LIBERATION 37: TREE TRIMMING BARBIE

Tree Trimming Barbie is this year’s supermarket store doll. If you enjoy informally-dressed holiday themed dolls, this line can be a real treasure. Each year’s doll is dressed in a casual outfit in preparation for a holiday activity. The price point on these dolls ranges from $10 to $12 (US), and they can be found in most supermarkets in that strange section where they put the singing snowmen and other such holiday decorating needs.

The Doll

This Barbie uses the Superstar face mold and the normal golden blonde hair. Her eyes are dark green with lighter accents, accented with pale tan shadow. Her eyebrows are light brown with darker detailing lines. Her lips and blush are true red. Her hair is styled in a shoulder length blunt cut, with triangulated bangs. Although she is packaged with her hair pulled back in a headband, she does have a rooted center part. She has simple pearl stud earrings and a matching ring.

This is a typical Barbie body, with one notable difference: rather than using bendable arms or identical non bendable arms, this design has one Shani arm and one bent elbow arm! This is a simple change that makes this doll really stand out among other Barbies, and one that Mattel does not make often. Her legs have two extremely weak clicks. The skin tone is the ‘standard’ medium tone with a touch of orange.

Doll Scorecard
Face: B+
Body: A+
Hair:A-
Overall: A-

This is a really cute outfit. The turtleneck sweater is red except for the front panel, which features red, green, orange, yellow and purple zigzags of various widths. The sweater fastens in back with the thick, fabric snagging velcro. The opening only goes to mid-back, which makes undressing this doll a little difficult because of the different arms. The stretch pants are a deep green velvet. Her squishy boots are dark red- a great change from the usual black or white. The final touch is a red ribbon headband with an elastic portion for sliding it on and off the doll.

Outfit Scorecard
Fabric: A+
Style: A
Execution: B
Overall: A-

The Accessories

The box liner does double duty here as a cardboard Christmas tree for Barbie to decorate. Although they tried to avoid putting holes in the tree itself, there are two large slots which held Barbie’s feet (look just to the left of the first tree stand). There are also a number of double-sided cardboard ornaments which can be placed in the slots along the edges of the tree.There is one more ornament, which Barbie is packaged holding: a little Christmas tree that doesn’t stay together once separated from the plastic bands. There is also a brush, in the same dark red color as the boots.

Accessories Scorecard
Concept: B
Style: B
Playability: B
Overall: B

The Result

This is another of the new crop of Fashion Avenues, named ‘Country Club Lunch,’ which consists of a cute weskit blouse with three-quarter length sleeves and a patterned miniskirt. Barbie thinks it’s just the thing to wear to the mall to pick up the last of her Christmas gifts. One word of warning: this outfit comes with those odd clogs that don’t seem to fit any of Mattel’s dolls properly. Oh well- Happy Holidays!