I know. I know. I hear what you are saying. It’s Tuesday. I shouldn’t be posting on a Tuesday. But it was brought to my attention by another fabulous blogger that today is National Barbie Day. Can you believe Barbie has her own day? I must admit I’m still having a little trouble wrapping my head around the idea. But she has been with us a very long time and she looks so much better than I do. So not fair.
But like most young girls, I played with Barbie. I can’t deny it. The guilty proof is there in print to forever haunt me. *coughs* What were we thinking with that horrid 70’s hair? Gag! (Psst, let me tell you a secret. Barbie was never my favorite doll. Nope. I would save all my allowance for a little doll called Dawn. I would find her or, later her left overs in boxes titled Barbra’s Fashions. The Dawn Doll stopped coming off the assembly line after 3 successful years). So sad. But that’s another post.
Now my daughter has just come into the age of Barbie. It’s her new-found love. Her Barbie Dream House could kick mine to smithereens and back again if I still had it. The improvements they have made are something else!
While what few dolls I have left from the collection my sister and I had sat in a box in our garage, my daughter’s dolls scatter all over the floor, spreading like a disease into every room and space of our home.
But sharing these pictures and ridiculous facts was not why I am posting on this crazy birthday of sorts. Today I wanted to bring attention to two fabulous bloggers in my life and their posts honoring Barbie. They have said everything I would have had to say, only better. I wouldn’t try to put something together that would compete. These fabulous bloggers and their reads are:
Thanks for stopping by. Hope you enjoyed the 70’s me and the walk with Barbie on her special day. ;D
~oOo~
I loved Dawn dolls! They were just so tiny and cute. But I also loved Barbie…and the happiest day of my young life was the Christmas I finally got Ken (sure beat using a 3 feet tall teddy bear for her husband!)…allowances almost always went to the cashier at the roller rink every Friday night.
Barbie’s though… I spent more hours playing dolls than I’ll ever admit to. And I’m pretty sure that writing was just the substitute when I got too old for them. 🙂
Do you remember the Dawn doll you could get with Cheerio’s box tops? There is probably a blog post in my Dawn doll history/story,
I had a couple of Kens, the traditional on and a brunette I melted in the microwave when I put him in jail. LOL Logically I had to turn the thing on in order for the light to come on so that I could see him.
I just laughed so hard I cried. Of course you needed to turn the light on. Poor jailed Ken couldn’t be left in the dark. LOLOL!
Barbie-lovers can be quite creative, can’t they? My sister and I (pre-Ken days) took ours to a ‘carnival’ in the basement. There, we tucked each doll’s legs in the slot of the Easy-Bake-Oven and I grabbed the cord and started swinging it in a circle…smacking my sister upside the head after I got going pretty fast (more like out of control). Our Barbie’s didn’t go to anymore carnivals after that.
Hmm. I have just a hint of a memory of Dawn dolls and Cheerios box tops fluttering around the edges of my mind so I imagine I got at least one that way. 🙂
OMG! The things we all did to our dolls. I wonder if the product testers thought to test against some of the things we did. LOL
You are a barbie doll. That’s where I thought this post was going. Why are we in Alberkerky? Are dolls still a big thing now? I have no idea what kids are into with their iBarbies and such.
Hehehe. I almost didn’t post this piece because I didn’t want people to think that, and then I stopped that way of thinking. I shouldn’t be ruled by what people think of me, no one should. And why are you in Alberkerky? 🙂 Dolls are the big thing, if you’re a six-year-old girl like my daughter and want to be a princess half the time and a dare devil the other half. LOL Mattel would like to make dolls the big thing for everyone everywhere! Happy National Barbie Day! Thanks so much for stoppin by and taking the time to comment on my blog.
Thanks for linking me, Debra! It looks like Myndi spawned all sorts of posts with her original one. 🙂 Please do a Dawn doll segment – I’ve never heard of her! I’d be interested to know how she was different from Barbie.
I also wanted to mention how “70’s” Barbie looked in your picture, and how cultural and diverse the dolls looked in the newer pictures. It is so interesting to see how she changes with the fashion and with the expectations that society has for her.
You are most welcome! Myndi is great for kicking things off, isn’t she? A Dawn segment, huh? I’ll have to give that some thought. I know just the angle to use, too.
If you look at the picture of the dolls that were mine, the one in the front with the short hair my grandparents had picked up for me when I was young. She came from an antique store even then. She was one of the originals. Unfortunately her body busted so now it’s an old head on a 70’s body. LOL
I was always taking my Barbie doll’s heads off. I was so curious to see how they were made, and you know once that head came off it never went back on again. :-/
Oh, I’m sorry Melinda. I had that happen with dolls, when the post breaks and you can’t reattach the head. Total bummer. 🙁 Bad doll makers. They needed to think of these things and make them sturdy enough for our crazy play.
If it’s Barbie’s official birthday, I feel like we should have the day off school! I only had two Barbies and once I cut their hair and pierced their ears, they weren’t much fun.
We totally should! LOL I think I gave a few haircuts in my day as well. What I remember most is I had those Charlies Angles dolls and when their curls came out and tried to curl them back in. That didn’t work out so well. The hair melted to my curling iron. 🙁
OH, that brings back memories. My mom wouldn’t buy them for us, so we’d go over to my neighbor’s house, and play with her gigantic collection, including dream house and convertible. Ahh, the simple life.
I’m sorry you didn’t have any Barbies, Paige. That doesn’t seem fair. Would you like some of my daughters to make up for the void that is in your life? She can make due with fewer. My Barbies drove a black Jeep Tonka. So much cooler than a pink convertible. I’m just saying.
I used to play with Barbies but of course as a parent I wanted to keep my daughter from those negative images blah blah blah- so of course all she wanted was Barbie- as amoral compromise I bought her dolls from the princesses of the world collection so at least the dolls were multi cultural LOL!
LOL I hear that. Notice how my daughter has a doll to represent the different cultures as well. I tried to get her interested in other dolls, but she is stubborn and won’t have it. What does Barbie do that captures their interest? Video marketing! Barbie Princess Charm School is what nabbed my girl.
I relate to Alica’s comment. I don’t have kids, but I have 8 nieces. On one hand, I dig Barbie—the fact that she’s now available in various professions and ethnicities and allows kids to use their imaginations and play. On the other hand, she’s not the physique I want my young loved ones to compare themselves to. Don’t mean to get all heavy! (Whoops! Bad pun. ;)) I totally respect people’s passion for the dolls. Off to check out the links you so kindly shared!
Yay! My concerns are addressed in the links anyway. *whew* Feeling less preachy/soap-box-ish. LOL
🙂 I felt no need in repeating what was already said on these great posts. I just wanted to direct everyone to them. Isn’t just like our society to have a day celebrating a doll that embodies a bunch of negative images for our little girls? Everyone needs to pop over to Karen and Myndi’s posts via the links.
Ah yes, the eternal life of Barbie. I had my share of Barbie dolls and I had a Dawn doll as well. Plus I had a Skipper doll. Sadly, my Barbies were homless and carless. They had tons of clothes though, which I sewed myself, but they had no closets to put them in. My little supply of Barbies are resting comfortably in my mom’s old trunk, waiting to become old enough to be worth something. They’re not quite antiques yet.
Thanks for the extra Tuesday post!
Patricia Rickrode
w/a Jansen Schmidt
Your Barbies may have been homeless but it doesn’t sound like they wanted for much. Mine had to live in an old RC Cola display for a few years until I got a dream house for Christmas one year. LOL We were kids with imaginations, we made due – right? That’s cool you kept all your old Barbies. I only have 2 or 3 of mine. The others pictured were my sisters. I haven’t a clue what became of the rest. They were probably sold at a garage sale. I was big on getting the money to buy more stuff back then. Live and learn.
I can’t remember Dawn dolls but I loved both Barbie and Cindy. I remember Jewel Secret Barbie who had a really cool necklace and Ibiza Barbie dressed in her pink clubbing gear 🙂 Oh to be 9 years old again 🙂
You are probably too young to remember Dawn Dolls. Lucky lady. I don’t remember Jewel Secret Barbie so now we are even. LOL Barbie sure did have everything, except for a cool boyfriend, if you ask me. When they came out with the Star Wars figures her size her prayers were answered. She was finally able to date Han Solo. 🙂
Love seeing your collection of dolls! It’s funny how they multiply like rabbits. SweetZ’s got a serious stash of Disney Princess dolls and Tinkerbell dolls…but no official Barbies as of yet. Give it a year or two, and I’m sure we’ll have a decent collection….
Thanks for linking my blog, sweet girl!
My Monkey has a bunch of Disney Princess dolls as well. She recently got into Barbie. Not sure how that happened. LOL I was trying to get her into the Monster High dolls, but she won’t bite. 🙁 Haha
So funny. SweetZ doesn’t like the Monster High dolls either. She says they’re icky. 🙂
What a fun day lol
The Hippie loves barbies 🙂
Who knew the day would turn out like this! I was just trying to promote some awesome bloggers with some great posts! 🙂 Hippie is the right age to have a healthy love of Barbie. Congratultions on latest book release!!!
Politically correct or not. I loved Barbie. I grew up with Barbie. I had an original Barbie. Don’t ask what happened to her. Barbie was the princess of all dolls back in the day. Great collection of Barbie dolls Debra. And look at all these comments. See, women/girls still like Barbie! 🙂
Some part of us always stays young at heart, finding a fond place for those toys of our childhood. Wouldn’t you agree? I loved my dolls, too. But I also loved the mego superhero figures and Hot Wheels cars. The thing I loved most was putting my imagination to work and creating worlds out of the backyard or neighborhood. Life was good.
Some part of us always stays young at heart, finding a fond place for those toys of our childhood. Wouldn’t you agree? I loved my dolls, too. But I also loved the mego superhero figures and Hot Wheels cars. The thing I loved most was putting my imagination to work and creating worlds out of the backyard or neighborhood. Life was good.
I have to say, I love being a girly-girl and dancing around to Aqua’s AMAZING song, “Barbie Girl,” but I was definitely “meh” on her back in the day — I wanted to dress up in my princess dresses and play with GI Joe action figures, lol. Still, I love seeing how many women continue to love Barbie!
Oh, Lena! If you have pictures of that you should post one and do a piece on it. That would be awesome. I was never fond of Ken, but always wished GI Joe looked a little cuter. What can I say. 😀 I always had a little bit of tomboy and girly-girl in me growing up. I think you and I would have gotten along great.
Nice post! Barbie deserves her day!
Thank you, Ted! Barbie sure has put in her time and earned it, hasn’t she?
That first picture is priceless! I want those clothes in people-size. The overalls at the very least.
Glad you like it! It would be right at home on your blog, wouldn’t it? 🙂 I think I could hide an entire family of kittens in those bell bottom jeans I’m wearing. LOL Thanks for stopping in, Angie!
Glad you like it! It would be right at home on your blog, wouldn’t it? 🙂 I think I could hide an entire family of kittens in those bell bottom jeans I’m wearing. LOL Thanks for stopping in, Angie!