Barbie dolls have been making little girl fantasies and dreams come true for more than 50 years. The original Barbie doll is based on a little girl named Barbara Handler whose mom Ruth decided to find a way for her child to play with an adult style doll instead of the toddler styles babies were playing with. Ruth made it her mission to find a way to do this and began by adapting a German Lili doll to become the first Barbie in 1959.

The first Barbie doll had a blonde ponytail and met the world through the American Toy Fair in New York City in 1959. Barbie sales rocketed, reaching more than 350,000 in the first year and helping maker Mattel toy to reach more than $500 million in Barbie sales in the first ten years of production.http://www.loti.com/barbie_mattel_1959.htm

Doll fans can choose to sign up for BarbieGirls,com and play games on the website. Unlike other virtual sites for name brand toys, the Barbie Game site is free. Parents will need to make the account and sign the child up for access to the website where fashion sections, videos and games can be enjoyed.

Over the years a number of Barbie dolls have been created to represent the family and friends of the popular doll. Most familiar has been Ken, added to the toy sales in 1961 as Barbie's boyfriend. Ken was one of few male dolls for a number of years.

Barbie's little sister Skipper was introduced in 1963 and was joined in 1966 by Tutti and Todd twin brother and sister of the girls. Sisters Stacie and Kelly were added in 1992 and 1995.

Many friends of Barbie, Ken, and Skipper were added over the years and some have come and gone from the sales shelves over the years making them more popular to collectors because of their rare sales. http://www.articlecity.com/articles/kids_and_teens/article_377.shtml

In 2004 a Mattel marketing ploy presented the Barbie and Ken breakup after 43 years together. The dating couple had been exclusively seeing each other in the toy world. The Mattel toy company announced the split auspiciously just days before Valentine's Day, On February 12, 2004.http://www.spiritus-temporis.com/barbie/biography-of-barbara-millicent-roberts.html Much speculation was carried in the media over where the Cali Barbie would go, whether she would be seen with the Blaine doll, the surfer for Oz or whether Ken was gay.http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/feb2004/nf20040217_1253_db042.htm In a press release about the causes of the break-up, Mattel said the following: "Although their future is yet to be set in 'cement,' one thing is for certain - Barbie and Ken will always remain the best of friends."

In 2010, Barbie reached a milestone in her sales career. Barbie career dolls reached their 125th career. The career model dolls have ranged from aerobic instructor, to pilot, stewardess, and supermodel. Barbie let the public decide on career doll number 126. The next career Barbie will be a computer engineer chosen by half a million fans. The blonde doll will wear a tshirt with binary code and carry a pink laptop. http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/12/barbies-next-career-computer-engineer/ http://www.barbiemedia.com/

ABC news featured a story on March 9, 2010 about the possible racial concerns when a Walmart store decreased the sales cost of the black Barbie but did not do the same with the white Barbie shelved immediately beside the lower cost one. Walmart officials stated during inventory reduction it is common to reduce the cost of an item which has sold less to attempt to increase the sales rate of the item. http://abcnews.go.com/Business/black-barbie-sold-white-barbie-walmart-store/story?id=10045008

Mattel sued MGA over the creation of the Bratz doll saying they were created from intellectual rights improperly used by previous employees. Mattell won the suit but it has been being held over and the judge has told the two parties to work it out together. The ruling ordered stopping sales of the Bratz dolls but the sales suspension is on hold pending resolution of the agreement between the two companies. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/barbie-50-needs-a-revamp-a?pagenumber=2