New Christmas Barbies 1994 & 1997 have arrived!

I have been busy this month, so haven't had time to post much. But two new Happy Holidays dolls have arrived to be added to the Christmas Barbie collection. 

1994 & 1997 Happy Holidays Barbie(s) which I purchased in a bundle/set on Mercari , out of boxes, with their stands and shoes. Altogether- $19.44 including shipping which equals out to $9.72 per doll. Not bad, and their condition is shelf display. Their hair is lovely, never brushed or played with. This is mainly what I am looking for in the older dolls, that they have their stands, shoes, clothing be unstained, no tears, all jewelry intact, not played with by a child. 

 1994 Happy Holidays Barbie in the gold dress-

1997 Happy Holidays Barbie in the red dress- she is such a stunner with that lovely long brunnette hair. 

For a recap, I took photos with 1996 and 2004 Happy Holidays Barbies that had arrives earlier this month I did an earlier post on -

1996 Happy Holidays Barbie with fur muff

2004 Happy Holidays Barbie in the green dress 

New Christmas Barbies- 1996 and 2004!

About two weeks ago, or possibly three, I purchased these two dolls in a lot on Ebay that I had been watching when I was offered an incredible deal that I could not pass up for the two of them. The 2004 Special Edition Happy Holidays doll had damage on the box but that did not really bother me as I was going to de-box both of them for my photographing/ collecting purposes. 

2004 Special Edition Happy Holidays Barbie came with damage on the plastic window and to the sides , but she is a beautiful doll, intact with her stand, shoes, etc. The interesting thing about her box is it opens up to reveal the previous editions. When I deboxed her I kept that part of the box because the info was too good to throw away. 

 1996 Happy Holidays Barbie came fully intact in her box, no damage. 

The seller made me a best offer of $9.80 and with tax and shipping it came to $22.22 all total which evens out to $11.11 total per doll. I could not pay that at a doll show for these dolls boxed. And in the beautiful condition they were in. Just have to jump on these dolls/ offers when you see them!

Grolier Books: Barbie and Friends Book Club books- New Collections

This is a post I have been working on for a few weeks, as I have begun to collect books that have to do with dolls and also with Barbie. In my collecting, I came across a set of books for young girls with photos and vocabulary lists ages 6-13 with wonderful, diorama photos of Barbie and friends from the 1990's called Barbie and Friends book club books. 

These books were hardcover, and apparently you signed up for the books by a monthly subscription, as best I can figure out. There is not much information out there now . Grolier Books did the publishing with about 5 authors. There were about 36 or 37 books altogether. 

You can purchase the books on the secondary market in lots, on Ebay, Mercari, Poshmark, or other thriftbook sites like Amazon, Better World Books, and so on. I have been getting mine on Paperbackswap.com which I belong to and is a site where you can list unwanted books, and when someone shops your bookshelf, you receive a credit when you mail out the book. With those credits you can shop for a book you want. I have been able to acquire many of my Barbie book club books this way as well as shopping for them on Ebay. 

So far, here are the ones I have acquired in my collection-

7- Barbie- The Peasant and the Princess

9- Barbie the Clue in the Haunted Library

17- Barbie- A Ride for Freedom

19- A Voyage to Rados

25- Barbie: The Front Window

27- Barbie  A Place Called Home

30- Barbie- Skipping A Beat

32- Barbie: Friendship Not For Sale

33- Mystery of the Emperor's Teapot

34- Barbie: A Stitch In Time

36- Barbie: Mystery of the Snowy Woods Inn

So far these are the books I have in my collection and I have three more coming to me. I find them enchanting with the photos and the storyline, and enjoy reading them, as they are cleverly written and the dioramas are also well done. I would love to replicate some of the dioramas myself. It has inspired another aspect of my collecting/ and 'playing' with my dolls that I miss.