Barbie I Still Love You!

As I was shopping at Target for a 5 year old girl’s birthday present, I found myself somewhat lost. Come to think of it, I never really put much thought into buying girl toys until we finally had a baby girl. So this turned out to be quite the adventure. As expected, the whole Barbie by Mattel aisle was hard to miss and so I was automatically drawn to the doll section. I said to myself, "this should be easy", I mean really, how hard can it get? I thought that I would just grab any Barbie and get out. But holy cow! I didn’t realize that there were so many different ones! All of the sudden I didn’t know what I wanted anymore. I was getting frustrated and almost about to walk away. And then, I found this! It is called “My House” Barbie. It has 50 pieces of home accessories and furniture you can actually move the house and furniture around to however you want. I saw stars twinkling around the box melodiously calling out my name like how it was called when I was 6 or 7 years old.

My heart melted and brought me back (way back) when I played with my own Barbie Dolls! Shucks…I forgot how much I really loved them. I still remember --- I have 11 Barbie dolls that I played with daily. My little sister and I carried all 11 dolls in a plastic shoe bin and we dressed and redressed them every single day. Everywhere we were, our imaginations were endless. We piled little blocks for Barbie's bed, and always attempted to make a home for Barbie out of boxes. A flood of memories kept pouring in. Really happy memories.

I even actually own that controversial Growing-Up Skipper (picture on the right)! For those of you that didn’t grow up in the 70s, Skipperhappens to be Barbie’s younger sister. Oh wait, maybe Skipper is still around? No? Anyway, the Growing-Up Skipper was a riot. You basically wind the arms backward and the torso gets longer and thinner, and the breast gets bigger too! I guess that it was such a hit that they followed up with Growing-Up Ginger (which I wish I had). Ginger is Skipper’s friend. Oh and who remember Malibu Barbie? The sun-goddess doll that has a tan line if you pull down the straps of her bra!

After that Target trip, I found myself searching online to see if I can still buy these old toys so I can share with my daughter (how’s that for a reason). I am excited to also find the vintage Barbie books from the 60s that I used to love. You gotta love ebay! But the funniest of part of all is that I am now in the lookout to buy another toy I used to play with. This Fonzie doll below complete with the faux leather jacket and motorcycle.


You see in my Barbie household, Mr. Fonzarella was the main squeeze. Infact, there were many timesI was questioned why were Barbie and The Fonz laying around the house without their clothes on. Well, why else? That leather bomber jacket will look hot on Barbie don’t ya think? (*wink) And as the The Fonz cooly say...."eeeeey"

Care to share your favorite childhood toys?

-----------------------------------------------

Crossposted at ChicagoMomsBlog.com

Comments

How funny. I had so many Barbies- probably my favorite! My mom kept all of them- I keep meaning to go look at them in her attic someday! When I was real young I loved Strawberry Shortcake & Rose Petal dolls!

Steph
Renee Nefe said…
I had Growing up Skipper! LOL! I kept her with the breast though...so once in a blue moon I would twist her arm the other way and since she was normally breasts out her plastic chest was kinda permanently stuck out. LOL

But I left all my Barbies at my Dad's house and my former best friend asked my dad if she could have them all and he said yes!!! GRRR He also GAVE her my clarinet. Oh well, wasn't like I could play it anyway.
Anonymous said…
I too was a Barbi girl. Oh the stories we made up for her. I had a 6 foot Barbi house, but no furniture so I made all the furniture for it!
MJ Tam said…
adventures in babywearing Your mom is so cool to have kept your dolls. Remember to take pics of those Barbies and share them in your blog. That I would love to see.
MJ Tam said…
renee that's hilarious! Now I remember the my Skipper boob got stuck that way too...hehe
MJ Tam said…
chelle 6 foot Barbie House *swooon* and you made all the furniture? Awwww man, I wish I was there to have played with you!
Anonymous said…
That's so funny. I had Skipper too! Not THAT Skipper though...are you serious about the growing boobies?! WOW!

Here was one of my favorites growing up:

http://haileybugpicnic.blogspot.com/2008/01/how-could-i-forget.html
Anonymous said…
MJ, I loved my barbies as well growing up. my little sis and I would play with them for hours on end.
good memories, thanks for bring them back to me!!
BTW - I'm slowly catching up with all my old blogging buds, hope all is well with your family.
MJ Tam said…
Great to see you jenn!

Ahhh another Barbie lover. Thanks for sharing.