The Sunshine Family were a series of (In my opinion, creepy) dolls marketed by Mattel beginning in 1974. At the time, the line was marketed with the family being very into the burgening "post hippie" early 70s craft movement.
By 1978, the line's look had begun to look dated so it was rebranded the "Sunshine FUN Family" (bet that was an all nighter at Mattel) and the characters were given a bit of a makeover. The Sunshine family had moved into the suburbs it seems...
Click here to see Mattel's Sunshine Fun Family Catalog for 1978
More Sunshine folks
Great post.
ReplyDeleteI remember those ugly things being featured in the JC Penny catalogue......that one picture of the male doll in the turtle neck looks like a serial killer.....seriously, he's creeping me out!
ReplyDeleteMy mom got me the Sunshine Family when I was a kid. It came with material to make clothes for them by hand with directions and patterns.
ReplyDeleteIt was AWESOME!
After I used up all the material, I wished there were more patterns for me to make. I wish someone had told ten year old me that there was this thing called a fabric store with all the material and Barbie doll patterns I could want...
If there was one drawback to being a kid in the 70's, it was the social engineering that the Baby Boomers tried to force feed us. (RE: Marlo Thomas & Friends, Preachy Apes telling us how bad humans are, every damn TV show convincing us that "The Man" was corrupt and only the renegade Dirty Harry / Billy Jack / Outlaw Josey Wales could be counted on for justice)
ReplyDeleteThat is why Star Wars struck such a chord. It freed us to pull our guns and blast bad guys for fun and profit.
One of my maternal aunts was born in 1966 and she had an original Sunshine Family set. Somehow, all but the baby doll got left behind years later, and I used to play with that tiny thing when I was a kid in the '80s. Somehow I also ended up having it in my possession up until a couple of years ago, although I'm not sure what happened to it now anymore. If I find it, I'll post a photo for you to see! :)
ReplyDeleteWow, that's a real blast from the past!! I had the 're-branded' Sunshine family as a toddler in the early '80s. I had the original house though...no selling out to the suburbs for my SSF!! I also had the Grandparents and the SSF farm/barn. I still have the dolls and all the furniture in a box somewhere in my parent's basement, but the house is long gone. I found the barn, most of it anyway, when we were cleaning out my grandmother's house last year. Why I let my mom talk me out of keeping it I'll never know! Darnit, Mom!!
ReplyDeleteI had the original set and some of the fashion/activity sets, and I'm not sure what else. I don't know what I did with them!
ReplyDelete