Come on…date yourself with me…
Do you remember watching the mail sometime in the fall, knowing it would be arriving soon? The ultimate shopping guide for kids before Christmas would be winging its way into your mailbox and even though I was a girl and didn’t want a Red Ryder BB gun, I always gained fabulous inspiration–and went into immediate toy lust–when I saw it.
I’m referring to the Sears Wish Book, of course.
I would get that thing, wouldn’t even go for a piece of paper to list stuff, I’d just start circling. One color pen for me, other colors for my sisters. It was a highlight of the pre-holiday season.
Fast forward. No more Sears Wish Book, but last week I received the JC Penney holiday catalog. I can’t deny I got that same little thrill. Something about the slick feel of the pages and that “new catalog” smell just brings back those old feelings and I swear, even though it was August, I had a little pre-holiday moment of anticipation.
So I began flipping through it. I found some very cute stuff, nice holiday tablecloths I liked. Then the inner 8 year old in me just had to flip to the toy section and think about what I’d want if I was a kid, or what I’d get for my girls if they were still little enough to want those kinds of toys.
I got to the end of the catalog and, for some reason, found myself feeling disappointed. Like something was just missing, that the catalog was incomplete. Then I thought about it and realized why.
No Barbies.
None. Zero. Nada. Zilch. Zip.
There was not a single Barbie doll, piece of clothing or accessory in the whole catalog! Oh, they had some knock-off stuff. Disney princesses, other 11 1/2″ dolls. But no Barbies.
Am I totally wierd to find that sad? Not just sad…almost shocking! How could Barbie have gone out of fashion? She, in my opinion, was the ultimate never-ending toy, who would stand the test of time. My kids were as nuts about her as I was 35 years ago. So it just didn’t occur to me that simply because some smutty looking dolls with big heads and big lips appeared on the scene a half-dozen years ago Barbie would disappear from the pages of the Wish Books.
Stupid Bratz.
I guess I slept through her fall from grace, because the catalog just shocked me. I haven’t been to Toys R Us in a while, but I remember entire aisles devoted to her. I somehow doubt they’re still there. The last time I was at Wal Mart in a toy section, I remember being surprised by their very limited selection…now I guess I know why that was.
To me, it’s like the end of an era. She was such a part of my childhood and I still remember that fabulous, magical Christmas morning when I awoke to see the Barbie Country Camper under the tree. My girls were just as thrilled to see the 3 story Barbie house that became the favorite toy of all of them at one time or another. But my granddaughters won’t.
Am I the only one who finds this sad? More than sad–shocking! If Barbie can fall, it could very well signal the end of western civilization as we know it.
Just kidding.
But it’s still sad. So today, I’m raising a cyber glass to toast her. 
Barbie, you made my childhood a very happy–pink–one. Thanks for all the years of fabulous fashion and glamour!
(PS: I never held your measurements against you and you never made me anorexic…there’s such a thing as having an imagination and you got a bad rap! PPS: G.I. Joe was way hotter than Ken.)
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Warm wishes for a Happy Birthday go out to Plotmonkey Pal, Kate Screws today! We hope you have a fabulous, fun-filled day!
Leslie Kelly used to say she wanted to be a doctor when she grew up, but then she discovered Nancy Drew books. Being a flashlight-under-the-covers-nose-in-book reader throughout her childhood, she couldn’t think of anything else she’d rather do as an adult than continue to lose herself in fictional stories. Her real life marriage of 20 years to the man of her dreams is a constant reinforcement that happily-ever-afters really can happen…and that they’re worth writing about. Living in Maryland, Leslie spends her non-writing time laughing a lot with the above-mentioned romance hero and their three daughters. Though an author of more than thirty sexy, contemporary comedies, she has recently branched out to write dark romantic suspense under the pseudonym Leslie Parrish.
ANOTHER WILD WEDDING NIGHT
Hard to Hold
Love Me If You Dare
Wild For Him
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Happy Birthday, Kate!
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I haven’t gotten my Penney’s catalogue yet, but that is sooo disappointing. What’s funny is that my daughter used to tear the heads off her Barbies, or chop their hair off. We had a lot of no-neck Barbies. She would have much rather had a GI Joe. Or the Red Ryder BB Gun.
Like her mom.
All our grandkids, except the twins, are grown. And the twins like Thomas the Tank. And I think they have almost everything. I just send them two new cars each. It’s fun spoiling them.
We aren’t doing much in the way of Xmas presents this year since everyone is going to Disney for the week. I can’t wait!!!
Off to my first day at my new job!! :scratch3:
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I dont usually go to garage sales but a friend was over and she loves them. There was one down the street from me and they had Ginny dolls. Anyone remember them? I had a few. My neighbor gave me my first one. I was overwhelmed at the time.
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY KATE!!
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Happy Birthday Kate!
Barbie is de bomb! I LOVED Barbie. Unfortunately I got very few growing up and I never got the accessories. My only female cousin got them all! The dream house, the camper, the car, the boat–you name it! So when I was at her house we’d play Barbies. She got tons of new Barbie’s and Ken’s. Ken was a woos! And what was up with that hair??? Give me GI Joe anyday!
Cher :heart1:
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Hi Leslie,
You’ll be glad to know that Barbie is alive and well here in Canada!
My two daughters are 6 and 8 and they together have a vast collection of everything Barbie, I am constantly stepping on Barbie shoes and purses, and our Labrador has been known to come out of their bedrooms with a plastic arm or leg in his mouth. The girls play with Barbie for hours, and I love eavesdropping and listening to them invent elaborate stories for Barbie to act out. Of course, they are not allowed to have Bratz ( I hate those dolls!) so maybe that’s why Barbie is still number one for them….As for Ken, he’s old news, Barbie has a new man named Blaine and he has soft wavy hair, not a helmet head like Ken, LOL.
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I don’t think I had the Barbie Country Camper, I can’t remember the name of it but it was a pink RV…is that the same thing? I had the Barbie Dream Home and a ton of Barbie stuff. Somehow it all ended up in my grandfather’s attic and he sold it all!! I went looking for it when I was a teen and it was all gone!
I have boys so I had no idea Barbie was becoming extinct. But that makes me really sad too, and Bratz are just not the same. They’re….well, they’re brats! Barbie was never a brat, even though she had all that really cool stuff.
Glad to know she’s still going strong in Canada!
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I got my JCP catalog and while I was a little thrilled, I was a little scared that Christmas was coming soon…
I didn’t realize Barbie was becoming extinct. I had recorded the Olympics gymnastics (follow me here) and finally watched it….I remembered the thrill of having a Barbie Gymnastics set (yes, I also had the three story townhouse AND Ski jump set).
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Oh the stories I could tell about Barbie. I got my first in 1960 after dental surgery. Yes. I’m older than dirt. She looked just like the one pictured above. I got Midge (her best friend) and Skipper (her little sister), and Ken had fuzzy hair but was anatomically incorrect. *gigglesnort* GI Joe was WAAAY hotter! I could relate the story of the icy Christmas Eve that my husband spent tracking down the Barbie mansion ( http://groups.msn.com/Barbiecollection/barbiemansion.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=29 ) because his Christmas bonus was enough to buy it. We stayed up all night putting it together and finally resorted to Super Glue. We’d just fallen asleep on the couch when the widget child came flying down the stairs. Okay. Stopping now. We always waited for the Neiman Marcus wish book – not that we actually had presents under the tree from it but…WOW! The nearest Sears store was two towns away but we had a JC Penney so it was the Penney’s catalog we dog-eared. This just reminds me that Christmas is way to close.
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Dating myself too. Loved the Sears wishbook. My mom worked for Sears so getting the wish book was a BIG DEAL. I’d pour over it for hours and hours, every day.
And Barbie. I so loved Barbie. I still buy Barbies for my granddaughter, Bratz be damned. :bootyshak:
Happy Birthday Kate!
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Happy Birthday KATE!
I had a baby alexander doll. No Barbies back then. LOL
I do remember having a blast with the Sears Wish books.
Have a great day I am off to PT.
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My oldest sister would get the Sears, JC Penney’s and Montgomery Wards books. We got Alden’s but the feeling was the same.
It was so much fun to go through it page by page, painstakingly circling and initialling the items I wanted. Never knew what we were going to get but it was fun to dream.
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I have to say if my 4 year old niece is normal, then Barbie is fine. She doesn’t like the Bratz, but loves all the Barbies that go with the Barbie movies. Everytime we are in Target/Walmart she has to go to the Barbie area.
I loved the JC Penney catelog and Sears wishbook, but we also got the Service Merchandise catelog. My sibs and I would look over it for hours and finally make our list. It was so fun, because we could ask for as many items as we wanted, and never knew which ones(we never got everything) we would get on Christmas morning.
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Happy Birthday Kate! Hope you have a great day!
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My brother wouldn’t bother writing a list, either. He would cut out the pictures of what he wanted or circle the page if there were opposing pictures. My mother had a habit of buying the similar but cheaper version of things. My brother finally said “The real thing or nothing”.
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I loved the Sears wishbook! Too bad it isn’t still around.
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So, everyone have a great day. I was ranting against Bratz, so it’s probably good it’s lost.
MMuch Love.
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Happy Birthday, Kate! Have a great celebration!
Although my grandaughters (who are all sisters) have many, many Barbies, I hadn’t paid
attention to the demise of Barbie. I guess it is because they have so many that I had
not noticed!
In fact, I was looking for MY Barbie today! Honey straightened up the playroom for me
this weekend. He moved my Rockets Barbie from where she usually resides and I could
not find her! P.S. The playroom is where I keep some of my sports memorabilia, including
my life-sized posters of Yao Ming of the Rockets and Tina Thompson of the Comets.
Pat Cochran
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Thanks for all the Birthday wishes !!!!
Hope everyone has a great week! And I will eat a piece of cake for everyone ( I need some reason to have more than just one piece :giggle:)
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OMG Ev I used to cut my Barbie doll’s hair too :giggle:
I had the camper and our street was off a hill and one day I let Barbie and the camper go for a ride down the hill :giggle:
I had Ken too and also a Dawn doll
I played with G.I Joe also due to 2 younger brothers
Liza I miss Service Merchandise we had a store here in Connecticut and it is gone
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Um, I still have my Dawn doll and her emerald green evening gown. I am such a
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I did not have Barbie’s but my daughters did & we had all kinds of Barbie stuff. My granddaughter, she just turned 10, loved Barbie’s, now she has American Girl. The Christmas catalogs are still fun! I get L.L. Bean & Lands End and drool over things I can’t buy!! Some things we never outgrow. :giggle:
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Ahhhh…the wishbook! Ours was always falling apart by mid-October. Oh, I miss that catalog!
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All is well in Toronto, Ontario Canada. We still have the Sears Wish Book, I received it last week, and there are Barbies, and accessories in our book. It will be a sad day here when the Wish Book is no longer, as it is the only Catalogue that we have. Years ago we had a store called Eaton’s that put out catalogues like Sears. My father lived in the USA after my parents were divorced and he sent me one of the first Barbies, they weren’t even available in Canada yet. I have packed them away in case either of my sons give me grandchildren in the future.
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Christmas 1961. Same model, with black hair. Very limited wardrobe. The next year, my mom *hand stitched* the most fantastic Barbie wardrobe in the world, complete with gold lamé evening gown, white rabbit (ermine, in my heart) satin-lined stole, a hand knit jumper made of the finest sock yarn available, and a bunch of other wonderful stuff that gave me hours of joy. Wish I still had her, but Mom GAVE HER AWAY! I still feel a lurch of pain when I think about it.
Anyway, thanks for the memories. And have a wonderful, magical birthday full of memories of your own.
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Oh our Barbie’s what would we have done without them. I still have my put away in a drawer. Barbie was dated in 1958 I also have a Ken, Midge, and flat chested Skipper, Barbie’s little sister. This is about all I had and a few outfits for them when I was growing up. My friend had everything like the house and such. This was the only toy I can think of that I played with a lot. I hate to see them go!