Little People

Aside from the incredibly short commute, one of the best things about running The Barn is being surrounded by toys. I love shopping for toys online. I love the toy section at Target. I love independent toy stores. Maybe this has something to do with working with children for the past 20 years, or maybe it's how I've been able TO work with children that long.

Oh, dear and lovely Christmas Wishbook... How I loved to go through your pages.

Some of my favorite toys were and are Fisher Price Little People. Growing up in the late 70's/Early 80's, we had the classic yellow roof Play Family House, the castle (still at my parent's house!), the circus train, the barn, garage, and (my favorite) the Ferris wheel. In the late 90s I revisited my childhood by collecting many of the vintage Fisher Price toys I grew up with, as well as many that I didn't know existed until I bought the Fisher Price Collector's Guide. I artfully displayed the Little People Playsets and old-school pull toys on three huge shelves in my home office. I can't say that I did anything as interesting as spreading everything out and playing WITH the toys- but they were fun to rearrange and display. Maybe in another life I could be a window dresser for FAO Schwartz. Is that a real job? After a while, I ended up selling most everything to help earn money for a car, which I am still driving. I do still have my old Fisher Price Circus Train in our playroom; it's holding up great and is a favorite of the children who come here. I also still have the Fisher Price motorized Ferris wheel, but it's safely stored in my supply closet so those pesky kids don't break it. I'm eying the Play Family Castle at Mom and Dad's... But I'd probably have to fight my sisters for that one!

When I had Lily, it was the perfect opportunity to feed my toy obsession. By the time she was 6 months old, I was already building "her" Little People collection. Because she really needed all of that stuff. Yeah, that's it. Today's Little People don't carry the same nostalgia as the old wooden ones, but I have to say that they are a lot cuter and come in a greater variety- which is a blessing and a curse! They also aren't choking hazards- that's a bonus when buying toys for a newborn! Quickly, I learned just how many playsets and accessories there were to be had, and diligently went about procuring everything I thought Lily (Lily? hahahaha) needed.  

 Journal Flashback: Proof of my Strange Addiction... 

9/15/07
Yep, it's official. I'm addicted to collecting toys. She can't even crawl yet, and I'm already looking to build a Fisher Price Little People collection for her. Yeah, right. She doesn't know what to do with them besides gnaw on the pieces, and here I am looking for the perfect seal to go with the circus train, the cutest people, and the best accessories. Sure, it's for Lily. Yeah, right. Lily doesn't even need or know what any of this stuff is. It's all ME. I'm the one looking at the stuff, admiring how cute it all is, thinking about how much I'd want to play with it. Why this profound urge to get it all NOW NOW NOW? It will be there tomorrow, it will be there a year from now, it will be there for as long as it takes plastic to disintegrate- probably 100 years!

Truth is, I just love being on a mission- especially when that mission includes shopping and bargain hunting. Is it my style to go to Walmart and buy one of each? Hell no- that's much too easy. Besides, one glance at the price and I turn the other way. The selection sucks, anyway. So here I am, kicking myself for the stuff I know I passed up, looking at eBay and driving to yard sales to find the perfect additions at a cheapskate's price. I just love the hunt. Tomorrow, if I found everything I was looking for, I would think of something else. 

The pattern has been the same for a lot of different things over the course of my short life. So, I ask myself, what was my first collecting obsession? Did it start with Madonna pins and posters in 4th grade? Or was is earlier? Barbie clothes? Smurf figurines? I don't remember being gung-ho about collecting toys as a child, save harvesting logs for building clubhouses. I do recall collecting "secret places" in the woods. As I got older, I started collecting make-up. Lipsticks were my favorite, although I do remember some yellow and blue tubes of mascara. And them I started collecting dance stuff: leotards, shoes, warm-ups, plastic pants, tights, posters. Soon after that, my obsession was vintage clothes, fashion, fabric, and magazine ads. My bedroom walls were plastered with great old dresses, beaded and embroidered purses, and pictures of design inspirations. My dresser was piled with box purses and old platform shoes, draped with psychedelic scarves and crocheted shawls. This was all before eBay, or even the internet (as a widely-used thing) existed. It was a lot easier to find old stuff at yard sales and thrift stores because there wasn't as much competition. Years later, I'd wish that I had kept all of that stuff so that I could sell it on eBay (another thing on my long list of obsessions). 

As Lily gets older, she is less than interested in playing with Little People. On occasion, she will spread out the castle, dollhouse, barn, and pirate ship to create a village of sorts, animating its inhabitants and creating mini-dramas that star rubberized plastic people with constant smiles and perfectly coiffed hairstyles. But, she is more interested in Barbie, Polly Pocket, and, my favorite, her Loving Family dollhouse (that's become an obsession, too... Stay tuned for that). But I'm keeping the Little People. For the kids who like to play at The Big Red Barn. Yeah, right.