Every little girl has her absolute favourite dolls through childhood. These traditional toys that replicate babies, children, and even adults are often confidants, playmates, and more for many years of a little girl’s life. Dolls accessories are precious treasures that make playtime all the more educational and enjoyable.

Preparing for Parenting

Children love to imitate the adults in their lives. Dolls and doll furniture create a perfect opportunity for little mommies to take care of baby. Doll cribs and highchairs help make play scenarios more realistic, increasing the enjoyment and the educational value of playtime. Wooden prams with sturdy wheels let children take dolly wherever they go and are typically favourite dolls accessories for many girls.

Traditional toys like these can also help a small child prepare for a new baby. Many older siblings enjoy taking care of their own baby while mom and dad care for the new addition. They can rock their baby to sleep, feed her, change her, and even bathe her, just like mom and dad take care of the new baby.

Understanding Life

Pretend play with dolls can also help children understand complicated or difficult situations in their everyday life. Children naturally learn through their play and will often reproduce memorable, trying, fun, and painful situations in their own lives in their play scenarios. Dolls allow children to express these situations in a less direct way, many times over and over again, until they feel more comfortable.

Dolls and dolls furniture are an excellent way for children to deal with and understand their fears. Doctor’s visits, new schools, and even monsters can seem much easier after pretending with traditional toys. Dolls furniture, like bunk beds and wardrobes, are excellent accessories for these play scenarios and help them relate their own life to their play.

The Benefits of Playing with Dolls

Traditional toys can be played with in so many different ways that most aid in the development of a variety of skills.

– Dolls and dolls furniture improve social skills as children experiment with various actions and reactions.

– Pretend play also enhances language development, including vocabulary skills, story telling, and oral communication.

– Like most traditional toys that encourage pretend play, dolls can increase cognitive thinking and problem solving abilities as well.

Childhood is not complete without a favourite dolly and her dolls accessories. These traditional toys [http://www.monkeyshine.co.uk] have provided years of enjoyment to children throughout time and will continue to do so for centuries to come.

“I hope she’ll be a fool — that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.”

That is a line from the book turned into movie, The Great Gatsby. In the years I have been here wandering in the world, virtual and real, I have been slapped in the face by the incandescent standards of the universe and its littlest portion on how women should be. A woman is always portrayed as a gift from the skies, pretty and elegant, or a royalty in distress saved by a hero who makes her swoon, or an evil witch behind every man’s failure. But a woman is not a gift, she is not a possession, she is not an asset. A woman is not someone to be saved, if she is to be protected, then from what?

Back to the criticism, this essay leads to compare two iconic female characters from classic literary pieces, “The Scarlet Letter” and “A Doll’s House”: Hester Prynne and Nora Helmer. Their similarities and differences are simplified in the succeeding bullets:

• Physical beauty

Hester Prynne and Nora Helmer are two women depicted as beautiful and doll-like. Hester Prynne, although not of elite upbringing, is dazzling in her youth that she had Chillingworth marry her to give an accent to his name. Chillingworth thought of marrying Hester a good chunk on his personality for he is known to be physically unattactive (but interesting) aside form him being too smart for anything. The same is true in Nora’s case. Torvald, her husband, married her for the same reason: beautification of his name and image. Nora is beautiful and is a good accessory to his ego. They were both chosen to be trophies and not wives.

• Sacrificial tendencies

They say that women always sacrifice for the people they love. And that sacrifice thing is observed on both characters. Hester sacrificed not just her life but her whole dignity as a person. She was tormented by the public eye, considering the society she belongs in (she actually chose to stay there). The Puritan society believes on life as a way of torment and punishment, and so “sins” are paid off in life on earth, hence making it a dimension of hell. She took all the blame on Pearl’s existence, which is a fruit of infidelity to her husband. While, Nora on the other hand tried to save her husband, which is a mortal sin on their times. She signed (forged) a signature to have access on banking procedures, which is an act viewed as a form of rebellion against the authority of a man over his wife. Women are not allowed to perform and take part on financial aspects even if it concerns her and her family. But they both did it anyway for the man they love. Hester protected Dimmesdale’s name, for he is a clergyman, and Nora tried to protect Torvald for he was sick that time.

The two symbolizes a woman’s change in perspective of her self as they both got out of the stereotype dictated by the society and its people. Nora got out of the doll house, and the chains of his husband’s ball-less-ness to accept that he too needs help, and Hester got of the scarlet’s letter’s barrier. The difference is that, Hester still needed Dimmesdale to be actually freed from the curse of the society, while Nora escaped on her own as she walked out of the house.

In this series of articles on collectible dolls we’re going to start by reviewing one of the most famous collectible dolls of all time, the Cabbage Patch Kids.

If you’re old, or maybe even not that old, you remember the Cabbage Patch Kids. What you probably don’t know is what happened to these once hot items that have all but disappeared.

The first Cabbage Patch Kids were created by a man by the name of Xavier Roberts. He began making his dolls through his very own Babyland General Hospital in Cleveland, Georgia in the year 1979. His “sales” pitch was to display the dolls in kind of a hospital like setting and putting up a sign saying that they were “up for adoption”. He made these dolls look like real babies. Needless to say, they were an immediate hit and people couldn’t get enough of them. When Coleco toy company saw what a hit they were, they bought the rights to them from Roberts in 1982. In 1988 when Coleco filed for bankruptcy, Hasbro took over production of the Cabbage Patch Kids. Mattel then took over production in 1994 and then finally in 2004 Play Along Toys and 4kids Entertainment took over making these things.

Your standard Cabbage Patch Kid was about 15 or 16 inches in height. However, as time went by these dolls were made in a variety of styles and sizes. At any one period of time there may have been as many as a dozen different styles and sizes of Cabbage Patch Kids in production. The dolls that Roberts himself made were all cloth with cloth sculptured faces. The dolls that were made by the toy companies had cloth bodies but vinyl heads so that they would stand up to more wear and tear. When Hasbro took over they started making all vinyl dolls but eventually when the dolls were made again in 2004 they went back to the cloth body and vinyl head..

Unfortunately, after the initial craze and the mass marketing that followed, Cabbage Patch Kid popularity really fizzled after the 80s. There were just too many out there and the novelty was gone. Originally it was expected that the value of these dolls would someday reach astronomical proportions. But the oversaturated market and the eventual easy access to these dolls have made them virtually worthless today, though some of the very early dolls can still bring in a nice price on Ebay. Later models, however, won’t bring in much.

Part of the problem was that as the dolls started to gain in popularity the manufacturer of the time tried all kinds of gimmicks with the dolls instead of sticking with the original concept of a simple baby doll dressed in baby clothes that needed to be adopted. The newer dolls were no longer sweet, huggable and adoptable. The dolls that were reintroduced in 2004 went back to the original concept but by that time it was just too late. The Cabbage Patch Kid craze was pretty much dead.

Creating asian skintones is the same process as creating a Caucasian baby, just different colour mixes are required. Initial preparation, depending on the colour of your kit may be required in the form of a dye. If your kit is too pink it is advised to do a ten minute purple dye to tone it down slightly,  ready for your asian paint mix. Submerge the doll kit into a liquid dye for ten minutes. Remove and leave to dry for at least 24 hours before checking the colour, this gives the dye enough time to take hold in the vinyl and will give you a more accurate idea on the colour. Once happy with the colour of your kit, take a small amount of flesh 04 and a larger amount of flesh 06 and mix with your odourless solvent or thinning medium until you have a waterlike consistency. You can experiment with this colour a little until you are happy that it is the right shade for an asian skintone.

Once you have added some very subtle veining on your kit, begin layering your skin as you would  on a Caucasian doll, heatsetting between layers in a low oven for 8 minutes. The amount of skin you add to your baby is a personal preference.It’s best to stop once you are confident you have replicated an asian tone, keeping in mind with all reborning, less is more, so once you feel you have the right colouring, it’s best to stop to avoid having to strip colour later. Detailing on asian reborns is also slightly different to what you would add on a white skinned baby. Black hair would be an authentic looking colour choice. This could  be blended with a slightly lighter shade to give it a subtle effect. The eyebrows can be added using a prisma pencil in an almost black shade, remembering to use light quick strokes and keep your pencil sharp at all times so you don’t end up with a thick unnatural looking eyebrow. Eyelashes should be the darker shade used on the hair. This will provide more definition to the eyes and bring out the colour of the eye more. Blushing and crease detail on an asian skintoned baby need to be a slightly darker shade, taking your blush red and adding the smallest amount of brow brown and mixing with your odourless solvent will give you an ideal shade for highlighting certain areas. Reborning babies with  different skintones is an interesting development in reborning and through experience and practice you will perfect your technique with each one you create.

When you hear the word “doll,” the first thing that comes to mind is “Barbie”. The major difference between dolls and action figures is that the former is oriented towards girls, while the latter is oriented towards boys. Dolls usually include matching outfits while action figures generally include clothing and accessories that you might not see every day.

Look at Barbie. Since her inception in 1959, Barbie has been the quintessential girls’ toy, what with her interchangeable clothes, pink cars, and Malibu Beach House variations. Though the collection later included Ken, of course, Ken was by no means an action figure. His clothes, like those of Barbie, were typical day-to-day outfits, albeit ones that was masculine.

By comparison, your typical “action figure” is muscular, especially to an exaggerated degree, and might include weapons as accessories. Two classic examples that come to mind are Thundercats and G.I. Joe. Thundercats characters, while somewhat human-looking, were normally yellow or gray-tinted, with overdeveloped muscles; their outfits consisted of tank tops or tights. Most Thundercats figures, whether male or female, included a weapon; Lion-O, for example, was packaged with The Sword of Omens, a longsword with a fiery-red handle.

G.I. Joes, while not as muscular as the Thundercats, still looked physically fit and generally included accessories such as machine guns, knives, and grenades. Can you really argue that these weren’t designed for boys? That isn’t to say that girls never played with them, but that’s not what the marketing companies had in mind.

Other popular dolls include American Girl and Ashton-Drake, both of which are also oriented towards young girls. On occasion, some adults may collect dolls of this type, because of their realistic appearance and value, if kept in good condition.

Another classic action figure collection that may come to mind is the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, whose very name suggests action, and perhaps violence. Like G.I. Joe and Thundercats, the Turtles, armor, and play sets with vehicles such as tanks and artillery-studded cars. Again, while some girls may have found the Ninja Turtles appealing, they were primarily popular with boys. The villains, too, were distorted and mutated, such as Shredder and his henchmen, Bebop and Rocksteady. Perhaps these figures were meant to appeal to the same boys that liked aggressive competitive sports and war games.

Today’s action figures vary somewhat, but again, their appearance as a whole is about the same. Perhaps, even as times change, people’s mindsets tend to stay the same. The toys produced for boys and girls, for the most part, reflect this.

Contrary to popular opinion, Barbie dress up games have their educational values! This is despite the first impression that these online flash games are designed for small girls and pre-teens who love to dress up their virtual Barbie dolls in various glamorous outfits complete with shoes, bags and jewelry. Most parents are surprised about the values and skills that their young children learn from playing these flash games for an hour or so every day.

Empowerment for Women

Why is such misconception still prevalent in our society? The blame can be laid at the feet of Barbie doll detractors whose main point of contention lies in the apparently unhealthy focus on the ideal body – ample bust, small waist, and feminine hips – and unattainable fashion sense – one unique outfit for every day of the year – promoted by Mattel.

But this is far from the truth! Barbie encourages young girls to be empowered women in their later years in so many ways.

First, by playing Barbie dress up games, young girls are introduced to the numerous possibilities of their future careers from teachers, doctors and nurses to astronauts, engineers, and even presidents of their own companies, among others. The Barbie lifestyle as simulated in these flash games encourages players to live an independent life coupled with a successful career, modern skillsets, and good moral values.

Second, young girls learn from playing these games that their choices are, indeed, aplenty! From their choices, be it clothes and education, can determine their future but even when they make mistakes, they can start all over again. Now that’s what we call women empowerment starting at a very young age.

Beyond Physical Appearances

Admittedly, Barbie dress up games are designed to allow young girls to play around with the clothes, shoes and bags as well as hair and makeup of the virtual Barbie dolls so as to achieve the best possible appearance for their characters. But there is nothing intrinsically wrong with it either.

At an early age, young girls – and boys, for that matter – are encouraged by their parents to look their best especially when meeting other people. Keep in mind that looking your best results in greater self-confidence when meeting and mingling with others. It is then not surprising that every parent wants their children to put their best foot forward.

Indeed, valuing your physical appearance goes beyond looking good itself – it is also about feeling good about yourself even in mixed company. Such appropriate value in looking and feeling good can be nurtured among young girls by allowing them to play Barbie dress up games!

Think about it: By the time young girls are ready for the workplace, they already have clues about appropriate office wear partly because of her fondness for dress up games starring Barbie and her gang. This is also true for other occasions like casual parties, social events, and hot dates where first impressions are often the lasting impressions.

Parents, don’t hesitate to let your young girls play Barbie dress up games. The trick is in supervising their game time so that they can learn valuable lessons without becoming addicted to the world of online flash games.

Are you one of those people who have always been fascinated by dollhouses and doll furniture? Do you love finding methods and tools that can help you to create that perfect look? If so, you can find have a successful business making and selling doll houses and miniature doll furniture. Investing $100 Dollars in the miniature business can insure a big profit for you.

If you invest $100 dollars in getting started building dollhouses and furniture, you will find that there are probably a lot of items that you already have or that you use everyday that will help you work on your dollhouse. Putting your dollhouse together is an exercise in creativity. You can turn items such as toothpaste caps and charms from a bracelet into wonderful items for your house. If you can sew or crochet, you can make all kinds of seat covers and tiny rugs and throws for you dollhouse. Being creative will give your dollhouse a one of a kind look that will make it more desirable for your customers. They will be willing to pay good money for the dollhouse and you will make a big profit.

If you choose to invest $100 dollars in this new business, once you sell your dollhouse you can recover your investment and use the profit to purchase new supplies. You will not need the same initial amount for each house, because you will have products left over that you can use. In all actuality, future houses and furniture will probably cost less, as you get more experienced and your profit will be increase.

Many dolls, figures and figurines resemble delightful movie characters.

There are many wonderful dolls and figurines which look like the many colorful characters from the movie ‘Alice in Wonderland.’ This movie was based upon a story written by Lewis Carroll called ‘The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland.’ The movie adaptation (directed by Tim Burton and screen written by Linda Woolverton) came out in theatres in 2010.

Mia Wasikowska played Alice Kingsleigh, our heroine in the more recent (2010) ‘Alice in Wonderland’ movie. In this story Alice flees from her own engagement party while feeling pressured to marry a pompous man she didn’t even like. She follows an odd looking white rabbit down an underground hole returning her to her childhood fantasy world called Wonderland. This place is surrounded by some very colorful, talking creatures during her travels.

Alice meets the Mallymkun Dormouse, a talking white mouse wearing a fuchsia coloured uniform jacket with golden overlay, brown belt and white scarf around his neck. He is very unique in appearance. There is a doll which resembles Mallymkun Dormouse which can be purchased over the internet.

Alice also meets Tweedledum, and Tweedledee who are two short and chubby fellows. These two strange looking guys are wearing matching striped black and white jerseys and black pants. There are figures also available, resembling each of these odd looking tubby characters.

Alice soon meets the ferocious looking creature known as Jabberwocky. She comes to the conclusion that she must overcome her fears and win a battle against the Jabberwocky. Near the end of the story Alice is able to kill the Jabberwocky overcoming her fears.

The wicked Queen of hearts is played by Helena Bonham Carter in this movie. There is a Queen of Hearts doll available which resembles the actress. She has heart shaped lips, large forehead with bright red heart shaped hair with a small gold crown on top. The homely Queen (Helena Bonham Carter’s forehead was digitally enlarged to three times the normal size for the movie) is wearing a white collar and a long red dress. It has a red and gold bustle overlay and the red skirt part of the dress is decorated with gold colored hearts. Alice vows to help the ‘White Queen’ regain her rightful reign to the throne and end the Queen of Hearts’ tyranny over the creatures of Underland.

In one scene in the movie Alice crashes a tea party. She hides in the Mad Hatter’s teapot, dressed in a lovely blue dress. There is an Alice doll available in a gorgeous looking light blue dress, donning a flowery design with lovely laced trim having lighter blue ribbon with a satin flower around the bodice. She wears ribbon on her right arm as well. She is wearing black shoes. She is very elegant in appearance.

In another scene in the movie, Alice dresses up to protect herself from the evil ‘Queen of Hearts.’ There is a pretty vinyl figure available, which looks like Mia Wasikowska’s character Alice when she dresses in disguise. This lovely ash blonde figure wears a red dress with layers of silky net on the skirt of the outfit with a white with black striped overlay. Her upper right arm is wrapped with red ribbon used as a bandage. Her waist is adorned by a red tasseled belt. Her shoes are black accentuated by red laces.

Another lovely Alice doll which resembles Mia Wasikowska, dons an attractive soft nylon light blue over coat with matching vest and blouse. She looks very pretty in blue.

Anne Hathaway played pretty Mirana the White Queen from ‘Alice in Wonderland’ in the movie remake. The lovely Mirana figure (who looks like Anne Hathaway) which is available over the internet is donning a beautiful long white gown adorned with white beads on the bodice and clear colored snowflakes on the skirt part of the dress. She is wearing a lovely pearled necklace and a choker (made of golden colored stars) around her neck.

During her travels down the rabbit hole, Alice also meets Niven McTwisp, a very nervous and twitchy clock-watching white rabbit. There is a doll available to look like him. He has long white ears and is wearing a blue waist coat.

The Cheshire Cat has an abnormally large smile. Cheshire has grey and blue striped fur and bright green eyes. A figure of its likeness is also available on the internet. The Cheshire Cat saves the Mad Hatter from certain death.

Tarrant, is the unforgettable character known as The Mad Hatter who is played by Johnny Depp in the movie. There is a great Mad Hatter doll offered over the internet resembling Depp’s Tarrant, having clown like flaming red hair, red lips with matching eyebrows. His brown colored top hat is wrapped with a pink sash and complimented by long jeweled hatpins. The Tarrant figure is wearing a soft cotton fake shirt front with bow tie, a printed vest with golden buttons and a printed scarf around the neck, twill pants with embroidery and lace trim. He also wears mismatched striped stockings along with brown leather boots with red laces. The Mad Hatter figure’s jacket has ribbons of many colors’ held together by a large safety pin. There is bird embroidery on the back of his jacket, the cuffs are trimmed with lace and he also wears a shoulder belt holding several spools of thread and a gold chain consisting of gold and black diamond shapes. There is also a Mad Hatter Futterwacken figure resembling Depp as well. He is still wearing the colorful top hat and flaming red hair. Futterwacken wears a blue jacket, a dickey, a plaid kilt, tasseled belt and printed tie. He is also donning a plaid kilt, striped stockings a bandolier of spools of thread and a chain. He is dressed up ready to perform the Futterwacken dance preparing for the rebellion against the Queen of Hearts (also known as the Red Queen).

The Queen of Hearts and the Knave is banished to the Outlands by the White Queen who is once again the reigning queen. The White Queen gives Alice a vial of the Jabberwocky’s blood which will help Alice get back to her home. Alice returns home and communicates to her family that she will be living her life her way and on her own terms.

Each of the lovely dolls created from the 2010 ‘Alice in Wonderland’ movie would be well appreciated by both collectors and fans. The ‘Alice in Wonderland’ movie remake is very entertaining for the whole family to see!

In 1939 a movie called ‘The Wizard of Oz’ was introduced in theatres. There are many lovely dolls, figures and figurines resembling these movie characters. The ‘Wizard of Oz’ was based on a story written by Frank L. Baum called ‘The Wonderful Wizard of Oz’ in 1900. In ‘The Wizard of Oz’ Judy Garland played a farm girl named Dorothy Gale from Kansas who lived with her Auntie Em, Uncle Henry, three farmhands and her dog Toto. Near the beginning of the story Miss Elmira Gulch is bitten by Toto, Dorothy’s dog. Miss Gulch says she’ll get the town sheriff to take her little dog to be destroyed. Dorothy runs away with her dog Toto to keep him safe. She meets Professor Marvel, a fortune teller along the way. He fibs to Dorothy by saying that her Auntie Em is ill with grief because Dorothy ran away. Dorothy returns to the farmhouse. She can’t join her family who is locked in the storm cellar. She is knocked out cold by a window frame during a tornado. She awakens when the house is flying through the air due to the great twister. When the farmhouse lands, she finds herself in unfamiliar territory.

Glinda, the Good Witch of the North arrives in a floating bubble and tells Dorothy that the Wicked Witch of the East was killed when the farmhouse landed on her.

There is a lovely figurine available on the internet which resembles pretty Glinda with long golden hair as she is holding jeweled charms from one hand to the other. The charms are of Dorothy’s dog, Toto, the ruby red slippers, a rainbow, the Tin Man’s heart and Emerald City. This Glinda figurine is wearing a lovely pink dress. On the skirt of this dress is a picture of Scarecrow, Tin Man, Dorothy and Lion.

The Wicked Witch of the West (the late evil witch’s sister) appears from a cloud of smoke and tries to claim the ruby red slippers. Glinda tells the witch her powers won’t work in Munchkinland. The Wicked Witch of the West tells Dorothy that she’s going to get even with her and her dog, Toto.

Dorothy fears the Wicked Witch of the West who resembles Elmira Gulch. There is a figurine of the Wicked Witch of the West holding a broom in the air which is sold over the internet. She stands eighteen inches tall, has a green face, long crooked nose and black pointed hat with matching dress. She has many green jewels around the waistline of her dress. The witch also has the same green stones surrounding the bottom of her skirt and also on the rim of her matching hat.

Glinda the Good Witch advises Dorothy to find the Wizard of Oz in Emerald City and ask him for help. She tells her to follow the yellow brick road in order to get to Emerald City. As Dorothy seeks a land called the Emerald City her imagination sends her on a journey to find the Wizard of Oz. She meets many interesting characters who look like her family and friends that she really lives with.

First, Dorothy meets Scarecrow who wants a brain. A Scarecrow figure is available wearing blue overalls. He also dons a blue floppy straw hat and checkered long sleeved shirt with large white collar.

Dorothy also meets Tin man who longs for a heart. There is a nice looking Tin Man figure also available over the internet. He is holding a silver axe. Tin Man wears a metallic silver outfit with matching silver belt and boots. It is a great collector’s item. Lion is another friend Dorothy meets along the way. The Cowardly Lion longs for courage. There is also a figure which resembles Lion. The golden colored Cowardly Lion has a matching mane and tail. This figure would be another lovely addition to a Wizard of Oz collection.

I have seen a very lovely Dorothy Gale doll, holding her black coloured dog, Toto. She is wearing a blue ribbon. She is donning a white blouse and blue jumper dress with the skirt to her knees. She is also wearing matching blue socks with the traditional ruby red slippers. She is very pretty and would be a great keepsake for any avid collector to own. It is a great collector’s doll.

Dorothy and her friends finally meet Oz. He tells them that they already had the attributes that they have been seeking. Oz says that he is from Kansas, too and offers to take Dorothy home in his hot air balloon. Her dog Toto jumps out of the basket, Dorothy follows him and Oz continues on without them.

Glinda tells Dorothy that she and Toto can get back home. She tells Dorothy to tap her heels together, close her eyes and keep saying “there’s no place like home.” Dorothy wakes up in her bed at the farmhouse with loved ones surrounding her. She tells them of her adventures.

‘The Wizard of Oz’ is not only a great classic movie, but has also been named the most watched motion picture by the Library of Congress.

Who would have guessed back in 1996 that Tickle Me Elmo, a newly released plush toy, would become the hot new sales sensation that Christmas? He was “just” a funny little bundle of red fur who laughed hysterically when you tickled him. And yet since that time Tickle Me Elmo and his successors have topped the sales charts for several Christmas seasons.

This year promises to be another hot sales year for the Elmo line of plush dolls with the introduction of Elmo Live! by Fisher Price. Some stores are currently limiting the quantity you can buy in anticipation of hot sales numbers. Here are 19 fun facts about the sales sensation started by the little red guy who laughs.

1. Tyco introduced Tickle Me Elmo into the United States markets in 1996. By Christmas Elmo had become a sales phenomenon.

2. Elmo saw a jump in sales after Rosie O’Donnell featured the doll on an episode of her show in October of 1996. Whenever a guest said the word “wall,” Rosie threw a doll into the audience.

3. A similar jump in sales occurred that same year after Bryant Gumbel held a doll during most of an episode of the Today Show.

4. The day after Thanksgiving of 1996 Tickle Me Elmo sold out in 2 hours in most stores throughout the country.

5. Tyco originally expected 400,000 Elmos to sell that first year. They easily sold that many and were unable to meet demand through Christmas despite their continued urgent manufacture of the doll.

6. The shortage in supplies drove some parents in North America to extreme measures. Parents actually fought each other in stores over the doll.

7. Prices shot up with classified ads in some newspapers advertising the toy for hundreds of dollars. One report claims that the $28.99 toy sold for as much as $1500.

8. Several stories of injuries around the nation were reported. For example, on December 14, 1996 at a Wal-mart in Fredericton, New Brunswick a crowd injured a clerk when they spotted him holding one of the last dolls in stock.

9. The New York Daily News reported an unusual story. John Gotti, Jr., son of the reputed mob boss, purchased a case of Tickle Me Elmos at a store in Queens, New York several weeks after the doll had sold out. Store officials said Gotti “was just fortunate to be in the right place at the right time.”

10. The vibrating feature of Elmo uses a larger version of the vibration motor found in cell phones and game controllers.

11. In 1997 three new Tickle Me dolls were released: Tickle Me Ernie, Tickle Me Big Bird, and Tickle Me Cookie Monster. None of them have matched the mysterious success of Elmo.

12. In 2001 a “surprise edition” of Tickle Me Elmo was released as part of a contest. On January 9, 2002 five of the dolls stopped laughing. They then announced to their owners that the owners had won a prize, the largest being a staggering $200,000.

13. The TMX – meaning either Tickle Me Extreme or Tickle Me Ten (where “X” is the Roman numeral 10) — was released as part of a 10th anniversary commemoration of the first doll. TMX Elmo expanded Elmo’s laughing behaviors to include rolling around on the floor and smashing his fist on the ground.

14. In a well-executed marketing promotion, the manufacturer built excitement for the TMX by shrouding TMX Elmo in secrecy prior to its release. People who reviewed the product prior to its release were required to sign confidentiality agreements that prevented them from disclosing details about the doll early.

15. The TMX Elmo marketing promotion included pre-release sales of the doll. Amazon took more presale orders than it could fulfill.

16. The full look of the TMX doll was first revealed on ABC’s Good Morning America.

17. The box for TMX Elmo hid the doll from view until it was purchased. A “preview flap” on the box only let you see Elmo’s eyes, and he said, “Ah, ah, ah, ah! No peeking!”

18. A 2007 version of the doll featured hidden messages that Elmo would only say if you did just the right things to the doll. Rhyming clues on the manufacturer’s web site helped consumers figure out how to trigger the special messages.

19. The 2008 version of the doll is called Elmo Live! He features a whole new set of actions and sounds, making him the most advanced version of the popular Elmo dolls. Sales of Elmo Live! are expected to be brisk for the 2008 Christmas season. With the economic difficulties we are having this year it will be interesting to see how well Elmo Live! sells.

Looking for a getaway? You know, the kind of place that you can go to escape from the stress and pressure of, well, just living. If that is what you are looking for then you need a hobby. And the hobby that I would like you to consider is building, or at least collecting, modern dollhouses.

Your initial reaction is likely, “You have got to be kidding! How is that a getaway…or an escape? Sounds like a toy for kids.”

Well, actually, I was right where you are a while back. I surely wasn’t looking for a hobby…and even if I was, anything associated with dollhouses would be the furthest thing from my mind.

In fact, I didn’t find a dollhouse hobby. It found me. And I have my granddaughter to thank for that.

It all started with wanting to get her the perfect Christmas gift. Since she had a bunch of dolls my wife suggested that we start looking at dollhouses. Before long, we found one that we liked on the internet and we ordered it.

The dollhouse arrived a few days before Christmas and I began the not so easy task of assembling the house. On Christmas Eve we proudly placed the finished dollhouse by the Christmas tree, anticipating that our granddaughter was going to love her gift.

Then came Christmas day and, sure enough, our granddaughter loved her gift. Quickly, she ran for her dolls, gathered them up, and hauled them to her new dollhouse. But suddenly, joy turned to sadness when she discovered that her dolls were like giants in comparison to the house. When ordering the house I had no idea that only certain houses accommodate the size of today’s most popular dolls. “Houston, we have a problem!”

So, we came up with two possible solutions. We could order another dollhouse scaled for her dolls or, we could order dolls and accessories to match the size of the existing dollhouse. After some discussion we all agreed, granddaughter included, that the house was indeed wonderful and the best solution was to accessorize the new house.

With one failed effort under my belt I was determined not to mess up again. This time I did considerable research before making additional purchases.

The first thing I learned came as quite a surprise. What I thought was a simple toy for kids turned out to be a huge hobby for adults. Dollhouse hobbyists…both builders and collectors are incredibly passionate about their hobbies and they love to talk about their chosen craft. The information that I needed was abundantly available.

In the process we discovered that just about anything available in the way of architecture, furnishings, and accessories has made it to the world of miniature dollhouses. And the first question that we always got when talking to a dollhouse collector was, “what kind of house do you have?”

The house we had purchased from all the many styles was a modern dollhouse. Actually, we were just looking for something that we thought our granddaughter would like. But the more we researched modern dollhouses the more we realized that modern dollhouses offered more material choices and greater opportunities for creativity.

I guess you have figured out that by this time we were hooked on dollhouses, and in particular, modern dollhouses. What followed was an obsession with decorating, furnishing, and finding the perfect dolls (and clothing) to go with our granddaughter’s modern dollhouse.

Now we had something that provided not only great interest for our granddaughter, but something that had captured our imaginations as well.

So, we worked “together” on the project, and the process of ordering accessories took us around the world. That is, we ordered select pieces from around the world thanks to the help of the World Wide Web.

When you become passionate about a hobby you get so caught up in it that it actually becomes a place of escape. You quickly learn that in stressful times you can throw your mind and energy into your project and forget your troubles. Moreover, it’s not something that you can only do a couple of times a year when your vacation time rolls around, but something you can do every day if you are so inclined.

There is also this wonderful fraternity of like-minded people who love to share their related experiences. And if you happen to land on a hobby that involves the people you love then it is really special.

Modern dollhouses make for a wonderful hobby. Unlike other styles, like Victorian and ranch houses, modern dollhouses allow you room to dream without boundaries. The sky is the limit.

Most important is to find a hobby that you can passionately throw yourself into. No matter how old you are…it’s great to dream again. It will do you a world of good. My recommendation is modern dollhouses. If not that…then find your own thing. You will be glad you did.