Cabbage Patch Kids were totally my gig when I was growing up. I remember getting my first one that my Mom patiently put me on a wait list for. I played with all my Cabbage Patch Kids for years, but my first was my favorite: the Cabbage Patch Preemie.
My kids stumbled upon my retro Patch stash recently and wanted to play with them. However, after years of playing with them myself (and after a decade or two of them sitting in a toy box) they immediately said ‘Ewww!” when they saw how dirty they were.
So I got to work giving new life to my old toys and a chance for my Cabbage Patch Kids to be played with again. Ah, nostalgia. First, I stripped my Preemie (named Lee, by the way) from the outfit he had been sporting for 30 years and washed that separately. Then I went to work on his baby face.
I used a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser to gently clean off the gunk on his head and face, being careful to avoid eyes. Around the eye, I just used mild soap and water.
Then I went to work on his little body. I first sprayed Stain Remover on the extra dirty bits, like his feet and hands. Then I waited a couple of hours to let it set. After a couple of hours, I gave Lee a bath with fragrance-free mild soap. He had a good time, as you can see.
Just make sure not to let the water get into the neck area, so the water won’t get into the head! I did spend some time hand-scrubbing some areas. The whole process took about 15 minutes on my end.
Then I rinsed off the soap and squeezed him dry, and let him spend some time in the sun. For me, it took a couple of days for him to really dry. I didn’t want the plastic parts to get too hot, so I wanted to be slow and methodical about it. However, others have had good results putting it in the sun, with the head in a shaded spot, on a hot summer day, for a quicker drying time.
While it took time, it was pretty easy all and all, and it was a fun process to involve my kids by giving “Lee the Baby” a bath.
We are off to find more modern wear for this 21st century Cabbage Patch Preemie, and now Lee has new siblings to love, too!
