My Favorite Pajamas As A Kid

As I’m writing this, it’s a Friday night and I’m catching up on podcasts. I’m still wearing my work clothes because we’re having some work done on the house, but I’m looking forward to putting on my pajamas. 

This got me to thinking about various nightgowns and pajama sets I’ve worn over the years, especially during my childhood. The great thing about sleepwear is you could have a nightgown or a top and shorts. 

The following are some of my favorite pajamas I wore as a kid: 

1. Strawberry Shortcake 

This particular one might look familiar because I’ve posted pictures from the same Christmas morning in previous articles. I’m also wearing it in my Twitter avatar. 

2. “Cuddle Me I’m Baby Soft”

I’m not sure exactly why my four or five year old self wanted a nightgown from a perfume advertisement, but I absolutely loved this thing. It was very soft and it was bright pink to start with but eventually faded to a slightly pink tinged white. 

I remember wearing this when my grandparents came to visit and we ate banana Winn-Dixie Superbrand ice cream. My grandparents were both pleasantly surprised with how good the store brand ice cream was. 

When I was a teenager, I did use Love’s Baby Soft perfume, but my favorite scent in their line was Rain Scent with the sea foam green cap. It was such a clean and crisp scent. By the time I was a teenager, the product tagline had changed to “Underneath it all, she’s Baby Soft.” There was usually a girl laughing with two boys outside a typical suburban high school. 

3.  Shirt Tales – Pammy Panda & Kip Kangaroo 

This nightgown was lavender in color with a screen print of Pammy and Kip. It had short sleeves and a little ruffle on the bottom. 

I remember wearing this on a Girl Scout camping trip and accidentally spilling hot cocoa on it. When I got home, Mom washed it and got the chocolate out, so it was all good. 

4. “Batgirl”

This was probably one of the strangest pieces of sleepwear I ever had. It was a robin’s egg blue jumpsuit with harem-style pants, but I had a blue sequined “Batgirl” style mask I wore with it during pre-bedtime playtime. 

It was back when the 1966 Batman series was airing and I loved when Yvonne Craig was on as Barbara Gordon/Batgirl. Sometimes I played “Batgirl”, in this outfit but others I played “Baton Girl” with my glitter filled baton. 

5. Esleeps

These things were ridiculously comfortable for hot summer nights in Georgia. They were baseball style cotton shirts with matching shorts and I absolutely loved them. If you’ve ever seen the Nickelodeon series Hey Dude, Christine “Melody” Taylor wears these in night scenes in a few episodes. I had several pairs. Partially because of Hey Dude, but mostly because they were really that comfortable. 

6. New Kids on the Block nightgown

In addition to the center group shot, there are also individual images of each of the guys going down the left hand side with their names under their picture. I could literally fall asleep with my head on a New Kids pillow while wearing a New Kids nightgown holding my New Kids doll with a New Kids tape playing on my cassette player. 

The only thing I didn’t do was sleep with the dolls. I learned my lesson from the Cabbage Patch Kids. Hard plastic is just not cuddly enough for bedtime. 

7. Animaniacs nightgown

When I was a junior in high school, my friends introduced me to Animaniacs and I fell instantly in love. I remember my mom telling me I needed to see a guy named Harlan Ellison on The Late Show with Tom Snyder. 

I watched Tom sometimes, especially when he had Rosemary Clooney on. I’ll never forget the first time I saw Ellison because he told Snyder that he had to watch  “Pinky and the Brain”,  which was one of the most popular segments from Animaniacs. Recognizing the man had good taste, I borrowed one of his books on our next trip to our local library. 

The only mall close to our area with a Warner Brothers store was Perimeter Mall. My mom took me and my best friend one Sunday. 

I bought a gray V-neck nightshirt with all of the recurring characters across the front and back: Yakko, Wakko, Dot, Dr. Scratchansniff, “Hello Nurse”, Ralph the Guard, Thaddeus Plotz, Pinky and the Brain, Slappy Squirrel and nephew Skippy, Mindy and her guardian dog Buttons, “Hip Hippos” Flavio and Marita, Rita and Runt, Goodfeathers, and Mr. Skullhead. It’s been a while since I’ve seen this nightshirt, so I don’t remember the exact order or if I left anyone out. 

Well, it’s now well after dark and the people working on our house left a while ago so I can go and put on my present day pajamas.