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Reference Desk

What is the 90s tackle-box makeup case? A Caboodles

The tells, in the order worth checking

1. Underside moulding. Genuine cases carry a moulded logo and model number, not a sticker. “Caboodles of California” dates a case to the earliest run; later cases read Plano Molding Co.
2. Tray action. Cantilever trays that swing out on arms as the lid opens. Rigid lift-out trays are a different product.
3. The colours. The launch palette was peach, yellow, pink and purple — the founder took the colours from hair dryers. Teal-and-purple and the translucent “jellies” are later.
4. Model name on the box. On-The-Go Girl, Pretty in Petite, Take It Touch Up and Make-Up Bag are named lines, and resale sellers still use the names.

Where it came from

Company legend credits a 1986 magazine photograph of Vanna White using a Plano tackle box for her makeup. The better-sourced account credits Leonie Mateer, a New Zealander working in California, who had seen a model arrive at a shoot with a tackle box and took the idea to Plano. She found the name in a dictionary. The first cases shipped in 1987 and sold two million units in two years; by 1992 Plano was selling more makeup boxes than tackle boxes, and a New York Times report that year put teenage-girl awareness of the brand at nearly 80 percent. The range peaked around 70 items priced $5 to $40.

Old case or new case? What each costs

The editorial judgment, for what it is worth: a seller-described “vintage” case at a median of $25 is not obviously better value than a new On The Go Girl at $13.99 unless you specifically want the old palette. Re-read on 17 September 2026, the vintage median is unchanged and the new case has come down from $16.79, so the gap is wider than when this page was written. What you are paying the premium for is colour, not construction — the mould barely changed.

Last verified 17 September 2026: all 6 listed offers re-checked by link against the CJ product feed (US advertisers) and still in stock, priced at what a shopper pays rather than the list price. Across 405 priced US Caboodles listings, read to the same sample size as the 391-listing survey behind the figures above so the two are comparable, the cheapest was $2.99 and the median $20.00. The resale median ($20) and the seller-described vintage median ($25) are unchanged. Prices move; read them as the market on that date, not a promise. Peer-to-peer marketplace asks of $500 or more are excluded as seller placeholders, as are repdigit asks such as $1,234 and $9,999 wherever they appear; retailer prices are used as published.

Frequently asked

What is a Caboodles case?

A hard plastic cosmetics organiser with cantilever trays and a mirror, launched in 1987 by Plano Molding and based on the company’s fishing tackle boxes.

Are Caboodles still made?

Yes. On 17 September 2026 we found 27 new Caboodles listings at conventional US retailers, from $2.99 to $40.99, at a median of $9.49.

How do I tell an original 1980s or 90s Caboodles?

Turn it over. Original cases carry a moulded logo and model number; the earliest read “Caboodles of California” with Plano Molding Co. and Made in USA.

Sources

• Mental Floss, facts about Caboodles makeup organizers — Mateer, the 1987 launch, the two-million-unit figure and the 1992 New York Times awareness number
• ABC News, on the Vintage 1987 case reissue
• CJ Affiliate product feeds, US advertisers, queried 31 August 2026

Read next

Where to buy a Caboodles organiser · Which 90s school supplies you can still buy

How this page was made. Drafted with AI (Claude); not yet independently re-checked. How we work