated hairband. I've never tried using the rollers on Courtney's hair, and the headband doesn't fit particularly well.

I had been considering getting a friend for Courtney, until I discovered her stained clothes and tacky limbs. Now I'm not even sure what I should do with Courtney herself. I've read that baby powder helps with the stickiness, but only temporarily. What should I do with my poor preppie girl?