The Annual Easter Parade

 I grew up in the 50's and 60's in a suburb of New York City.  Every year I would see the New York City Easter Parade on TV.  That was back when everyone got all dressed up for Easter in new dresses, shoes, hats and gloves.  Anyone else remember?  Here's a trip down Memory Lane.  I'll never admit which one is me!

I recently wondered if New York City still had the Easter Parade and decided to google and find out.  Yes, the parade still exists but has definitely evolved over the years.  I guess when people no longer dressed in fancy outfits and wore gloves and hats the event had to change with the times.  Now it's more like a costume party with crazy outfits and elaborate home made hats.

This year my dolls decided to have a more traditional Easter Parade.  They put on their Easter outfits and lined up behind the Easter Bunny for a march down the main street of town.

My Vogue Ginny dolls, Nancy Ann Muffie, and Vogue Jill all wore seamstress made outfits that I've collected over the years.  After the parade they all had a chance to pose for photos with the Bunny or Chick and show off their outfits.

I was able to find dresses for Ginny and Jill made by different seamstresses but with the same fabric.  I bought one on Etsy and one on eBay.

A few of their friends wanted their pictures posted too!

A good time was had by all!  Betty

Easter Is Coming...

 Easter is coming and I have something new planned for Ginny and her friends this year.  In past years we've dyed Easter eggs and had Easter egg hunts.  This year I hope to have my new idea done in time.  Meanwhile I thought I'd share some photos of a past event.

This was the year we had a combination Easter egg hunt and dinner.

In the past I made Easter candy and Peeps for my dolls.  I'm glad I made the Peeps in the past when I was able to buy the Peeps in printed boxes, take the boxes apart, scan and reduce them.  Now the Peeps are sold in plain white boxes with printed cellophane.  I would not know what to do today.  In the past I just used plain cellophane on the printed boxes.  The Peeps are made out of polymer clay.  The chocolate candy is made out of the polymer clay too.

Many years ago I made some food for Easter dinner.  It was probably at least 15-20 years ago.  Today I might have done it differently but back then there wasn't a lot of information online or on You Tube videos about how to make it.

I think the "kids" had fun seeing the baby chicks that year too.

Here are a couple of close-ups of my Peeps.

And I thought I'd show you one of my doll cabinets.  I bought two of these cabinets when they were reduced at Home Depot years ago.  They were only $50 each and have nice deep shelves where my dolls live most of the time.  I'm able to shut the doors and keep them out of the light and away from dust.  The light isn't good for the vintage dolls.

Excuse the messy shelves.  Every so often I straighten them. :)  Betty

Another Doll Show

Some years back the two Houston doll clubs stopped having their doll shows.  The one club did the spring show and the other club did the fall show for many years.  I did notice that over the years the crowd grew thinner, but there was still a pretty good selection of dolls.  An individual took over the shows and she's a big Barbie collector.  Now there is very little vintage and lots of Barbie, Fashion Royalty, Integrity, BJD's, etc.  I'm not sure I'll bother going again since I'm primarily interested in vintage dolls from the 50's and 60's.  Besides...I keep telling myself that I don't need any more dolls!

 That all said I did manage to find a doll to buy.  She was the only doll I saw that I could even consider.  Although I mostly collect the vintage Vogue dolls I do like all the teenage dolls from that era.  So, I bought this Little Miss Revlon doll.  She's in excellent condition and even has her original underwear.  According to Revlon Dolls by Joan Hancock Dow her dress is #9117-Visiting Outfit.  It originally came with a red hat with a red veil and a slip with red trim.  My doll is missing the hat and has a plain white slip.  However, I love her!  I don't have to do a thing to her.  She was $75 which I thought was a very fair price.

The only vintage Vogue I saw was a Ginnette doll and a few outfits and accessories.  I'm not a big fan of Ginnette, but I do have a few Ginnettes and Ginnette wannabes.  I saw a cute outfit for $3 and a bag of shoes and socks for $4.  I guess I can't resist a bargain.

Here's the outfit on a Block doll that is the same size as Ginnette.

I would love to go back to the big doll show in Schertz, Texas in August.  Schertz is near San Antonio and it's a long trip from Houston for the day.  I also don't like leaving my dog for that long.  Oh well, we'll see.  Besides, I don't need any more dolls.  :)  Betty

 

One Of My Moods

For many years I had one of my childhood Vogue Ginny dolls and most of the clothes from my childhood stuck away in the back of a closet.  I didn't realize that people collected dolls and thought others would think I was nuts if I put my Ginny on display.  While living in Oklahoma in the 80's I purchased a Vogue Jill doll, but I still wasn't really collecting.  She joined Ginny in the back of the closet for safe keeping. From time to time I'd ask acquaintances if they had ever heard of Ginny dolls and the answer was always no. Then the Internet came along and my kids introduced me to eBay.  I wondered if there could possibly be any Ginny dolls up for auction. Not really expecting to find any I did a search.  I couldn't believe my eyes.  There were lots and lots of Ginnys!  The rest is history.  Through eBay I bought from collectors and before you knew it I had Ginny doll friends.  My dolls were out of the closet! That was around 1998.

I am not a mint collector.  For example I don't care if I have an outfit from 1953 on a 1953 doll.  I just want my dolls to look cute.  I also make changes to outfits if I think something doesn't look right.  I have actually always enjoyed "playing" with my dolls and acquiring furniture and accessories for them and setting them up in little scenes more than just collecting dolls.  I've always said that there are many different kinds of collectors which I think is good for the doll collecting world.  

Unfortunately, I'm running out of new ideas for different holidays though.  I also get in moods from time to time where I find that I need to give my dolls a little break.  I've been in one of those moods lately so I thought I'd post some pictures from Valentine's Day 2020.  Fortunately, my dolls haven't grown or changed much in 2 years.

Do kids today still have Valentine's Day parties at school?  Back in the 1950's we always did so my dolls continued that tradition.

Happy Valentine's Day a little early!!!  Betty

Christmas Decorating With My Dolls

 Normally I set my dolls up in little scenes for Christmas but I didn't get around to doing it this year so I used them as decorations in the dining room instead.  

I put some Ann Estelle Dolls and a Betsy McCall Doll up on top of the doll cabinet in the dining room with a couple of their friends.

Then I decorated by putting some modern Vogue Ginny Dolls on the dining room table.  I've been neglecting the modern Ginnys in recent years and I decided it was time for them to come out for Christmas.

I always put my mother's punch bowl in the center of the table filled with some of my parents' vintage ornaments. Surrounding the punch bowl seemed like the perfect place for my Ginny Dolls. 

I have a feeling my sons are going to be rolling their eyes when they see my doll decorations this year! 

Merry Christmas!!!  Betty

It's Been A While

 I really don't like the way Blogger has changed over the years.  It was so easy to use before and now I find it challenging.  I was really disappointed when I discovered I could no longer post on my old blog and that the list of blogs I was following was gone.  Oh well, I'll just have to accept the challenges and move on.  Perhaps in time I'll get things figured out and post a little more often.

 

Not too long ago I added a new member to my doll family.  She's a Patti Playpal Companion Doll that I found on eBay.  I was attracted to the title of the auction.  It said she was won on the boardwalk and I instinctively knew that she must be from NJ.  Growing up in NJ I spent time on the boardwalk playing some of those boardwalk games.  Sure enough she was from NJ and had belonged to the seller's grandmother.  Here she is:

 

Uh-Oh...I didn't notice that her one hair bow had slipped down a bit.  She's sitting in an old stroller that I found at a Houston antique mall a while back.  I couldn't resist.  Here's a couple of old (very old) photos of me in the same type of stroller:

 

 She has a few new friends that also live in my doll room.  Here's one of them.  She's a Patti Playpal Doll that I got at a doll show a few years back.

Here's my oldest son on the exact same Cheyenne Horse when he was almost 2 years old.  (He's now 52.)

Over the years every time we moved my husband would say, "Betty, can we get rid of this horse now?"  And every time I would say, "No, I might need it someday."  I finally needed it!

I'll get some pictures taken of her other friends soon.  Betty

Memories...

When I was a child my mother sewed clothes for our Vogue Ginny Dolls one Christmas.  Mom was not a sewer and didn't even have a sewing machine.  She would wait until we went to bed at night and then sit and sew.  A neighbor showed her how to lay out the patterns on the fabric and Mom took it from there.  I've found that the outfits usually fit the slightly larger modern Ginny Dolls better than the vintage ones.  I think the pattern companies made the outfits a little larger so they would be easier for children to dress and undress their dolls.  This is one of the outfits Mom made.

 

In this picture you can see the tiny hand stitches.

I decided to hang some of Mom's outfits in my dolls' closets so I can see them more often than when they were stored in a box.

                                               

I believe the neighbor gave my mother some fabric scraps to use and I know the white dress with the red ribbon waistband was fabric from an old Eastern Star dress.  Lots of memories.  Betty