A Guide to the Inserts Found in Crissy Family Boxes

The Smaller Girls & Baby Crissy

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(Below) In 1970, when Velvet was first made available to stores, her directions and box inserts looked remarkably like cousin Crissy's. Though there will be some variation to what is found in the below photos, it should not be considered unusual to find the "Letter to Mother" that was identical to Crissy's as well as another "Letter to Mother" with Velvet's play directions on the other side !

Curiously, the "Letter to Mother" that folds and resembles an envelope uses Velvet's name logo on the upper right hand corner, as the one for Crissy has the Crissy name logo on the upper right hand corner. However, as noted above, the instruction sheet has the same "Letter to Mother" on the other side of it.

There will be variations in what the collector will find in the early Velvet boxes.

Below is the back of the second "Letter to Mother" with the directions illustrated on it.

(Below) The Movin' Groovin' Velvet doll, like cousin Crissy, has two booklets. One features the "how-to" for several hairstyles that seem nicely matched to her 1971 issue outfits. The other insert is the same 1971 advertising booklet found in MG Crissy's box. Additionally, the example found in my archive has a pamphlet advertising a reading program. It features a Geisha doll on the front. This is a paid addition to the boxes of many toys and dolls from the era and had nothing to do with the Ideal Toy Corporation. This collector has personally found it in many MIB examples of dolls by Remco, Deluxe Topper, and Ideal.

The following are the inside pages of the MG Velvet instruction booklet.

(Below) The 1971 Talky Velvet had instructions on where to send your doll if she quit talking and also instructions for hair play. As usual, they look quite familiar in that Ideal used the usual graphics from the Crissy doll, substituting Talky Velvet's name instead.

The back of the instructions.

The reader has learned from the previous page that the Look Around models of Crissy and Velvet had the same "playing instructions" sheet. This showed how the waist & neck joints were activated by means of a pullstring. This sheet illustrated LA Velvet on the front, no matter if it was for Crissy or Velvet.

Here is the back of the folded directions for the BB Velvet doll (below).

The inserts found in the box with the 1974 Velvet with Swirly Daisies are the Weintraub letter/general instruction sheet and a "how-to" sheet for the Swirly Daisies device. There is nothing on the back of this sheet (below).

Velvet's beautiful friend, Mia had the 'usual' instructions that were very similar to early issue Crissy dolls and Crissy's beautiful friend, Kerry. Her name logo is used in the usual place as noted above and the back is the same but again, her name is inserted where needed (below).

(Below) Sears exclusive doll Cricket had the same instructions as Sears exclusive doll Tressy. Where needed however, her name logo was placed. Noteworthy is that the hairstyles are the same as for Tressy, but there was no "hair care set" included with Cricket that would help create these styles (it contained ribbons, yarn ties, and a headband).

(Above and below) The 1972 Dina doll, like her counterpart Brandi, might have included a poster that advertised other items that Ideal was creating at the time. In fact, many of the 1972 issues (whether Look Around Crissy & Velvet, Brandi, Dina, or the 1972 Talky Crissy doll) might have had this poster. To learn more about this fabulous piece of advertising artistry, click here. Dina had the Weintraub letter/direction sheet and her own set of directions that mirrored many of the other dolls' instructions, using the usual verbiage and graphics but using Dina's name where appropriate.

The Tara doll had very unique directions that are very much her own. They were not based on the earlier graphics. There is nothing printed on the back.

(Above and below) We are starting to sound like a broken record but as we examine the inserts for Velvet's Little Sister from 1972, we find the usual Weintraub letter/direction sheet and her own unique direction sheet that is just like most of the others. Again, Ideal put her name logo at the top but at least they drew new illustrations for her face! Unfortunately, they used the older graphics on the back.

Below we find the inserts for the Cinnamon with a Hairdoodler issue. Along with the Weintraub letter is a small piece of paper that shows how to assemble the hairdoodler device and a two-sided instruction sheet.

(Below) The back of the instruction sheet.

(Below) Next to the Weintraub letter/directions is the how-to sheet for using the "Curly Ribbons" device that came with the Cinnamon with Curly Ribbons issue. There was nothing on the back of the how-to sheet.

Let's take a moment to look at Baby Crissy and her box inserts.

This is the back of the brochure.

Below are the inside pages.