Happy Holidays 2011 Barbie

Happy Holidays 2011 Barbie arrived today and she is one of the more lovely ones, I think, in the holiday line. I was lucky enough to find her at a really good price- she was out of the box , her hair , jewelry, shoes, intact and she came with her hairbrush, but no stand. I have a ton of stands in my stash, so that was not a problem. Purchasing dolls from someone else's collection that have been on display isn't a problem for me, if they are in good condition, and have most of their accessories. 

I think this green and gold gown with the embroidery and the rhinestones is just fabulous. It has an overskirt that flares out behind her, with a gold lame underskirt and matches the gold embroidery on the green silk. The fabrics on this gown are dazzling. 

Here she is again by the table and Christmas tree, and with her brush. 

And now, photos with her previous Holiday sisters who arrived  before her...

 

Happy Holidays 2016 Barbie

My quest to acquire the rest of the Happy Holidays dolls is well on its way and I was able to acquire at a very great price on Mercari Happy Holidays 2016 Barbie- the Latina version in the burgundy/gold version for $15 + shipping . That year, 2016 , they decided to do a trio, Peace, Hope and Love, three dolls in a red, aqua/teal, and blue. The doll in red was a Latina doll, the doll in aqua/teal dress was a Caucasian, and the doll in blue was an African-American.The dolls came in these weird bubble Snowglobe type packaging which does not survive the test of time- the doll I purchased her packaging was slightly coming apart- which did not matter to me- since I intend to de-box all of these dolls anyway and enjoy them. If time and finances allow, I will collect the other two from this series to complete the 2016 collection. Below are photos of her in the box. The biggest problem I have with this series of dolls is that their bodices are plastic, held onto the dress by a thin plastic strip around their back. Extremely cheap, playline and not worth the $39.99 pricetag they were demanding- this was the year that the price went UP. 

 

Overall, I was surprised at how well the doll showed up in these photos. Here she is with the other two dolls that recently showed up over the weekend.

They all look stunning together, especially the different shades of red. Enjoy!

Happy Holidays 2014 Barbie

This doll arrived in very good condition and the seller, I am happy to say, packed in a box- though the box was smashed, no thanks to UPS. It even looked like someone had attempted to rip open the box on one end and then stopped. Thankfully, my doll was intact. 2014 I think was when Mattel was beginning to stop the quality or perhaps 2015, because when we get to 2016, the packaging, the gowns, everything goes downhill from there on the Holidays dolls. 

 This Barbie however, is lovely, she has jewelry at her neck, her hair is very thick and lovely, her gown, though the fabric is thin, the gown is beautiful, and she does come with an ornament. One thing I did like about her was they had used a thickness of cardboard to hold her gown out, which, while the gown is thin-(like more future Holidays dolls to come) it gives us the illusion of a doll with crinolines underneath. I have not yet purchased 2015 but am looking for both versions- there is blonde version in burgundy and white with silver, and the more rare version- brunette in green with silver- which is pricey but not out of reach. I have 2016 Holiday doll in the Hispanic burgundy dress coming- but there were three dolls in that year- it was Peace, Hope and Love edition, so that is going to be a hard year to collect for 2016- and they were rather cheaply made dolls.  So- onto the photos of 2014! The first ones were taken by the tree with the tree lit. 

         She is an extremely lovely doll, especially with the skirts of her gown held out by the cardboard underskirt. 

This is with full light on, her gown has a gold net underskirt to match the lace on her bodice and her gold jewelry.

Her box arrived in much better condition. I am so pleased I found her at such a great price! More pics tomorrow!