"HOLIDAY DECORATING WITH DOLLS" > Page 1, 2, 3
Holiday Decorating With Barbie®, Gene® and Friends
Barbie® and
Gene® have certainly found the Holiday Spirit in recent years. There have been
innumerable special Holiday dolls produced by Mattel
(maker of Barbie) and Ashton Drake (maker of
Gene). It all started in 1988, with the now difficult to find and pricey 1988 Happy
Holiday Barbie--a doll that not only started the "special dolls for the
holidays" trend, but also really started Modern Doll Collecting as we know it.
Mattel has produced a
special Happy Holiday Doll from each year from 1988 to 1998, when the series
ended. In addition, there have been many other holiday themed dolls--the Winter
Princess series, the Barbie, Stacie and Kelly Holiday gift sets, Grocery store holiday
dolls, and more! This year, there are two special Millennium dolls--the
Millenium Princess in a blue velvet gown, and the more expensive Millenium Bride. As for
Gene, she has had a special holiday outfit each year that she has been in
production. Her first holiday outfit, "Holiday Magic," was produced in a
limited edition of 2,500 and is a lovely confection of tulle and blue satin. This
year, the special outfit is "Home For The Holidays."
Several dolls have been produced, including last year's delightful "Warmest
Wishes" (see photo below) which was an FAO Schwartz exclusive.
Gene is
dressed for shopping in this outfit--and she holds a shopping box from FAO, with a toy
soldier inside!
Many other doll producers have jumped on the holiday dolls bandwagon. Madame Alexander this year has a delightful set of small 8:" and 10" holiday themed dolls. Chatty Cathy comes in a Holiday edition, and she says things like "Can we open our presents now?" And, there are a myriad of other modern dolls as well.
Decorating with the Ladies of Fashion
So,you have all these great modern dolls. Now what
do you do with them? If your dolls 
are all in boxes, there isn't
much you CAN do, short of having your house look like Toys "R Us! There isn't
anything too Christmasy about 10 Happy Holiday Dolls in boxes around the tree. Of
course if you have a book case and modern home decor, they might look nice on top of the
bookcase.
If your dolls have been freed from their boxes, however, decorating fun can begin! You can display your dolls in the traditional cabinets, or, better yet, set them in their own little tableaus. A small white Christmas tree has been manufactured for Gene. You can find other mini fake trees that are sized right for Gene (even some for Barbie) and with the miniature tree ornament fad of the last few years, you should have no trouble decorating a tree with scale-appropriate ornaments for the dolls. Remember that in any tableau that you create that scale MUST be taken into consideration to have the display look realistic.
Gene has several pieces of furniture available, and would look great sitting down (bendable leg Simply Gene!) in one of her holiday outfits, perhaps in front of her dressing table piled high with presents, with her own mini tree beside her.
Barbies have had tons of furniture produced over the years; however, if you can find something made out of wood and not pink, your Barbie Christmas display may look a bit more Christmasy.
I hope that this series has given you lots of ideas for doll decorating (and holiday themed doll-collecting!) for the holiday season. I would love to see your doll decorating when it is done; please e-mail me jpgs at collectdolls.guide@about.com and I will post the photos on the site. Happy Holidays to all!
and don't miss. > Decorating with Antique Dolls > Page 1, 2, 3
or So Many Doll Ornaments, So Little Space!
Share your doll decorating ideas and questions in the Dolls Forum!
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Article and Photos by Denise Van Patten, © 1999. All rights reserved.
