The Bobblehead Doll: Nodding Its Head Through the Years

Isn't it interesting how many bobbleheads now represent prominent figures in sports, entertainment, politics and different fields? These dolls are collectible items now and are even given out as promotion for special events.

Also called as wobblers, bobblehead dolls are dolls with oversized heads in comparison to its body. Regular dolls have solid connections of the head to its body. These ones have heads connected by a spring so that the slightest tap would cause the head to bobble.

The first items that resemble these dolls came from Germany. They were called "noddlers". The original ones had the heads connected with springs also, but were larger than what we have now, and mostly made of ceramics. They usually come in shapes of animals, and stood between 6 and 8 inches tall.

In the 1920s, one of the first sports bobblehead dolls was of a New York Knick player. But the craze became intense only in the 1960s when they started to become really popular in the United States. Most of the bobblehead dolls were manufactured to represent teams. The funny thing is, although the dolls represented teams and wore different team numbers and uniforms, they had the same heads.

Between 1960 and 1972, Japan manufactured a few important bobblehead dolls, along with not so popular models. They were made of paper-mache, so not a lot of them were able to survive. The kind of material used at that time was prone to chipping and cracking.

Baseball team bobbleheads became quite famous, together with the likes of those representing The Beatles. Although some people were starting to collect them, new dolls were few and far between. What prompted their regained popularity was the switch from the use of ceramic to plastic in manufacturing the dolls. The new way of making the dolls allowed cheaper manufacturing processes.

In 1999, the San Francisco Giants was the first team to offer bobblehead giveaway. The team distributed about 35,000 pieces of Willie Mays dolls at a game. That marketing promotion definitely caused the popularity that these noddlers are enjoying today.

Since 2001, the bobblehead dolls actually resemble specific individuals. The mini-bobblehead was also introduced. It stands just two or three inches tall, and usually used for cereal prizes.

Many of today's bobblehead dolls are three dimensional. They resemble the personality that they portray or represent. The dolls come in complete get-up, hairstyles, tattoos, and even scars to match their real life counterpart.

The great news is that there are stores that customize dolls for any regular person. So bobbleheads nowadays are not only for famous singers, sports personalities and people in politics. To customize, only a photo of the person is needed, and the doll would be done according to the features of the person, complete with body styles, hair, shoes, clothes and other accessories.

Isn't that something? A bobblehead doll that looks exactly like your friend, spouse, son, cousin or teacher. A very unique gift for friends and family. Here are some websites for those who are interested to order customized bobbleheads.

Whoopass Enterprise's: http://www.whoopassenterprises.com/index.php
BPI Collectibles: http://www.bpicollectibles.com/customitems.html
HeadBobble.com: http://headbobble.com/upload.html