Small Barbie Dolls - A Collector's Guide
DISCLAIMER: I am not, and do not claim to be, an expert on Barbie dolls. I enjoy the dolls and I collect many of them, but my hobby actually started late so the early dolls are not always clear to me. I am not associated with Mattel or any of its affiliates. I'm sure many of you know more about these dolls than I, and if I have made an egregious error in any of my statements I welcome your kind input. Please do not attack me for knowing less than you; if you are so inclined, please share your knowledge with me! I will be happy to edit corrections into my guides.
Brief (and probably incomplete) History
Mattel, since offering the first Barbie doll in 1959, has not been content with that success alone. Everyone who knows about Barbie knows about Ken, her boyfriend. Then there has been a plethora of sisters, starting with Skipper.
So far Barbie doll has had several sisters of all different sizes: Skipper, Tutti, Stacie, Kelly, Teenage Skipper, Krissy, and probably one or two I've missed. Barbie has also been a babysitter with several different styles of babies, and a photographer, coach, teacher and doctor, again with several different styles of students/patients. This baby (below) was one of the first of the 'Barbie Babysits' babies (yes, it's mine from the 1960s. I still have the christening gown, but it's yellow with age). Compare with Krissy: Krissy clothes fit great!
The pre-Kelly dolls were very chubby, like pre-toddlers. The first two pictures below show the general mold and two available colors. Some were used in Barbie sets as doctor patients and teacher students; some were made into their own line of Rosebud Babies (third picture), others graduated to Barbie Li'l Friends--which were only sold in Europe (fourth picture). Most of these were not considered to be part of the Barbie line unless they were in a set with Barbie, such as one of the first schoolteacher Barbies which had (fifth photo below) two chubby toddler dollies, about 4-1/2 inches tall. They were also used in some of the older family sets, like the Heart Family in the 80s; those, however, were not directly connected to the Barbie doll line. Collectors loved these little dollies. Especially with the Heart Family, which had not only the twins (one boy and one girl) but also a large group of 'cousins'. (Photos used with permission.)
Those babies ended with the introduction of the first Kelly dolls in 1994, which were also 4-1/2 inches tall and were much more grown-up looking, although the first Kelly dolls had bottle mouths for bottles and pacifiers. Kelly doll, however, was so versatile that she could look like a tiny baby or a grown-up (as evidenced by the popular Kelly Collector Set, "Nostalgic Favorites"). Kollectors went Krazy 4 Kelly, and original Kelly dolls are still popular on auction sites, though the market is pretty much saturated. I have Kelly dolls on another page on this site.
Kelly had been introduced as "Barbie's New Baby Sister", but because of her popularity as a young lady, there was an opening for another baby sister. Mattel started by using a previous baby mold going as far back as 1973 for the Sunshine Family, shown in the first photo (with glass eyes!) and some of the 'babysitter' sets (with both Barbie and Skipper), which had also been used with doctor sets and some collector sets (such as Dolls of the World Peru Barbie with a baby). This baby was 2-1/2 inches with a molded body and no joints other than a movable head. Collectors were accepting of this baby, which was used in several play sets with Barbie, Skipper and Skipper's friends. (What else was there?) Some had rooted hair and some had molded diapers. Some form of this baby was often used simultaneously with the 'Rosebud' babies above, and once or twice were found together with them in the same set. (Photos used with permission.)
Enter Krissy, 2-1/2 inches, a sweet baby with jointed arms and legs.
Krissy Dolls
The Krissy line did very well, both with Barbie and alone. As far as I know, the first Krissy dolls came with Barbie in 1999, one in a princess set with a fold-out castle called Princess Palace. These had long hair and beautiful pink sparkly dresses that matched Barbie's. Their heads were larger than the Krissys we have now.
I've been playing with these, and they're wearing Nikki dresses! They still have their crowns, and different manufacturing plants obviously used different materials for the crowns. Their hair is beautiful and doesn't fall out when you comb it! These are a little different from the currently popular Krissy dolls; the heads are a little larger and of course they have rooted hair. The bodies are the same. The head of the Happy Family Krissy is just a teensy bit smaller than these (see next section), but still larger than the normal.
The regular Krissy we all know and love has been Barbie's baby-est sister for the past few years. She held her own as a Mattel doll sold in various playsets. Among these were the Magical Mermaid Barbie/Krissy sets, which like the princesses had rooted hair. Their heads are the normal size. I always feel privileged when I can get both the caucasian and ethnic versions.
In 1999 Mattel came out with "Stroll'n Play Barbie & Krissy"(one baby with hot pink ribbon and a tan baby with yellow ribbon). One wonders, in light of all the sets released in 1999, if Mattel was simply testing the market that year. There was a collector set from 2000 called 'Sisters Celebration' (lavender hair band), with Barbie and Krissy. This probably did more to promote the tiny Krissy doll than anything else. Other Barbie/Krissy sets were Walking Barbie and Baby Sister Krissy (lavender hair band), and Bedtime Baby (light pink). Krissy-only sets included Swing-n-Play (dark pink), Baby Layette (light pink) and Scrub-a-Dub from 2000 (also light pink). I think there were two nursery playsets for Krissy over the years. I may be missing some.
The Krissy dolls came in four colors: black, brown, tan and pink. Up to this time the 'sideline' dolls only came in white and ethnic. (Sorry I'm not more creative; these 'labels' simply describe the color of the vinyl. I thought of using dark chocolate, milk chocolate, caramel and almond bark--but decided that would be more confusing!)
There were several sets of these, and all had different clothes, but the feet were always bare. One way to tell which set they're from (if you're interested) is by the color of the hair ribbon. There's lavender, light pink, dark pink and yellow hair ribbons. The yellow was only on the tan baby with the Stroll'n Play set. Krissy had a good variety of clothes, plus the outfits from the 5sies babies fit Krissy well. Except for the booties, I've stuck with the regular clothes for my Krissys, partly because there are lots of them. I really love the booties for these Krissy dolls. Thanks to wonderful eBay sellers!
For my purposes, the regular clothes display better than those with tons of ruffles, although those handmade outfits are also gorgeous, and available from several craftsman online. I have a big variety of display props for my Krissy dolls: cribs, bassinets, walkers, rocking-horses, highchairs, and miniature rugs.
Sometimes these re-sale dolls are abused. If all they are missing is the hairband, for heaven's sake, let them be boys! Or put a pretty bonnet on their heads.
Finding clothes to make them boys is not easy; almost all handmade outfits Krissy size are made for girls, reflecting the fact that all the Krissy sets are girls--no boys were made for the Krissy line. Sometimes I think Mattel does not have a good understanding of the heart of a collector! There were two boy clothes outfits with the 5sies dollies.
Happy Family Nikki & Newborns
Then in 2002 Mattel introduced the Happy Family line. This was not the first family line in the Mattel toy parade; I'm not certain of all the dates, but there was the Sunshine Family in the 70s and the Heart Family in the 80s, neither of which were directly connected to the Barbie line. The Happy Family included Midge, Barbie's friend, and her husband Alan, who was Ken's friend. Their son was Kelly-sized Ryan, tickling Kelly collectors. Finally Barbie became the family's pediatrician; a direct connection to the Barbie playline and all Barbie collectors.
This has been a wonderful play line and is very popular on online auction sites. Some sellers attempt to take advantage of this popularity by tacking on huge price tags. If you want a perfect box you may have to pay a lot for it (up to $700 for some playsets!). However, almost all the dolls can be collected separately in gently-played-with condition, especially if you don't want the whole set with all the accessories. And the truth is, the accessories can also be collected separately, although it may take some time and diligence.
The Happy Family was introduced with a pregnant Midge, who had a removeable 'pregnant' tummy with a tiny 1-3/4 inch baby inside! The very first of these sets were recalled because of family concerns: Midge was not wearing a wedding band! They were immediately replaced with a Midge wearing a wedding ring, and a picture of Alan and Ryan in the box, followed shortly thereafter by her husband Alan also wearing a wedding band with their young son, Ryan, who was the same size and mold as the Kelly dolls. Here are a few of the doll sets:
Since the line continued for three years (2002, 2003 & 2004), we had opportunity to see the family grow. The tiny baby who had no name is usually referred to as the 'newborn'. It is 1-3/4", has jointed arms and legs and came in four skin tones. For lack of more creative terms, I call them black, brown, tan and pink. They have blonde hair/blue eyes, brown/brown, black/brown, and black/black. They came with naked bottoms with the Midge doll, or painted diapers pink or blue with the Barbie baby doctor set. The 'tan' baby comes only with the blue diaper from the Doctor Barbie set, and the 'black' baby comes only with the pink diaper from the same set. The Happy Family Shopping Fun set with Midge, cookie Nikki and a baby, had the baby with pink skin and dark hair, but I don't know what color diaper, possibly green. If you have a tiny newborn with different coloring, it's a one-of-a-kind (OOAK) that someone has repainted! A great re-painter for these is Donna, eBay seller 'mrnorml'.
Their clothing was very sparse, and I have greatly enjoyed these gorgeous crocheted outfits made for me by Daphne Ryan (just fabulous, Daphne!). (Except the second one, that was my attempt to crochet for these tiny dolls.) They are soooooo cute! There are several sellers on eBay who are very creative with these, including 'jamyjewelry', '6873mopar' and 'eddieamelia' (this list is not exhaustive). The point being, these are lots of fun. I display them in various cradles, cribs and on the blankets they come with, and of course, in Midge and Barbie's arms.
So, as the year went by this newborn baby would have grown! And voila, we have the Nikki doll. Nikki is a precious 3-1/4 inch toddler doll. This doll came with the later Midge sets, and her friends came in a separate 'friend' birthday package or the "Sounds Like Home Smart House" playset. The friends were never given official names, so they all go by 'Nikki' or 'toddler'. It's an art collecting these. If you're careful and take your time, you won't have to overpay for any of these dolls; wait and get the pristine ones.
These also came in four colors which aren't highly differentiated. There's brown, tan, white and pink. All super-cute! I didn't like their shoes at all, and although their clothes were cute they weren't that cute! But again, there are wonderfully creative people willing to fill in the gap!
The one in the middle has on an original outfit, the other outfits are from some of the very talented people who sell on eBay: 'harry542', 'cro986', '6873mopar', 'eddieamelia', and '8687melinda'. I don't know who made the outfit on the fourth doll. And I love these fabulous shoes, made by Lisa Adams at 'dollnfashioncreations'. Look at all the colors! (Please, if this information is incorrect, help me out so I can give appropriate credit!) These dollies can sit and stand on their own and are great for posing like they're playing together.
In a surprising move, Mattel used both these doll molds in regular Barbie sets in 2005, after the Happy Family line ended. One was a replay of the Happy Family Baby Doctor, now without the Happy Family label. The similarities are striking: Dr. Barbie in a pink jacket with two newborns, one white or black and one tan. There was also Barbie Baby Doctor & Office Play All Day with one baby. One set sold exclusively in Japan was Teacher Barbie with toddler Nikki as her student!
There were three styles of Nikki: the first one with the pigtails with red hairbands; I have both the caucasian and ethnic versions of this one (see below). This Nikki came with the short(er) haired Midge and a puppy dog. Was it called the first birthday? Shortly after this set the Grandma and Grandpa came out. Of course, a birthday party requires grandparents! The friends came out about the same time so they could also attend the birthday party. The Nikki on the left is sometimes called 'cookie Nikki'. She was included in the grocery shopping playset with a third-edition Midge--with bangs--who was also sporting a new baby boy. She's holding a cookie in one hand, there's pink 'frosting' on her face, and her other hand has a magnet to hold a box of cookies at the store! I was also able to get the ethnic version of cookie Nikki.
The one in the middle is from the 'Hometown Fair' set and is rare: it was the last Happy Family set with Nikki. I don't have the ethnic version of this doll; was there one? I don't think I've seen one anywhere. She's wearing her original clothes but I changed out her shoes. Her hair is done in twisted braids tied together on the top of her head. Too, too cute. Here's a picture of the ethnic versions of Nikki:
These are still called Nikki because they came with the ethnic Midge doll. Honestly, when will Mattel figure out they can give them different names?
Resellers of these little toddlers will sell ones that have been abused. Their hair is ruined, or their hands and feet have been chewed. The best thing to do if your dolls have no hair is to turn them into boys! There are boy clothes available (from the above listed sellers), and it makes a nice mix to your collection.
If there are chew marks on the hands, place a toy in their hand with a small rubber band. The original shoes have lots of room in them for hiding disfigurations on the feet. Long pants legs cover legs markings and long sleeves cover arms markings. Have fun with your dolls! These crocheted boy clothes are from 'harry542'. Fantastic. Tie shoes by 'dollnfashioncreations'.
With the Hometown Fair, Mattel had played out their hand on the Nikki doll. They needed a new angle, a new...family. A neighbor! And a way to bring in an hispanic family. However, this addition was very short-lived, and therefore extremely rare. The neighbors brought an older baby and a Kelly-sized girl doll as their family. The mom and baby were sold together in stores. I have them without their original clothing.
This is the only Krissy-size doll in the entire Happy Family line. She has light skin and dark eyes with brown hair. She's 2-1/2 inches with jointed arms and legs. She can sit up. I love these dolls with little booties on their feet! I believe all of the Krissy dolls, and this one, came with bare feet. Her head is just a bit larger than the regular Krissy, and she has a rooted pony-tail on top of her head.
The father and little girl of the neighbor family were sold exclusively with the expensive talking house, and only very briefly, driving Kelly Kollectors to distraction. File this under things we'll never understand.
Fairytopia Petal Pixies
On a completely different level I got really excited about the Fairytopia fairies, most especially the Petal Pixies. Sometimes collecting can be expensive! So once you've got all the little dolls you've been wanting to get, you can't leave them stored up in a box on a shelf! They have to be displayed. But what's the best way to do that? My collections of the previous little dolls look great on their shelves with their accessories, but fairies and mermaids don't belong on solid ground.
First, I turned twelve of them into OOAK dollies. By popping heads and using scraps from Barbie-sized clothes, I ended up with some wonderful combinations. For my mermaids I used the same-sized heads that came with the Fairytopia jewelry dolls. For the record, these are also the same head mold as the Peek-A-Boo dollies that are currently popular!
And I hung them up! So they 'float', like they're swimming in water. Synchronized swimming, perhaps!
I left one set complete, all the colors, with their original costumes with wings.
These are my fairies. And then I hung them up, like they're flitting around in the air.
But I still had some really beautiful heads...so I started getting creative! I painted their legs different colors (I just really love their teensy bodies and long slender legs), and used two outfits from the Fairytopia fashion sets, and used parts of the other (Barbie) outfits to make one-of-a-kind sprites!
And then I hung them up, too, like they're walking on a circular stairway. And then I put all three mobiles together.
It's beautiful! And it's out where I can see it, and all my little fairies/sprites/mermaids (in that order) are floating and spinning around. It's especially nice when I have on my ceiling fan! It's about 4' total length, and takes up a nice empty space in my Barbie display. So, from a total of 12 original fairies and mermaids, I ended up with 18 in a great mobile.
I know some little girl would just LOVE this! But for now, it's the little girl in me who gets to enjoy them all!
This wraps up this guide. I know there are some that I haven't covered completely, or covered at all--such as the 'Baby Photographer' babies. That's the beauty of having your own independent web page, you don't have to write about something you don't like! Of course, I could add the Peek-a-Boos...but while they are made by Mattel, they're not part of the Barbie line.
Last updated 2/11/09
