The gimmick of the dolls was their originality. No two were exactly alike; each doll had a different eye color, facial features, hair, and outfit. Each came with a unique birth certificate signed by their creator, Xavier Roberts.
They were the must have toy one Christmas. Parents across the United States flocked to stores to try to obtain one of the Cabbage Patch Kids for their children with fights occasionally erupting between parents over the hard-to-find dolls. In later years, Coleco introduced variants on the original Cabbage Patch Kids, and derivatives of the original line of dolls continued to be marketed.
Although the Cabbage Patch Kids fad has largely passed, there remain a significant number of die-hard collectors.
Cabbage Patch Kids were later parodied with the typically grotesque Garbage Pail Kids trading cards. The parody led Roberts to sue Topps, the maker of Garbage Pail Kids, for trademark infringement. The parties eventually settled out of court, with Topps agreeing to redesign the cards so that the artwork would not resemble Cabbage Patch Kids so closely.