1983 Strawberry Shortcake Berry Happy Home Dollhouse

Remember this?

The 1983 Strawberry Shortcake Berry Happy Home Dollhouse that Mom and I saw at Goodwill and I posted about here.

I really wanted it, but I couldn't justify the $30 on my present salary of $0/month. But after thinking about it all night, I decided that I probably wouldn't get this close to one ever again, and I could at least take advantage of Goodwill's generous return policy and bring it home long enough to clean it up a bit and get a good look at it and all the furniture.

So I went back for it the next morning. When I got to the store, the table it had been sitting on was empty and when I asked about it, the clerk told me that a man in his twenties had come in about an hour before me and bought it. He had told them he was going to make big bucks off of it on Ebay. (These houses, without furniture, have sold for $50-$165 recently on Ebay.)

I was VERY disappointed.

But guess what? Santa shops at Goodwill, because when I got up Christmas morning, there the dollhouse was on our coffee table, all dirty and ready for cleaning!

As I think back, I realize that I don't know exactly what the clerk was talking about when she said a young man bought it to put on Ebay. I had only pointed at the table it had been on and asked what happened to what had been there. I wonder what it was and if the buyer really did make big bucks off of it on ebay.

(Btw, have I mentioned recently how nice it is to have a father who is willing to go pick up and transport our thrifted finds when my mother calls, no questions asked? Even when it's raining buckets?)

I haven't really finished with it, but I did clean out some of the insides, the balcony, etc. The house, for the most part, is in good shape except for being dirty. I feel really lucky that all the parts are there. There are two broken places; one is where the bay window goes, but we have the window and fully intend to just glue it in place. The other is a tab that holds the balcony onto the house. I'm not actually sure yet if it's broken or simply not snapped into place. I just know that it sort of "sags" in the front.


I also cleaned off the little bits of furniture that were in it. It came with an assortment of furniture, but alas, only two pieces were Strawberry Shortcake. One was the porch swing which originally came with the house. The other is a crib made for the Strawberry Shortcake Blow Kiss Baby Dolls.

There was also a large storage strawberry designed for holding dolls.
(I have several of these strawberries).
(picture courtesy of strawberry-shortcake.net)

And inside it, lo and behold, were a couple of those Blow Kiss Babies. I couldn't get a good enough picture on my own so here is one I found online.


This picture is of Blueberry Muffin and Lemon Meringue while I have Blueberry Muffin and Strawberry Shortcake. You can see how small they are and they are just darling. They're called Blow Kiss Babies because of the way their mouths are puckered BUT they're actually drink and wet dolls. Mine do not still have their bottles or their "bonnets" but thankfully do still have their diapers.

They were a fun and surprising find with this house. I already have three dolls, but they are in pretty sorry shape. I'll worry about getting proper clothing for them later.

Now I guess I will keep an eye open for furniture for my house. It's all available on ebay, but not at prices I can afford. Who knows if I'll ever find any of it thrifting. But you never know what you'll find. (I never expected to find the house.)

That's what makes thrifting fun.

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