Skipper Highlight Reel: Growing Up Skipper and Ginger

It’s time again for another Skipper Highlight Reel! You’ll be seeing more of these as this year continues. With Christmas on the way, I can’t buy many new dolls for myself! It’s far cheaper to highlight things I already own.

This Skipper Highlight Reel is covering one of the more controversial Skipper releases, 1975’s Growing Up Skipper. Growing Up Skipper is a doll with a gimmick. Her box read, “Make her grow from a young girl to a teenager in seconds”. How, you ask? Well, by cracking her left arm in either a clockwise or counter-clockwise fashion! You turn her arm counter-clockwise to make Skipper “grow slim, tall and curvy” and clockwise to make her “cute and young again”.  (Quotes taken directly from the packaging.) Essentially what happens is when you turn Skipper’s arm counter clockwise, her torso grows in length and her bust grows slightly. Doing the reverse, will pull her torso down and make the bust disappear. (Watch the video review where I show this on a nude doll if you’re confused.)

Growing Up Skipper came with two different hair colors, pale blonde and strawberry blonde. Of the strawberry blonde dolls, there are two different hair styles. One release had long, shaggy layers in her hair, while another had a slightly shorter, more tame cut. The difference is slight, but noticeable if the two dolls are close together.

Above: Shaggy Strawberry Blonde, Pale Blonde, Shorter Cut Strawberry Blonde

Above: Pale Blonde, Shorter Cut Strawberry Blonde, Shaggy Strawberry Blonde

In 1976, Skipper made friends with Ginger. Ginger was only released in this Growing Up Skipper line. Ginger used the same face mold and body type as Skipper. My Ginger is not in her original outfit. Ginger’s original outfit was similar to Skipper’s, but had a teal color scheme. Her skirt is currently on one of my Skippers. (In case you’re wondering, my Ginger is wearing the Fun at McDonalds Fantasy Fashion.)

Of the two dolls, I think Ginger is the cutest. The brown hair and eyes  look much cuter on this face mold than Skipper’s strangely painted face.  It’s hard to tell from the grainy commercial above, but the prototype Skipper looks much cuter than what was on store shelves.

Because Skipper and Ginger grew in length when they changed from being a child to an adult, Mattel included a lot of accessories with this doll. You got a red unitard top, a long red and white skirt, short red and white skirt, white sandles, red flats and a scarf. My dolls aren’t mint and are missing certain pieces. Mattel released a handful of outfit sets for these dolls over the three years, as well.

Above: “Teenager” Skipper, “Child” Skipper

Do you remember Growing Up Skipper and Ginger? What do you think of these two unique dolls? Share your thoughts below!