Chip Chick
The new Barbie movie has recently premiered, and audiences all across the globe are going crazy for it!
One aspect of the Barbie craze is the infamous Barbie Dreamhouse, which now has its own HGTV series dedicated to building them. The Dreamhouse has come a long way since it was first introduced to the line of Barbie toys. Here is its origin story.
Barbie has always been a doll with some of the most elaborate accessories. There are endless amounts of Barbie clothes, pets, jewelry, etc.
However, when the Mattel toy company first released Barbie, which businesswoman Ruth Handler invented, there was only the doll. She had no place to live, and kids would often have to create their own makeshift homes for her to live in.
So, in 1962, Mattel released Barbie’s Dreamhouse. It was not nearly as elaborate as the lavish homes for Barbie you can find in the store today, but it was still very exciting. It was made to look like a studio apartment and was made out of collapsible cardboard.
By the late 1960s, new Barbie Dreamhouses were being built out of plastic and included a kitchen and sliding patio door, a major upgrade from her previous kitchen-less cardboard studio.
Then, in 1974, her very first townhouse was released, which had her own elevator! It was painted her signature pink color in 1986, making it a house little kids would genuinely dream of living in.
By the 1990s, Barbie’s Dreamhouses doubled in size and could fit multiple dolls, making it easier for kids with extensive doll collections to play with.
One reason the houses were made bigger was to accommodate dolls like Becky, the first Barbie with a wheelchair, released in 1996.
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