Earlier this week I wrote about Lucas’ obsession with cars and it got me thinking about my obsessions as a child.
When I was a little girl I used to love playing with Barbies.
My first Barbie was Malibu Skipper (Barbie’s kid sister) and I probably got her for my seventh birthday. It was all downhill from there… I was hooked!
I would spend HOURS making up elaborate story lines for my Barbies based on episodes of Dynasty and Knots Landing. I would fully stage sleep overs, dates, weddings, cat fights and court room dramas.
I would painstakingly handcraft Barbie-sized letters, money, magazines, books and invitations to Barbie and Ken’s elaborate parties.
I’d give each of my Barbie her own unique personality and characteristics, complete with flaws. All important parts of fostering any young girl’s imagination, socialization and development.
My mom and I were always on the hunt for everyday household items that could be used in my Barbie world; toilet paper rolls could be pushed inward and become high chairs for Barbie’s babies, shoe boxes become cars or beds, an empty Morton’s salt container can be transformed into a chair and a jacks box could be used as a suitcase.
At one point I had close to 30 Barbie dolls, including Peaches ‘N Cream Barbie, Loving You Barbie and Day To Night Barbie.
I also had the Barbie 3-story Townhouse with elevator, Sleep ‘n Keep case, which I took everywhere (see below), the camper van, a bubble bath that made real bubbles, Dallas, Barbie’s horse and tons of accessories and clothes. My mother also made a lot of my doll clothes.
Like most of my friends, not quite as Barbie-obsessed as I was, we all lusted after the coveted Barbie Dream House, which for the record, I never got!
My aunt Gail likes to kid me to this day about my relentless begging of her to “play Barbies with me” whenever we visited.
I kept the Sleep ‘N Keep Case and it is filled with all my favorite Barbies, clothes and accessories. I remember my mother telling me how much she wished she had kept her Barbies for me.
Sadly, the case wreaks to high heaven and the dolls hair is matted and the clothes have stiffened and yellowed, but it was fun to show Lucas and relive a very happy part of my childhood until he vehemently asked me to put it all away so that we could go back to parking with his cars. O_o
One of the most common criticisms of Barbie is that she promotes an unrealistic idea of body image for young women, but I also hope that she inspires them. Pretend play is a beautiful thing and Barbie can be and do anything and does it with the utmost grace, not to mention fantastic shoes.
Hard to believe that Barbie made her debut 54 years ago. In fact, on this day, February 13, in 1959 the first Barbie doll went on sale.
Were you as obsessed with Barbies as I was and if you have a daughter, do they play with them?
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Oh yes, my sister and I spent hours playing with our Barbies. We didn’t have that dream house either, so we made up our own ‘house’. We used the floor space in our shared room and used everyday objects as beds, chairs etc. We also made clothes for them – my aunt was a seamstress, and we would go to her place, and pick scraps of fabric and get her to sew tiny clothes. Sometimes, we’d just use the fabric and wrap it around the dolls.
We weren’t as elaborate with party invitations and notes though. 🙂
I spent hours playing with my barbies! My mom even kept her original Barbie, in the black and white bathing suit, and I played with that as well. Things like this make me wish I had a daughter to pass that along to.
I was more obsessed with my baby dolls, but my daughter? she’s 3.5 and MAN, girl loves her some Barbies already. She does like me to play them with her, and I do. But it’s so so cute to sit back and watch her making up her own storylines for them. It’s especially good if she isn’t even aware I’m watching her 🙂 too funny.
OBSESSED. I had no idea you felt the same way. I’m pretty sure I have every piece of furniture and accessory made from 1978 – 1986. (See how I said ‘have’?) Yes, I still have the complete sets in all the original boxes waiting for me to make ‘Barbieland’ for my daughter.
And I named all of my dolls after Dynasty, too!!!
This post made me so excited.
I too was in love with barbies and probably played with them till well into middle school even. I just didn’t want to let go of all that. I think somewhere in our storage unit are a couple of my favorite barbies…at least I hope so. My absolute favorite Barbie was the Christmas one. She wore a beautiful green velvet dress covered in red and white jewels. I begged and begged for that one so I was thrilled when I finally got it from mom and dad.
I remember also always wanting to play with yours and this case that you had but you would never let me!
I didn’t know that mom would make your clothes for your Barbies! That’s really neat. 😉
Oh my gosh, I TOTALLY forgot about Peaches and Cream Barbie! I had her too and I just LOVED her dress, so much! I had many Barbies too and me and my friends and cousins played them for hours upon hours. Great memories! 🙂
I had Peaches n Cream Barbie too! Oh, how I was obsessed with my barbies! I also made up elaborate storylines when I played with them. My bedroom would become a city of places for them to go and live and it would take up a whole DAY of play. I never had a problem with Barbie. I never wanted to look like her…I think they were just fun.
And my first Barbie was a roller skating one with very short shorts 🙂
I used to use Barbies as dive toys in the pool.
My kids have never really been into them. They prefer baby dolls.
Ketawa Firdayu dengan ungkapan terakhir yang keluar dari mulut Syah Izuan.
“Maaf mummy. Mummy orang pergi kelas dulu. Malas nak tengok anak manja mummy tu kat rumah,” jawabnya sambil keluar meninggalkan mummynya dengan anak kesayangannya.
“KYAAAAAAAA!!! Aku dah lewat!!” Aku meninggalkan jejaka hensem tersebut di belakang. Kalu bebeno aku nih..