"HOLIDAY DECORATING WITH DOLLS" > Page 1, 2, 3
So Many Doll Ornaments
(so little space...)
Part I of this series discussed decorating with Antique Dolls, and part III discusses decorating with Barbie® and Gene®. However perhaps your budget is
limited, or you don't have space to decorate with large dolls. If so, doll Christmas
ornaments are for you. There have been many doll ornaments produced in the last few
years representing every type of doll from cloth dolls to Barbies. Additionally,
there are delightful vintage Christmas ornaments which are small dolls, elves and Santas
that enhance most decorating schemes using dolls, whether your dolls or your decorating
style is antique or modern.
Hallmark Doll Ornaments
One of the most prolific producers of doll ornaments
depicting dolls in the last 26 years has been Hallmark.
Hallmark has produced doll ornaments from
the very first--in the first 1973 Hallmark 
Ornament collection, there were several yarn dolls (very hard to
find today!). In the remainder of the 1970s there was a variety of Raggedy Ann ball
and figural ornaments, as well as more yarn dolls. More yarn dolls followed in the early
1980s, and many old-fashioned toy ornaments that display well with dolls (trains, the
wonderful rocking horse series, the popular tin train series, and stockings filled with
toys, among others).
What I like to call the "dollhouse series" started in 1984, with the still-running Nostalgic Houses and Shops! This series has tiny, well, dollhouses with the exterior of the building on one side and the interior (including little furniture!) on the other. See the photo, below, with the 1992 ornament for this series, the "Five and Dime." The early houses in this series can fetch over $200 if found mint with their boxes.
The first porcelain doll ornament, Amanda (not terribly
attractive; the porcelain ornaments improved later) was produced in 1984 also. Old
Fashioned Doll (porcelain) was made in 1985. More of the same throughout the 80s and
90s (Nostalgic Houses; Porcelain Dolls; Tin Trains; Rocking 
Horses) until 1993 when the very first Barbie ornament was
produced; the popular (and expensive to find today; $65 plus) 1988 Happy Holidays Doll
Ornament. Since then, there has been several series of Barbie ornaments; the Happy
Holidays series, the International Barbies series, and the the Nostalgic Series.
This year two firsts--a Barbie house ornament, and the first miniature ornament (see photo
above), the delightful (and hard to find!) vintage Barbie case in miniature with miniature
ponytail Barbie doll. The case opens and closes! Another Barbie ornament
for this year is the Millenium Barbie ornament. There has also been a series
of Madame Alexander doll ornaments in the 1990s; the one shown is the current Madame
Alexander ornament, the Red Queen from Alice in Wonderland (number 4 in the series).
Other Doll Ornaments
Of course, Hallmark is not the only producer of doll Christmas ornaments. Effanbee currently has a series of doll ornaments. As mentioned above many vintage ornaments, particularly the little elves and Santas with vinyl faces produced in the 1950s and 1960s, can be considered dolls and also doll compatible for decorating. Many, many ornament producers have made cloth dolls and teddy bear ornaments. And, little dolls can be hung from or placed in the branches of trees as stand-alone ornaments (see the Wee Patsy Doll dressed as an elf on page 1 of this article
Next page > Holiday Decorating with Barbie, Gene and Friends > Page 1, 2, 3,
and don't miss. Decorating with Antique Dolls
Share your doll decorating ideas and questions in the Dolls Forum!
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Photos and article by Denise Van Patten, © 1999. All rights reserved.
