World Doll Day

They look like miniature people. They have names, personalities, families, houses, cars, whole life stories. They provided hours upon hours of entertainment for years on end. They let us express our own feelings long before we ever really understood them.

They helped us learn important lessons about friendship and sharing. They helped us get through long, sad, lonely days. They played an important role is us becoming who we are.

What are we talking about? Dolls, of course! And we challenge you to think of a toy that deserves its own day as much as dolls do!

History of World Doll Day

Dolls have been a part of human civilization for thousands of years, with archaeological evidence indicating that dolls are the oldest known toy. The earliest dolls were made clay, stone, wood, bone, ivory, leather, wax, and other available materials.

Wooden dolls have been found in Egyptian tombs dating to as early as 21st century BC. Clay dolls have been found in the graves of Ancient Greek and Roman children as well. Like children today, Roman, Greek and Egyptian children dressed their dolls according to the latest fashions.

Ragdolls are traditionally home-made from spare scraps of cloth material. Ragdolls dating back to the 5th century AD have been found in the part of the Roman Empire now known as Great Britain.

In modern times, Mattel’s Barbie has become one of the world’s most popular dolls. First created in 1959, the Barbie doll has continuously strived to adapt to the ever-changing markets of numerous world countries by coming out in a wide variety of shapes, colors and sizes, each carefully adapted to the inhabitants of a certain region.

World Doll Day was created to celebrate the enormous contributions dolls have made to the development of children the world over as well as humanity as a whole.

How to celebrate World Doll Day

Are you one of those people whose attic is full of boxes of childhood items you haven’t even seen in years? World Doll Day is the perfect day for you and maybe a sibling or two to go up into that attic with a cup of tea and take a walk down memory lane.

A wave of nostalgia is sure to overcome you as you remember all of those rainy days you spent playing together, creating entire worlds with just a few pieces of material or plastic.

And once you’re done going through the boxes and reminiscing, perhaps you could find a few dolls or other toys that are in good condition and could be donated to orphanages, children’s charities or children’s hospitals, especially those located in the world’s poorest countries, where the toys we take for granted are a luxury?

Donating old toys is a wonderful way to share some of the magic of your childhood with less fortunate children and help them develop their imaginations at the same time. Alternately, you could give your old favorite doll to your own child, to whom it might be much more precious than the brand new, shiny plastic dolls available at every supermarket.

There is also the possibility that some of the old toys you have become collectibles somewhere along the way and are now worth a fair sum of money. So whatever you do, don’t just throw everything out!