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Dear Curvy Barbie,
Thanks for being you.
Growing up, I LOVED playing with Barbies like you. Thanks to an older sister and a mom who didn’t throw old toys out, I inherited a huge collection. As a young kid, most of my allowance, Christmas and birthday money went towards Barbies. I specifically remember heading into KB Toys to buy Teacher Barbie when I wanted to be a teacher. She came with a chalkboard, a desk and two little students who had desks too.
In third grade, for the history fair, my best friend and I dressed up as two different barbies (she was Safari Barbie, I think I was some kind of wedding Barbie?) and we talked about the history of Barbie. I think we even made it to the “district” round. It was kind of weird now that I think about it.
The one thing that always made me a little sad is I knew I would never look like Barbie. Yes I was blonde and white but that was about as far as the similarities went. I won’t go as far to say that she caused me to have self esteem issues but as a little girl who struggled with her weight, it didn’t help that all of my dolls were EXTREMELY thin. At that time, I was way too young to understand that your old proportions were physically impossible. I just knew they were impossible for me.
Then this year, 26 year old me heard they were making a Curvy Barbie. I have to admit, I cried when I heard the news. This may seem melodramatic to some people, but this is a big deal. If my son or daughter wants to play with Barbies, they’ll have an array of body shapes and sizes to choose from.
I had to order you, Curvy Barbie, since you’ve got funky blue hair and curvy hips like me, but there are petite girls out there who have a Barbie that looks like them. Tall, thin girls have a Barbie that looks like them too. The one “complaint” I’ve heard is now all Barbie clothes won’t fit all Barbies. Fair enough. But growing up I had Barbie, Stacy and Kelly – none of them could wear each others clothes but I still played with all three. It wasn’t a big deal at all – I knew they needed their own clothes. No biggie.
I guess what I’m trying to say is, I’m just really happy you’re here Curvy Barbie. And I know that Scooby Doo bucket hat wearing kid is pretty happy about it, too. I am glad I have you sitting on my desk, reminding me that I am beautiful now and I was beautiful as a kid. And later on down the road, I will be able to tell my kids that Barbie used to only come in ONE size and I bet they’ll be pretty shocked.
xoxo
Valery
This post isn’t sponsored or anything, but you can get the Barbie Fashionista dolls at Target – they’re all on sale right now! Only $7.99! Use your Red Card for free shipping and 5% off 🙂
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