I’m looking forward to the Barbie Movie this summer.
My friends and I played Barbies a LOT while growing up. We each had a few (as well as some Ken, Skipper and others) so we would combine them together to make a group of them. And we made and traded clothes for the dolls.
My very favorite Barbie item was the “college campus” cardboard set which came out in 1964. It had a dorm room on one side and a “sweet shop” on the other. The reverse side showed the football stadium. (and I ended up on CC - go figure).
How about you? Did you play with Barbie and friends? Take or leave? any favorite clothes or accessories?
My mother did not allow me to have Barbies. She considered them to be very sexist. She gave me My First Barbie for my 30th birthday. I didn’t ban Barbie for my D, but she was never especially interested.
I did have a friend who liked Barbies, and I would play with them at her house when she wanted to do that, but it wasn’t something I particularly liked.
Definitely played/had Barbies. I think I played with them till I was like 11 or 12 - horrors now probably!!! I remember being at my friend’s house around that age - we still enjoyed dressing them up.
A few accessories I remember: the annoying shoes you would easily lose. A black shiny vinyl handbag. BIKINIS but with the high waisted bottoms. The clothes hangers! I remember loving my Barbie case with part of it being a closet!
My mom knitted and sewed Barbie clothes as a hobby and sold some to people in the neighborhood. We still have some of them. One of her proudest stories was that she paid for the kitchen table we had for much of growing up with the $$$ she made selling Barbie clothes. So cute.
My younger sister and I loved playing. We had a lot of them plus a camping set, airplane, dune buggy and probably a few other props I’m not remembering. I have alot of great memories of hours of play. My Mom kept many of them and my girls played when we would visit. I don’t know what happened to the airplane.
I was never interested as a kid, but have come to like them as an adult influenced by my teenage children. When they were little, my kids didn’t play with Barbies much either, but got into the “Barbie: Life in the Dreamhouse” series starting in Jr. High.
Last week, Aldi was selling teeny-tiny Malibu Barbie Dreamhouses for $2.99. What a deal! I nabbed the last ones! I sent the “Ken” one to my son at college in an Easter care package, and my daughter will get the “Barbie” version in her basket.
I had so many Barbies! A friend of my grandmother’s made clothes for them. My mother had a gold formal dress and I had one for the Barbies. My daughter also had them, but she had dentist Barbie, computer science Barbie, veterinarian Barbie, and last but not least - UVA cheerleader Barbie. I remember my sister having the Barbie dream house, a boat, a car - we were definitely a Barbie family.
I wasn’t allowed to have Barbie because my mother thought she was a slut (what were she and Ken doing in that travel trailer??). I was given Tammy, who came complete with her entire family.
Ken had no interest in Tammy so she ended up going to the prom with her brother John. Ewww.
She was a nurse who worked in a pediatric practice, so maybe. I kind of figured it was because Barbie is relatively well-endowed & my gene pool meant that I probably would not be. She didn’t want me to feel “less then.” But most likely, she didn’t like the idea of a little girl focusing on clothes and looks. She was very intentional about how she raised her only daughter in a sea of boys.
Interestingly I never really thought about how Barbie was built. I don’t think it subconsciously got to me either. I was mostly interested in the clothes and the fact that she had a boyfriend
D also played with Barbies as did my sister. We all ended up as feminists (but we all like clothes).
I never thought much about Barbie one way or the other. However, my mom was raised in a very small town, and she fought like heck to be able to have a life that was different from most of the other 13 girls in her class of 27. I think her background caused her to think about things differently than I did.
I played with them, plural. Grandma made clothes for them. I had a much loved Barbie Dream House, a Barbie swimming pool, a Barbie car, Skipper, and probably a Ken too. I also played Mystery Date ad nauseum.
I also built a secret fort in a fig tree (bad idea, too itchy) collected crawdads from a muddy run-off stream, trespassed in the neighbor’s spooky old barn, pretended to smoke candy cigarettes, and rode in mom’s car without a seat belt on ALL THE TIME.
All good fun. I don’t care that those things are now considered un-PC or whatever. I enjoyed them and they were part of my childhood.
I was just about to say this!!! I don’t think I ever really thought much about her body or that mine should mimic hers. Anyway it was clear to me that no real breasts would be as pointy as hers! - LOL!!!
I adored playing with my Barbie. Like my sister and friends, we each owned just one Barbie (mine had a red ponytail) and you bought or made outfits for her. We had the 1962 version Dream House and the awesome fashion shop. I had zero interest in baby dolls, but I could make Barbie do so much cool stuff! I don’t know how I missed out on Barbie’s college campus, I’d have loved that. The clothes were incredible, especially the Guinevere dress, Evening Splendour…I lusted after Solo In The Spotlight. I’d spend hours pouring over that little booklet that came with each outfit.
I don’t recall thinking I would/should look like Barbie when I grew up. Especially not those feet!
