Tuesday, March 16, 2021

Come Open A Care Bears Care Pack From 1983 With Me!

A few months ago I joined a Care Bears fan group, because I... am an adult.

I didn't even have much Care Bear stuff as a kid - just a few of the plastic figures with that single tuft of hair glued in, remember those? - but something about seeing the art and toys now gives me the sweetest nostalgia noogie.

Drat, I've barely started writing and already I'm distracted wondering if I imagined those PVC figures having hair or not. Hang on.

::google google google::

A-HA


Hair she blows.

Anyhoo, despite only being in the fan club to lurk, of COURSE I ended up buying some things. A whole little pack of goodies, in fact, which was such a friggin' delight to open I have to share.


Happy to report the vote was an even split over on Instagram.

(The fan club is Care Bears Forever in the Kingdom of Caring on Facebook, btw. It's small and drama-free, and only mildly dangerous to your bank account. Come join me in my nostalgia noogies.)


I didn't even know these existed!

 I've since used a little poster tack to stick the sun to the wall beside my monitor, so Funshine can hang out:


I cram a lot of stuff around me on my desk - all the things that make me happiest to look at. I've also started collecting glass cloches to act as protective force fields, since Suki the 16-pound behemoth likes to kick in her sleep. (As I type this she's rolled into both those containers and *clinked* them together, siiigh.)

The cross-stitch says "I like your face", btw, and was a gift from an anonymous reader. It also has a tiny Epbot in the corner! Under all the cat hair. (Note to self: add glass to that frame.) The Tree Cyclops is a pin by MarliToys, and the adorable Lemon Head is by Fancy Creatures.

K, back to the unboxing:


I love Care Bears art more than I love the actual dolls, and these stickers are why. Look how sweet!


Yes I'm showing my age by calling this "not very old." Get off my rainbow cloud, ya young whippersnappers, it's not old unless it's from the 80s.

::realizes I just called myself older than old::

::decides to be OK with it::


Still flailing over these, still have no idea what to do with them. Any suggestions?


Maybe I'll just take them out every now and then and rasp, "MY PRECIOUSESSESSSSS."

(The more "essesses," the more you love it. FACT.)


The original envelope. C'mon, how cool is this?!

(Also WOW do I miss thrifting and antiquing. I'mma go hog wild in a few months, buying butter molds and fancy shoe horns and kitschy ash trays with abandon. WITH ABANDON I SAY.)

Yes, yes it is.

This is a folded up poster.
Unfolded once:


Awwww.

And unfolded the rest of the way:


CUE THE FLAILING

 Look at all this adorableness, and on an almost pristine poster!


 I don't close my office door enough to really appreciate this gem, so I may have to relocate it soon, somewhere more notieable, with plenty of space in front for activities/swooning.

I hope my little unboxing made you smile even a tiny fraction of the amount I did. And hey, while I'm gushing over Care Bears, let me show you one of my favorite phone cases:


It's a rubbery silicone, which has a friendly feel and grip to it, very tactile for grounding exercises, and amazingly doesn't collect cat hair. (YUSS) I never drop my phone with this case on, either, and it's harder to lose around the house since it's so big and bright.

I got mine on Wish over a year ago for $5 or $6, but given the 3-month shipping time it is WELL worth spending $10 on Amazon instead. (They make it for multiple phone types and sizes, just search "Care Bears Phone Case") I'm keeping an eye out, because I reeeeeally want Funshine and Good Luck Bear next:

Or, you know, the whole set. (I have an iPhone 8, let me know if you spot them in the wild!)


Last thing, since we're talking current Care Bears merch: have you seen the new skirt from Unique Vintage?



::melts::

Unique Vintage actually has a whole collection of Care Bears inspired clothing right now, but this is by far the best piece. AND it come in plus sizes! Not that there's any way I'd pay $88 for a skirt - or any article of clothing, for that matter - but it still makes me happy just knowing this exists.

Your turn! Do you have any sweet Care Bears memories or merch? Do you collect any other vintage toy lines? Better yet, do you have pictures?? Tag me on IG or share on FB if you do, and/or let's get some threads going on Discord and FOE!

39 comments:

  1. Love Care Bears so much! I swear I had those stickers at some point in my life. Such happy surprises!

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  2. Somewhere in my crafts stash I have a Cross Stich pattern book of all the Care Bears. I started making them for nieces and nephews back in the 80's but only got a few done. One of my sister-in-law's found their's years later and made it into a pillow or quilt for that niece's child. I don't think they appreciated it as much. But boy at the time it was something else

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  3. Have you seen The Toys That Made Us on Netflix? Not Care Bears specifically, but lots of nostalgia -- Power Rangers, Transformers, My Little Pony, He-Man, and more!

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    1. Yes, I love that show! Plus the spin-off, The Movies That Made Us. Hits that sweet spot between documentary and childhood nostalgia, so good. (Now I want them to make a Care Bears episode!)

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  4. Check out resale shops (Goodwill, Salvation Army, St. Vinnie's) in the linens section for Care Bears sheets. You could knock out that skirt in an afternoon, with a vintage flat sheet.

    I've gathered a few Disney prints over the years, but have seen Care Bears too. That's a fandom I missed, as it was AFTER me, and BEFORE my kids.

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    1. I was just coming to say the same thing. There is a ton of Care Bears fabric out there just waiting to be googled (not the same as the example though). The skirt itself is a pretty straight-forward circle skirt with gathers at the waist. John should have no problem pulling it together for you Jen.

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    2. Well now I'm on ebay looking at Care Bears sheets, lol. Still have to search the fabrics, I bet those will have more designs. Even better, if we try to make a skirt I could have an elastic waist, and the length could be better since the Unique Vintage one would be too long on me. HMMMMMMMM.

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  5. I still have a few of the figures you posted and my cloud car. I loved Strawberry Shortcake too, my mom had those in her garage as well, but sadly mice also like Strawberry Shortcake as the had eaten part of her face and a fair amount of her hair, It still smelled like strawberries, oddly enough they didn’t touch Apple Dumpling or Raspberry Tart.
    My very favorite 70’s/80’s toys were the Fabuland Lego. If you haven’t seen them you should check them out. I don’t know why they don’t bring them back to the US, they were amazing and a nice way for kids to transition from Duplo to more advanced Lego set and utilize a whole lot of imagination. I have most of my figures and one single building. I would love to have more, but they are expensive and hard to find.

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    1. That is horrifying about the mice, lol. I once found - and still have - a cheap body spray that smells just like Strawberry Shortcake's hair, or at least how I remember it smelling. I wear it sparingly to make it last - though really I should look online to see if I can find another bottle...

      I've never heard of Fabuland Lego, I'll look it up!

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    2. Jen, there is a company who duplicates your favorite discontinued perfumes. I forget the name, but it's probably only a Google search away.

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  6. Nothing tangible, just those sweet sweet memories! I had a Bright Heart, a Care Bear cousin, who was a racoon with a belly heart shaped light bulb! I think he ended up at Grandma's house and then...who knows? I hope he's safe somewhere! Also I was (still am) SUPER CREEPED OUT by the Care Bears Movie! CARE BEAR STARE indeed.

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    1. Oh yes! I love the Care Bears Movie, but that demon-possessed magic book was the stuff of nightmares!

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  7. We have quilts my sister and me used as kids still and these stuffed animals you cut the front and backs from the fabric and stuffed to make your own stuffed animal/pillow things. I also have a care bear stuffie from when they relaunched the line when I was an older kid maybe almost middle school.

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    1. Some of those DIY fabric dolls are so stinkin' cute! I found a set of Disney ones I put on the Squeegineer board, and I've seen pics of a sweet vintage duckie I've been tempted to buy off Ebay. I've also seen pics of some amazing Rainbow Brite ones!

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  8. Back in the day, my friend Beth had a four-poster bed with a rail at the top of the footboard, and she had EVERY Care Bear plushie lined up on that rail. I was SO JEALOUS. I only had the one with a rainbow on its belly. she had ALL OF THEM.

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  9. Pretty sure I had that poster...

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  10. This whole post took me back.

    When our kids were in kindergarten they had "Colours of the Week!" which encouraged them to wear the specific colour all week, particularly on Monday. So perfect timing came along and I went to the fabric store where they had printed CareBears on White cotton -meant to be cut out, sewn together, and made into a pillow...but instead I cut them out and appliquéd them on white teeshirts. I bought the coordinating colour of fabric to make a skirt very similar to the one you show at the end -cute waistband with a bow in the back, and LOTS of floofy ruffles to twirl in. I had matching ribbon ruffled on her bobby socks and for her hair- and my little girl went off each week like the tiny cartoon runway model she was. There was also a RainbowBear so that got made too and she wore it every Friday with a skirt made out of cloud printed fabric. I had forgotten all about them until this post! hah!

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    1. Ohhhh my goodness I want those outfits you made for your little girl for ME! Ha! What a sweet thing to do, I bet she looked amazing.

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  11. Following up on the sheet idea, every year on my Christmas tree, there's a wreath ornament that looks like a scrunchie (sewn in a circle & filled with stuffing) made out of smurf sheets. It's hubby's from growing up. I thought it was cute that he was sentimental for his smurf sheets, but learned this year that he's not actually - his mom made it so he keeps it.

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  12. I loved Care Bears and Rainbow Brite, but never managed to own anything. My big '80s collectibles came via b-day presents: a Pound Puppy and a Popple :) I also made a massive score in junior high when visiting a friend. She had a bulging trash bag stuffed with various toys and she let me pick out all the My Little Pony items to take home. Squee!

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    1. Pound Puppies and Popples! Yes! And do you remember Poochie, the pink-haired poodle with sunglasses?

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    2. I still laugh over those old Poochie cartoons from when I was a kid. Pooooochie! POOCHIE'S FOR GIRLSSS!!!! XD XD

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  13. That fan pull just pulled up a deep memory. I swear I can feel that in my hand and must have had one when I was a kid. Care Bears are so fun!

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    1. I love those kind of memories.

      One time in an antique store I spotted a ceramic unicorn & rainbow figurine that played music, and I startled the heck outta John by bursting into tears. I'd forgotten all about owning one 'til that moment!

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  14. My name is Carrie. My older sister started calling me Care Bear when I was a baby and still does. I'm almost 40 :D

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  15. One deck contains 52 cards. A perpetual calendar perhaps?
    Hello Kitty and Strawberry Shortcake were my favourites. Well, they still are!

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  16. Memories, oh yeah. but not much else. I had a comics of care bears in which the baddy wanted to be the ruler of something or another, and in the end he got turned into a ruler. Like, a measuring-things ruler. Also we had dolls, just printed fabric and not furry. The green one and the pink rainbow one. One day I managed to step on the green one and it had a pin in it, I reckon it hurt. I think I asked for a care bear birthday once, and when my daughter was little she got a talking hugging care bear.

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  17. I bought a couple of Disney Nuimos (Piggy and Kermit) and have been happily crocheting clothes for them and even joined a FB group dedicated to Nuimos.

    And I'm in my 60s (I guess that gives me permission to be a 'toddler grandma')

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    1. Toddler Grandma Stylin' 4 EVAH. It's our passions that keep life fun, and keep *us* interesting. Besides, those Nuimos dolls are friggin' cute!

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  18. I had Tender Heart Bear, my brother had Cheer Bear, I had some of the figures, bedsheets, and I had a Care Bear Cousin zipper pull on a robe my grandmother made me (it was an elephant, I don't remember the name!).

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  19. I had those plastic figurines (including some Care Bear Cousins), the cloud car, and the castle. And still do... they're just at Mom's LOL And now I want to watch the Care Bears movie.

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  20. When my girls were little, Care Bears were extremely hard to find so i ended up sewing them each one bear. My oldest (46) still has hers out on her dresser! Not sure what the younger one did with hers.

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    1. Oh, hey! I had someone on IG send me a photo of a Care Bear her mom made, saying how much more much meaningful it is now than a store-bought bear. Maybe that was your daughter??

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  21. I still have my Teddy from when I was 2 years old in 1983, I remember being so upset when my little brother cut his curl of hair off. He's the Blue Care Bear with stars on his stomach, he was a bright turquoise when new but has now faded to a pale baby blue.

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  22. I have two Care Bear anecdotes:

    1) My mom always bought me stuff with Tenderheart Bear because I was her tender hearted baby girl. When I found a Tenderheart ornament at Target about 10 years ago, I snatched it up so fast my friend was like "what did you just do?" and I think she thought I was trying to steal something.

    2) I had a stuffed Goodnight Bear that my sister's best friend's mom let me take home to sleep with when I cried about not being included in the sleepover sister and friend were having. They ended up letting me keep the bear, and I'm pretty sure I still have it in a box somewhere.

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  23. I have a Care Bears metal trash can in my laundry room. I’ve had it since I was a kid. I also have a funshine pocket mirror. I loved Care Bears as a kid. Secret bear was my favorite. Thank you for the memories.

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  24. I am 36 and still sleep every night with my Care Bear Cousin elephant Lotsa Heart. I honestly find it hard to sleep when he's not in the crook of my elbow. He is no longer pink, sort of pinkish grey, his hair fell out probably 20 years ago and I got him when I was 2. I've sewed his tummy patch back on several times now. My son is now almost 2 and loves to hug mummy's teddy. This post brought up so many memories of being little, thank you Jen!

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  25. I'm laughing because my husband has strongly identified with Grumpy Bear ever since we saw a Care Bears movie (borrowed a DVD) when our kids were little (they're in their 20s now). Grumpy Bear was the one fixing the Cloud Bus they traveled in and my husband is an engineer with a fix-it streak. So we have Grumpy Bear mugs and plushies and I found Grumpy Bear fabric to make him a mask.

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