A "girlhood box" for a 1970s girlhood.

In My Humble Opinion
1

Some friends of mine and I are planning a party for a friend of ours who has been transitioning from MtF. We are basically giving her an instant girlhood.

We’re planning a sleepover where we will play a lot of the party games that girls ages 8-17 would have played, sort of in that order-- like one from each developmental stage.

We’re going to watch “Little Darlings,” and some of the other movies that we snuck into as tweens and teens, because our mothers wouldn’t let us see them.

We’re also giving her a “Girlhood” box-- all the things that were universally read or done by girls of the era (she was born in 1972), but not by boys, so she may never have been exposed to them before.

So far we have this:

  1. books
    a) Ballet Shoes
    b) Little House in the Big Woods/on the Prairie
    c) Freaky Friday
    d) Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret
    e) one Nancy Drew Book we haven’t agreed on
    f) Ellen Tebbits
    g) Harriet the Spy
    h) a vintage girl scout badge book
  2. a vintage girl scout sash (we can make fake badges)
  3. a potholder loom and loops
  4. a chinese jump rope
  5. bubble bath
  6. the third season of One Day at a Time bootlegged.
  7. a (deflated) ball for playing four-square.
  8. a Barbie doll, and extra outfits.

We’re trying to think if there’s anything important we’ve missed. We’re all a little too young for mystery date, but there have to be board games that only girls played. Did boys play “Which Witch”?

We realize we might be violating some kind of copyright or trademark with the girl scout thing, but she has no intention of wearing it in public.

The idea is to give her touchstones of girlhood to make her feel more comfortable talking with other woman, and also just to make her feel accepted, and I hope to make her happy. She has the vague idea that this is going to happen, just not all the specifics, and so far is into it.

We decided any kind of play make-up or playing house/baby dolls are out, because she uses regular make-up, and she had lived on her own for a awhile, but was married once a long time ago, and had two sons, so she’s done real babies.

Open to all suggestions. Will not necessarily use all, but want to hear everything.

BTW, the impetus for the party is that she just got her name legally changed. She has been on hormones for 4 years, and looks very feminine, but hasn’t had the surgery yet because she can’t afford it. She had some minor plastic surgeries, but that’s it.

2

I just want to say that this sounds awesome.

3

Something horse related. Maybe a Breyer horse BreyerHorses.com | The Official Breyer® Store & Home for Horse Lovers. Or at least a book with horses in it. Misty of Chincoteague, maybe?

Maybe an Easy Bake Oven, too.

4

An Easy Bake Over might be hard to put in the box, but I think if I can find on on eBay, we’re gonna be making tiny cakes for a good portion of the night.

Good one.

When did “My Little Pony” come out?

Anyway-- I think we’ll add National Velvet to the movie roster. I never went through the horse phase, but I know a lot of girls did.

5

Get someone to make her a ‘cootie catcher’ out of wide-ruled notebook paper and highlighter pens and stamps and stickers, but make sure all the answers are good and happy and innocent ones.

Paper dolls. Dover has a great set of ones featuring historic women and real-life princesses.

Pound puppies (or pound kittens) or cabbage-patch dolls? Again, there are mini versions.

A porcelain doll?

Jelly slippers (they’re shoes like dress flats made of rainbow-glittery mesh plastic - they were the original crocs)

Highly second the Breyer horse or My Little Pony. There are small palm sized versions of both.

Calico Critters / Sylvanian flocked animal families?
Play with a ouiji board during the sleepover.

Y’all are the coolest friends, and I think this is a great thoughtful idea.

6

Along with My Little Pony, appropriate girl toys for a 1972er would include Rainbow Brite, Strawberry Shortcake, Cabbage Patch Kids, and Care Bears. Head for EBay.

7

How about safety pins and embroidery floss for making friendship bracelets?

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8

Those plastic charm necklaces that were all the rage for 15 minutes in 1983 or so and never again. Also, those leather-thong and feather things that were probably roach clips but little girls thought were hair decorations.

For the full experience of an 80s puberty, you really need to give her a terrible perm out of a box and make her go to school the next week. Bonus points if you fry her hair with lemon juice to create “high lights”.

9

While it’s true that she spent her early childhood in the 70s, I’m thinking she will probably remember more of the 80s stuff than 70s stuff. So going based on that, I think your friend needs more 80s memorabilia. Like “Facts of Life” might be better than “One Day at a Time”. And how about some leg warmers and lace gloves with the fingers cut-out?

And I second the “coochie catcher” idea, even though I don’t remember calling it that as a kid.

10

Hmm … I was born in 1979 and CPK, Pound Puppies, Care Bears, My Little Pony, Sylvanian Families , Strawberry Shortcake and Rainbow Brite were all for girls my age.

I had a neighbor who was born around 72 and I don’t remember her being in to any of that stuff. She was too old by the mid 80s for that stuff. I was into it and so was her sister (1976).

The thing I remember her being most in to was MTV. Cyndi Lauper, INXS, Duran Duran…

The 1984 Olympics were pretty big for kids.

11

The friendship bracelets might be better to actually make in a group during the sleepover.

Were pony beads and backpack charms a thing for anyone outside my school? We all
had charms with little white cubes that had letters on them and we made our names or x heart-shape y (all between girls) or spelled out ‘love’ or ‘faith’ or whatever.

12

These are all great ideas. I’m responsible for the “girl box” itself-- I have a budget-- but the party isn’t until I get back from my mother’s at the end of July, and some other people are in charge of films and activities, but we’re all tossing around idea, so I’ll forward all this to them. There will be about seven guests, plus the guest of honor, so eight people altogether. My husband, bless him, is hosting the son of the person who is having the sleepover in her house. So DH gets a nine and a ten year old boy overnight.

Keep the ideas coming, and I’ll pass them on. I was kind of a Tomboy, so there are probably all kinds of girlie things I wouldn’t think of.

13

Such a great idea! My 70’s childhood smelled of “Love’s Baby Soft” and “Tickle” anti-perspirant. Tickle is long gone, but LBS is still for sale at drugstores.

14

For activities, if you could get a set of hot rollers and some aqua net, it might be fun to do “big hair”, and that’s more reversible than a bad perm. And doing each other’s hair was definitely a thing at slumber parties.

I also remember the safety-pins-with-beads. Making those and friendship bracelets (knotted while safety pinned to your jean-clad knee, of course) would be a good activity that could become a keepsake.

15

I recall my sisters of the era with their teen crush magazines like 16, Teen Beat, Osmonds, Shaun Cassidy posters. And they read a lot of Harlequin Romance type books in their later teen years.

16

All of these came out in the early to mid-80s, not the 70s. A person born in 1972 would’ve been too old for them. Try some of these toys instead.

17

I was born in 1972, and can’t say that I agree with that assessment.

18

Tea set, Fashion Plates, Jem and the Holograms, a baton, She-Ra Princess of Power!

19

Those little troll dolls that go on the end of a pencil.

20

I was going to say Flatsies but I guess that’s too vintage.