About Barbie Houses
Barbie, the popular fashion doll produced by Mattel, Inc., has been sold in stores since 1959 with a variety of clothing, accessories and play sets attributed to the name. One of the most lasting types of play set is the Barbie house, a multiroom dollhouse built to the specifications of the doll. These dollhouses serve as background sets to increase the realism of children's playtime with the dolls.
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History
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The first Barbie Dream House marketed by Mattel in 1962 was designed in a popular country look and furnished with stylishly crafted rugs, tables, a television, lamps and other pieces trendy for the time. This house was made entirely of cardboard and even featured a miniature set of records. Later houses were made of vinyl and eventually hard plastic, as the cardboard was easily damaged by normal play, and house styles evolved to reflect different eras. By the 1970s Barbie houses had changed to include luxury "add-ons" like elevators, working lights and swimming pools.
Size
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Barbie houses can come in many different sizes. All official Barbie houses are built to accomodate the standard size Barbie doll, but the overall size and number of rooms varies with each new model. Some dollhouses are single unit with a small amount of rooms, such as 1 bedroom, kitchen and small bathroom. Others include 3 stories with staircases and elevators, and can have garage or gym attachments on the ground floor. A more recent Barbie dollhouse model, the Barbie Totally Real House, features separate modular rooms so that the house can shrink or expand at the individual child's preference.
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Features
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Most Barbie houses include multiple room sets that can be furnished with extra separately-sold pieces. Some of the recent houses have over 50 pieces of dollhouse furniture. Vintage sets have much less motorization and electronics than modern dollhouses, which often have moving parts and musical effects. The Barbie Three-Story Dream House was released with a song-playing intercom and sizzling stove, while the Totally Real House features a working doorbell, flush toilet, shower, washer and dryer.
Considerations
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Though the modern dollhouses include a great deal of fancy electronic additions, many Barbie enthusiasts prefer to look for older, more classic house models that cost less than the current versions. Vintage dollhouses can be found through the Internet, though some of them may require repair and rebuilding. Other Barbie owners build their own unofficial houses either from scratch or using one of the many dollhouse kits available online, and some prefer to use dollhouses from other doll companies entirely.
Significance
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The Barbie doll itself has garnered much commentary and critique since its creation, and the name has become attached to both feminist and anti-feminist theories about children, playtime and identity. Dollhouses play directly into these cultural concerns, as they are often seen as representing a child's vision of the ideal home and displaying the child's developing ideas about their place in the world. A Barbie house can also be seen as simply another play set and a tool to allow a child's imagination to roam.
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