Holiday Barbie - The Tradition Continues in 2021

Jun 11, 2022

Holiday Barbie 2021

Happy Holiday Barbie Dolls or simply “Holiday Barbie” as they are known now, were originally developed and launched in 1988. The name was kept through 1998, as in 1999 Mattel started to use specialty names for this annual doll. Mattel reverted back to name it “Holiday Barbie” in 2004. From toy maker Mattel, the 1988 version of the doll was considered to be the First “Collectible Barbie” when the doll that year completely surpassed all expectations on sales and started to immediately demand a higher value on the secondary collectors market. Also, in 1988, the Happy Holiday Barbie rapidly sold out in all retail avenues and this ignited that second look from Mattel Toys. This was the first “Barbie Craze” due to the popularity of that doll and would continue to grow throughout history and time.

Since its inception in 1988, the doll has gone through many name and identity changes. From Holiday Barbie to specialty names such as Millenium Princess in 1999 (Trying to capitalize on the Y2K movement), in the early 2000’s they were called the Celebration Series and in 2003 the doll was called by the ‘Winter Fantasy” name.

In 2004, the doll was reverted back to it’s true name “Holiday Barbie” where it has been ever since. Packaging is also very different on these special edition dolls. Holiday Barbie does not have the Special Edition “Pink Holiday Barbie” signature box that a similar Barbie doll comes in. The Pink Holiday Boxes are for common holiday dolls or as widely known “Grocery Store” or “Drug Store” versions of Barbie. These dolls are meant to be cheaper and an added common doll to a child's collection. Holiday Barbie’s packaging is very much more high end and is primarily seen as a display piece itself for the doll since it is a limited edition and smaller production run doll. The clothing is much more exquisite and also has much more detail then common Barbie dolls. For many years, the dolls also had accessories (designer shoes, hair pieces and jewelry) packaged with the doll for that year as well, so no added accessories were needed for the doll.

In this week's “Unboxing with Toyshnip.com” Turco explains all the differences between the many editions and years of this popular and must-have holiday tradition. Take a look below for this week's video and let us know your thoughts in the comments.