A Reference Guide for Barbie, My Scene, Bratz, and Other Toys from My Childhood
Over the holidays and into the new year, my mom, sister, and I have been sorting through all of our old toys. My mom is the kind of person that likes to keep EVERYTHING. Just looking at the photo above proves my point. Well, I might be overexaggerating just a tad, but she likes to hold on to things that she thinks would be worth something someday, or that we might want to keep as memories. With her vast knowledge of antiques and collectables, I guess I shouldn't doubt her.
Anyway, as I was saying, we have been looking through all of our old toys. My sister and I loved Barbie, My Scene, Bratz, and other dolls. We were given them as gifts. We bought some at garage sales. Some were bought with report card money we earned from getting good grades. Regardless, we accumulated quite the collection, even with selling some throughout the years. Now, our task was to sort through what remained. My mom still had some of the original boxes, so we tried to put the original items back into their box. We also had dolls that we had to figure out what type of doll he/she was and put them in their original clothes. Speaking of clothes... we had so many clothes, shoes, and accessories we had to figure out what they went with. That brings me to creating this post. The photos below was our process of trying to return dolls and accessories to the boxes they belong in.
Some items were easier to identify than others. With the help of Google Lens, eBay, Pinterest, Facebook, and some other websites, we were pretty successful. It was like one big puzzle that you're trying to piece together. It took a lot of time and energy, but it was kind of fun to reminisce on all of the toys from our childhood and the stories that went with them. To remind us of a younger version of ourselves when we spent our days playing and creating memories.
I'm hoping this post will be helpful for those trying to search for and identify different items and toys. Or maybe you want to go down memory lane like we did and look at some toys that you once had. Either way, have fun looking around!
During some of my searches, I would Google search an item, and someone's Pinterest board would pop up with tons of different images. I would scroll through these boards for almost an hour with the hope that I would come across an image that contained a shoe, dress, skirt, shirt, etc. that matched an item I had. Sometimes I was successful, and sometimes I wasn't. I thought I would create a Pinterest board of my own with the items I have in my collection and more. Most of it is linked to my Poshmark account and my sister's, but the listing gives details of the item and multiple pictures to refer to. It is like another form of eBay and searching for items there. It contains items that range from 1984-2005.
Here is the link to my Pinterest board:
I joined two Facebook groups that were specific on Barbie items during the time period I was looking. The group that was the most helpful for me was "ID My Barbie and other Fashion Dolls". I uploaded some photos of items I was having a hard time finding, and they would help connect me with the original set it went with. I also joined "Barbie Collectors Buy & Sell" to see if anyone would be trying to sell an original set that contained an item I was trying to figure out.
eBay
If you know the name or have specific details about an item you are looking for, eBay is the most helpful for me. I would search for the set I was looking for, find someone selling it brand new in the package, then refer to the box to find other pieces to the set. I sometimes had luck searching descriptors like "Barbie jean skirt" or "Barbie camera". The only downfall is that I spent a lot of time scrolling through the listings to see if any of them matched what I was looking for. One positive of that though is when a different listing would pop up that matched a different item I was looking for.
Other Websites
When I was looking for fashion packs, certain sets, or even just something I could recognize in a picture, I tried searching for them on Google. These websites were in the search results.
-https://barbieguide.sosugary.com/index.php - This website has a lot of photos and listings to look through. It can take some time, but if you know what year you are looking for, it might be helpful. The ads and pop-ups are rather annoying though.
-https://www.barbieworld.it/Outfit.php - This website is helpful if you are looking for items from 1959-1999. I was able to find a random pair of shorts or shirt that belonged to a fashion pack I didn't even know about. Once again, it can be time consuming to look through everything, but it is helpful.
-https://modelmuse.fandom.com/wiki/Fashion_Avenue_Guide - Another website that was helpful for me when I was looking for fashion packs or sets.
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