This Barbie™ Dreamtopia Twinkle Lights Mermaid™ Doll has twinkled and shimmered, trampolined, taken a bath and nap, had her hair brushed and tended to her herd of ponies. She is loved.
The imagination and endless possibilities when a toddler and Barbie comes together is one of the most beautiful things.
Do you remember when you got your first Barbie? I do! My parents were visiting friends in Northam. I remember my mom’s face when she gave me that Barbie doll in a pink and purple jumpsuit. I remember holding her while still in that box and admiring her beautiful blue eyes, shiny blonde curls and soft pink lipstick. She was the most beautiful thing I ever owned.
Imagine if you could do the same for another little girl when you buy a Barbie for your own little girl…
Mattel South Africa recently announced that, as part of its Barbie #ThankYouHeroes programme, it will donate a Barbie doll for each eligible career doll purchased from ToysRUs stores nation-wide. This initiative taking place from the 3rd of August 2020 to the 31st of August 2020, is aiming to donate about 1500 dolls to the Children’s Hospital Trust (CHT).
The CHT is an NPO that raises funds to advance child healthcare through the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital. From upgrades to its buildings and facilities, to the implementation of several projects and programmes and upskilling of medical professionals from across Africa.
The Barbie #ThankYouHeroes programme is part of Mattel’s broader “Play it Forward” platform, which focuses on leveraging Mattel brands to give back to communities in times of need.
The ‘buy a doll, donate a doll’ initiative will see dolls handed over to the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital will then be distributed to patients diagnosed with the corona virus. The aim is to bring joy and encourage children to aspire to become whatever they would like to be in the world.
I’ve been waiting for this launch for months… It was delayed here in South Africa due to that virus we shall not name.
A few weeks ago I excitedly turned to my husband and said I orderd my Barbie MAC lipstick. He got stuck on who MAC is and completely missed that I just bought a Barbie lipstick for myself. Men…
Introducing Barbie’s next venture: an exclusive M·A·C collaboration! As the newest M·A·C Maker, Barbie – the original doll, global icon and influencer with @barbiestyle – designs her own Lipstick. Read more here.
The Barbie cool-toned bubblegum-pink shade with a Matte finish embraces endless possibilities – working wherever your day or career path takes you. It’s all in the details with special packaging in Barbie’s iconic power-pink with gold – ready for anything!
It was an exceptional year of big birthdays and launches for Barbie this year – and I was there!
Barbie made her first appearance on 9 March 1959 – 59 years ago! Since then she has been updated in colours, shapes and sizes to be more inclusive. She now also has more careers to inspire girls to be more when they grow up – and it is for this reason that I’m including Barbie on my gift guide.
Over a billion Barbie dolls have been sold worldwide!
Barbie® Color Surprise™ doll
As a kid I would’ve killed to have a Barbie like this. You (or your little girl) can change the color of Barbie® doll’s hair from pretty pastel shades to bolder, brighter hues with ice cold water. Simply spray with the included bottle and watch her pastel pink, blue and purple hair become bold pink, teal and purple streaks. Use the four hair stencils (with iconic patterns) and stencil tool to create designs as you spritz water to alter the doll’s hair colors for unique, customized looks.
Barbie® Dreamtopia Rainbow Cove Castle
A beautiful castle inspired by the colorful land of Rainbow Cove™ will spark all kinds of storytelling. It has four magical play spaces and 15 pieces, that include a puppy.
Barbie® Cooking & Baking Ultimate Kitchen
Your daughter’s Barbie could have the Ultimate Kitchen playset with working features and amazing accessories! Kids will have all the ingredients they need to prepare delicious dishes, from simple snacks for one to gourmet dinners for family and friends!
Barbie® DreamCamper™
Now this is my favourite! It reminds me so much of all my family holidays as a child… We never had a camper, but we camped everywhere and saw so much of South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe. I was a very lucky child to have grown up in a time where our adventurous spirit could still just hit the road.
The amazing Barbie® DreamCamper™ transforms from a stylish RV into a spectacular campsite – with 35+ pieces and endless ways to play!
Everybody wants a Fashionista that looks like them – right?
Barbie now has so many different shapes, sizes and colours that you might just be lucky enough to find your doppelganger in the Fashionista range. My personal favourites include:
Barbie® Fashionistas™ Doll 97 – Petite with Brunette Waves
I’m quite enjoying looking through Barbie’s closet on her Barbie Style Instagram account. I wish I had the time to style my own outfits after hers, but being a mom sometimes mean that I live in jeans and Ts.
Let’s kick of September’s favourite looks with this gorgeous black and gold ensemble.
Yesterday I felt so proud of our Proteas, our national women’s cricket team. My heart literally burst when I got to spend just an hour with these wonderful ladies. Some of their stories are so inspiring – from being chosen to play for the national team at 16 to coming from a small town in KZN…
There were two players that stood out for me, Chloe Tryone and Moseline Daniels. I will still publish my interviews, but what I took away from my interview with them was that wearing the Protea on their hearts means more to them than we can ever imagine and they will give their everything to keep on representing South Africa.
It is so important for girls to know that there are no limits to what they can achieve and women like Chloe and Moseline (and the rest of the team) is what our girls need to see more of.
There is one little lady who champions global initiatives for girls to realise their limitless potential, Barbie. Her new global initiative, the ‘DREAM GAP PROJECT’ is a multi-year campaign that will raise awareness around limiting factors that prevent girls from reaching their full potential.
Research* has identified that starting at age five many girls are less likely than boys to view their own gender as smart and begin to lose confidence in their own competence. Cultural stereotypes, implicit biases and representation in media work together to further this issue. In the United States, this has been referenced as the “Dream Gap,” but there are similar trends seen around the world.
Girls’ belief in themselves is impacted by these limiting factors, so Barbie is dedicated to funding research, highlighting positive role models and rallying a community around supporting girls through The Dream Gap Project.
“Since 1959, Barbie has inspired the limitless potential in every girl and we believe that empowering them at a young age is a catalyst to unlocking their full potential,” said Lisa McKnight, General Manager and Senior Vice President, Barbie. “The goal of The Dream Gap Project is to leverage Barbie’s global platforms to educate society on gender biases and inspire any supporter of girls to join us as we can’t do this alone.”
The notion of a Dream Gap is still a relatively new concept and is under-researched, especially in girls 5-7 years old. To help, the brand is collaborating with Associate Professor Andrei Cimpian of New York University to fund a two-year post-doctoral fellowship on this issue. Globally, Barbie will work with local researchers to extend these studies and find out more about girls around the world.
“Our research is just the beginning — we need to dedicate more resources to this important topic so that we can better understand how to support girls,” said Andrei Cimpian, Associate Professor at New York University. “This collaboration with Barbie is a large-scale, ambitious effort to explore this important phenomenon and share what we know about childhood development to a mass audience, so we can help close the Dream Gap.”
The brand is dedicated to helping close the Dream Gap and will be focused on:
Raising awareness through impactful content developed to provide adults with resources on how they can support the girls in their lives available on Barbie.com. Barbie also created a new digital spot, that builds on the “You Can Be Anything” campaign and explains the Dream Gap.
Showing girls more role models by highlighting at least 10 empowering female role models each year globally. Because telling a girl she can be anything is just the beginning, actually seeing that she can do anything makes all the difference.
Leveraging Barbie as a role model and connecting with girls through inspiring content that is centered on teachable moments. By continuing to infuse purpose-driven themes in content, such as Barbie Vlogger, we are addressing issues that girls face in a unique and approachable way.
Continuing to offer empowering products that allow girls to play out their dreams, while showing them they have choices. From the Inspiring Women series to highlighting underrepresented careers, Barbie is encouraging imagination, expression and discovery.
Rallying partners around the world with any like-minded companies who are dedicated to girls’ empowerment.
To learn more about the brand’s commitment, please visit barbie.com/DreamGap and join the social conversation with #CloseTheDreamGap.
*Study conducted by researchers at New York University, the University of Illinois and Princeton University.
Rainy weekends make for you having to come up with ideas to keep your little girls busy – right? Well, if you are equipped with unlimited internet you could be watching Dreamtopia episodes on Youtube!
I was a huge fan of the X-files! Back in the day we had to be in front of the TV when an episode aired – unless you could set the video player to record at the right time.
Strong, beautiful Agent Dana Scully who was the voice of reason for Agent Fox Mulder who regularly threw caution to the wind. It was simply the best show on TV.
Now, 25 years later, the duo has been honoured with their very own Barbie® The X-Files™ Agent Fox Mulder Doll and Barbie® The X-Files™ Agent Dana Scully Doll.
Back in 1968 Barbie, Christie (in tangerine) and Stacey (in the 2 piece) became friends. 50 years later we have Mattel brought the 3 together again as a boxed Barbie Mod Friends set.
Don’t these just bring back memories from an iconic fashion era?
