Normally, I’d publish on my English blog and
then on the Polish one a couple of minutes later but ever since Blox announced
their plans for closing I’ve been migrating to Blogger. Although that’s finally finished on both of my blogs, I’m still behind the Polish one by a couple of
entries. I realize this post, which is actually meant to celebrate Barbie’s 60th
birthday, is terribly late, but I wanted to show you this doll anyway. She
sure deserves it. So here’s Birthday Surprise Barbie 1991.
She actually doesn’t belong to me but to my little
daughter who got a Fashionista for her 4th birthday. When I asked
her what she’d like to get from Santa she replied: ‘A beautiful ball dress for
my Barbie’. So while I was sure she was fast asleep sat down by my laptop to search for that dress. I didn’t find it but I did come across Birthday Surprise. As I
was devouring the doll with my eyes, a sudden scream brought me back to reality
and almost gave me a heart attack. My little girl was standing right behind me
mesmerized – ‘Oh mommy! This is the most beautiful Barbie I’ve ever seen! Can I
get her from Santa?’. Well, Santa had some doubts, because my daughter was just
4 years old, this was no ordinary doll and many collectors would reproach me
for even thinking about such an abominable thing as giving it to a child. But as it happens, my girl has
never, ever broken a toy in her life. Blame Toy Story for that, but she treats
her toys with the utmost care and gentleness. So I hit the buy now button and
here she is.
My daughter manifests a true collector attitude
towards Birthday Surprise: Fashionistas are for play time, Birthday Surprise
is just to look at. She hardly ever gets to be played with and she usually just
stands on the chest of drawers supported by her stand, still in her stock dress
and shoes (!), with her hair never brushed while the Fashionistas constantly
change their outfits and hairdos. I guess my little girl just feels sort of
intuitively that Birthday Surprise is special and she’s to be treated just as
that. But the doll is important to me as well, my collection actually began
because of her. When I was holding this beautiful doll in my hands I
remembered all the Barbies I used to own and lost and I suddenly just wanted to
see their pictures again and then the pictures simply weren’t enough.
Birthday Surprise is clearly a collectible. She
was packaged so that she could be fully admired while still in her box and should
anyone wish to release her, a stand was provided so that she could be proudly
and properly displayed. The doll was available in the Caucasian and the AA
version with the stunning Christie 1987 features. Both were packaged
identically and wore the same dresses. As a birthday doll, Barbie came with
a surprise gift for her little owner. The present could be a bracelet, a
necklace or a pair of earrings and you didn’t know what you’d get because the
gift was wrapped. My daughter’s doll came second-handed so she lost her gift,
her brush and she got a replacement stand, but her outfit was complete as were
her shoes and her jewelry. The ring was loose however and I was the one who
lost it even before Santa managed to deliver the gift.
the source: https://pl.pinterest.com/pin/352336370843868002/?lp=true
The dress is beautifull and elaborate. It’s
huge too and fortunately, it’s not pink but peach colored. The upper parts are
very decorative. There’s an intricate pattern on the bodice and the neckline
has some tulle rosettes to it. At the waist there’s some white, opalescent
detailing and the skirt part is three layers sprinkled with glitter and adorned
with pearl beads. The doll looks queenly and the dress has been designed with
taste.
Barbie’s hair is this wild and soft kanekalon,
gathered at the forehead and styled in a lovely little doughnut bun. The rest
of it should be let loose, but it gets caught by Barbie’s dress and tangled. So
we just tied the hair with some ribbons to protect it and the hair pin is my
daughter’s idea. Barbie’s face is just stunning! Her blue-green eyes have that
happy look to them and the eyeshadow is very subtle. Her coral lips smile in
this gentle way. At some point, about the year 2000 or so I was very unhappy
with what Mattel was doing, creating an army of drag queens and it made me
wonder. Having created such beautiful dolls that both children and collectors loved,
why would they go in that direction. Oh well.
Happy Birthday Barbie!
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