Can you believe the Cabbage Patch Kids celebrate their 30th anniversary this year. They were introduced to the mass market for the first time in the US in 1983 by Xavier Roberts. Over 125 million Cabbage Patch Kids have been “born” all over the world in the past 30 years, an average of 8 babies born every minute!
To help them celebrate we were invited to an exclusive Birthday Party held at Hamleys yesterday morning. So I dug out my Cabbage Patch doll, who also turns 30 this year, and we headed into London.
We decided that the best way to travel into the city was to do half of our journey by car and the other on the tube, this would also make it into a bit of an adventure for Ethan.
Thankfully Ethan was fine on the tube. He was fascinated with watching the doors, we love doors, and even made some friends by giving the other people on the tube amazing smiles.
We arrived at Hamleys at 9.20am, ten minutes before the party started, and joined the queue of party goers.
It wasn’t long before the doors were opened and we were greeted by some familiar faces, we introduced them to Millie Rose.
After all the guests had arrived we were divided into groups to start the birthday celebrations with traditional party games, these included pass the parcel, musical statues, beans, people to people and duck, duck goose. The games all took place on different floors of the toy shop which was a fantastic way of managing all the children.
I tried to get Ethan to join in with pass the parcel but he wasn’t interested in sitting still. What did I expect he was in a massive space, filled with lots of fantastic colours, toys that had moving parts, video walls of the toys and to top it off lots and lots of escalators. Ethan loves an escalator, when we go into ASDA’s we can’t start our shopping until we have gone up and down the travelator. The organisers of the party were amazing and they were happy for us to let Ethan walk around the store.
I’m sure this would be any child’s absolute dream, a whole toy shop to themselves, if only Ethan knew how lucky he was.
This is what Ethan discovered in Hamleys.
He found barking, flipping dogs.
A drumming bear.
Toys that expand.
Marbles.
Spinning UFOs.
Lots and lots of LEGO.
Which included members of the royal family.
A Build-A-Bear workshop with an interactive bath…
…and a machine to record a voice for the bear.
Lastly Ethan was amazed by these, they stopped him in his tracks and he watched them for ages.
They were wooden toys that you make yourself, all with moving parts powered by a battery pack, so this whole display was moving. I think something to remember for when Ethan is older.
On one of the floors they had set up an art and crafts station where the children could design their own plant pot to plant a cabbage patch.
It was soon time for the Cabbage Patch Kids to have their birthday cake.
All the children (and parents) gathered round to sing Happy Birthday.
The party also included face painting and a marvellous magic show, and as we left Ethan received a Cabbage Patch party bag.
To commemorate, multiple new arrivals are due in this 30th year form toy company JAKKS Pacific, each comes with their own personalised adoption certificate and a one-of-a-kind name and character details. Look out for the collection of exclusive 30th Anniversary Celebration Kids and a special miniature series, named after the Babyland General Hospital home of the Original Cabbage Patch Kids in North Georgia mountains of the United States.
We would like to say a big thank you to the entertainment staff at Hamleys, you really are amazing and all the kids loved you, and to Corinna of Norton & Co for inviting us to this fantastic birthday party.
Ethan really enjoyed the party in his own little way and to be able to give him the opportunity to explore this amazing place really is priceless.
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I luuurve Hamleys. Don’t get to go there much now that we live in the West Country though. Looks like you all had a fantastic day #PoCoLo
It was lots of fun and perfect for Ethan to look around. We did really enjoy ourselves :0)
Wow what a fab day out!!
I can’t believe the Cabbage Patch Kids are 30…lol
Ethan really loved it, I would have loved to stay in London for a bit longer but we were all tired. I can’t believe that I still have my Cabbage Patch Kid and it is 30 lol
ooh you got the back of my head in there lol! never realised you were right next to me at that point or would have said hi!
you saw so many more toys than we did around hamleys,we will have to go back for another visit and spend even longer!
anna (intheplayroom)
LOL Someone suggested that we should have name badges. I think so much is going on and Ethan keeps us on our toes, you can’t take your eyes off of him. We had lots of time to look around as Ethan didn’t want to play the games. I hope you enjoyed your day x
What an absolutely wonderful day you must have had! I love Hamleys and I can’t believe how old the cabbage patch kids are!! I remember my sister (who is now 33) getting one. Thanks for linking to PoCoLo lovely – and sorry for the delay in commenting xx