{No compensation was received for this post. I was invited on a press trip which facilitated the writing of this post}
Like most young girls, I had a few dolls and toys that I carried with me without fail. One of those dolls just happened to be a berry sweet Strawberry Shortcake doll that survived the Pacific Ocean and washed up on-shore after a mishap 20+ years ago. To this day, I still have that doll at my parents’ house, and while her sweet berry scent is long gone, she still holds so many of my childhood memories of pretend play, imagination, friendship, and love.
Strawberry Shortcake is timeless and I love that my daughter, my mother and I can all relive and create new memories with her. Knowing that her fan base spans the globe, I wasn’t surprised to learn that every year, a group of fans and collectors convene in Cleveland, Ohio for The Strawberry Shortcake Convention. Celebrating all-things Strawberry Shortcake, this year marks the 11th annual convention and offers unique, immersive and often exclusive experiences.
Cleveland, Ohio is home to the American Greetings Headquarters, and as part of this convention, attendees get a behind-the-scenes look.
More than just the largest purveyor of greeting cards, American Greetings also creates and licenses popular brands like Strawberry Shortcake, Holly Hobbie, Care Bears, The Get Along Gang, and Popples along with holding the exclusive license for Nickelodeon characters.
We were greeted upon arrival by the Strawberry princess herself before heading into headquarters for an inside look at the workings of this organization who’s mission is to “create happiness, laughter, and love.” Who wouldn’t want to work for an organization like that?
I absolutely loved reliving some of my favorite shows and characters through the art displayed throughout the facility.
Still a family-run company, American Greetings was founded in 1906 by Jacob Sapirstein, who sold cards from a horse-drawn cart. The cards sold out instantly and the rest (like they say in Hollywood) is history!
One of the highlights of this tour was meeting Shuran Chen, the lead illustrator for Strawberry Shortcake. If you’ve been a long-time fan, you’ve noticed that her look has been updated and modernized. The original Strawberry Shortcake design was sketched in 1977 along with 32 additional characters including their pets. Today’s Strawberry Shortcake is fresh and fun, inspiring humor and friendship while still maintaining enough of her original look to evoke nostalgia.
After touring American Greetings’ Headquarters, we had an opportunity to get a first look at the latest toys to be released this month.
Several new doll and doll sets will be introduced and sold at Toys R Us stores nationwide, including an adorable singing Strawberry Shortcake that is certain to be on my daughter’s Christmas wish list.
While the Strawberry Shortcake Convention has a longstanding history, this year was the first time they brought journalists/bloggers in. As part of my involvement as a Fox Home Entertainment Insider, I really enjoyed getting one of the first looks at Berry Best Friends, the latest Strawberry Shortcake DVD being released on September 16th. In this latest adventure, Strawberry Shortcake finds herself overwhelmed and unable to say “no, thank you” while building a new marketplace. Meanwhile, Orange Blossom’s general strore is overflowing with new fruits and vegetables. The busyness leads to exhaustion as she tries to got at it alone. Berry Best Friends teaches children about the importance of communication in any relationship, particularly with your friends.
With Strawberry Shortcake’s 35 birthday celebration coming up in 2015, you can expect to see and hear a slew of exciting announcements, including the re-introduction of some old friends. Sweet and Sour Grapes, Tea Time Turtle, and world traveler/blogger Apple Dumplin’ will all join the gang in Season 4!
Much like Comic-Con or D23, the Strawberry Shortcake Convention convenes fans, collectors, and the like around the iconic berry-scented American Greetings Character. Many of the people in attendance have collected extremely rare, unique items which are then sold or traded. I absolutely loved seeing one of my old Strawberry Shortcake lunch-boxes being sold at the sale as it brought back many memories of my childhood.
The second day of the convention was filled with an array of hands-on activities including a photo workshop, a demo on how to catalog your collections using Omeka, and a DIY tutorial where we learned how to make a bag out of a T-shirt.
For collectors, showcasing and telling the story of their doll collection is an integral part of their passion. We started the second day of the convention with a hands-on photography workshop. Using an inexpensive piece of foam core and a smart phone, we learned how to photography dolls in such a way that they can then be printed on photo paper and bound in a collector’s book.
Our next session involved an easy demo and walk-through of Omeka, a free web application that allows users to publish and exhibit their collections. What I found interesting about this application is that it uses themes and plugins, much like a blog. Users can also install their Google Analytics code to track traffic coming to their particular site. This is the same type of software currently being used by such institutes as the New York Public Library so if you’re going to display your Strawberry Shortcake collection online, Omeka is definitely the tool I recommend using to accomplish this.
One of the things I really enjoyed about this convention was their efforts to give back. American Greetings (and the conference organizers) put together some amazing gift baskets and prizes and all of the proceeds collected for this raffle (approx. $400) were donated to Alex’s Lemonade Stand, who’s mission is to help fight and end childhood cancer.
Conference organizer Christina Stewart put together The Lemon Hair Salon Project Contest in partnership with The Strawberry Patch where attendees exercised their full creativity to transform their dolls. Attendees also showcased the unique ways they have integrated Strawberry Shortcake into costumes and clothing, dolls and toys, drawings and more. I was fascinated by all of the creativity housed in that one room.
Our day ended with a craft session where we learned how to transform a Strawberry Shortcake T-shirt into a bag. I can’t wait to show you how easy this project was, even if you don’t feel you’re very crafty.
As I mentioned earlier, my daughter is a HUGE fan of Strawberry Shortcake so you can imagine my surprise and excitement when I learned I had won one of the gift basket raffles! Some of the items feature the original Strawberry Shortcake design which left me feeling very nostalgic.
Strawberry Shortcake celebrates her 35th birthday next year and I can’t wait to see all that is in store for her. I imagine this convention will continue to grow as word spreads among fans and collectors. Be sure to stay up-to-date with the latest by following Strawberry and her friends on the following social media channels:
Images: Rockin’ Mama unless otherwise noted.
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