Barbie gets new digs every year, and each year there are new things to explore. The 2018 Barbie Dream House isn’t the Smart Home of last year, but parents will be really relieved to see that the investment is much more reasonable.
You know your child will love this house, but is this the right one?
Let’s break everything down to see if this is the Barbie Dream House of your child’s, well, dreams.
What’s The Design?
It’s Barbie’s classic pink and purple design with plenty of rooms to play, an elevator, and a pool. It’s open, so you should be able to store it in a variety of places without impeding play.
The other side of the Barbie House still has access to some of the rooms, and there’s enough space for more than one girl to play at a time. No fights among friends.
It’s a full three feet tall and four feet wide.
What Are The Features?
There are three rooms, eight floors, and over 70 accessories. Now for the good stuff.
The House
It offers 360-degree play with an open floor design. Each room has stickers decorating it for fun realism and awesome design details. There’s a working elevator, and the rooms are reachable from most angles, which should alleviate any issues with who gets to play.
There’s a pool on the second floor and a fun purple slide from the top floor. The elevator fits up to four different dolls, and you can fill the pool with water for even more fun.
The Furniture
Most pieces of furniture are convertible. Your child can manipulate the furniture to fit into other rooms as other things. For example, the modular fireplace flips around to reveal a fun home office. A purple couch transforms into a little bunk bed.
It comes with over 70 accessories to fill the entire house, so if your child is starting from scratch, you’re covered.
The furniture is in plenty of fun, bright colors and has stickers. Your child should have plenty of fun changing the furniture around and decorating each room.
Extra Special Features
The Dream House has some extra little touches that make it really fun. The first are working lights. They add just the right amount of magic to the house. There are also a few working sounds such as a sizzling frying pan and tea kettle. Even the toilet has flushing sounds.
How Do I Put It Together?
It takes about an hour to assemble, so make sure you have help if you need it to happen faster. The plastic pieces are sturdy, but be careful as you’re putting things together, so you don’t snap any less durable pieces.
The basic structure took less than half an hour to set up, but all the little accessories and stickers round it out to about an hour provided you don’t end up with any pieces in the wrong place (although it’s usually easy to fix).
Why We Love It
Who doesn’t love a Barbie House? It’s a great toy and one of the most enduring toy options of the past 60 or so years. It’s an excellent toy for a huge surprise and a dramatic action on the part of mom and dad.
The newest Barbie Dream House has all the basic conceptual elements of every good Barbie Dream House. It has a pool. It has a garage. It has the classic elevator. It has space for a Barbie car.
We loved the smart home, but there’s something about the simplicity of the newest Barbie Dream House without all the elaborate features. The imagination is the most critical part of any toy, and the Dream House is an open-ended one.
Watch Out For
It’s mostly plastic, which is lighter weight than the wooden dollhouses you remember. You may not be on board with the aesthetic of plastic, but it does offer your child the chance to play and move the house around a little without you worrying about injuries.
It’s also durable. Plastic can be wiped down easily and doesn’t hold on to stains or odors. If your child is particularly enthusiastic, it can be really nice to clean the house inside and out without worrying about those things.
Another downside is the price. It’s definitely a lower investment than the smart home, and it should give your child several years of delighted play. It does come with everything that your child would need to get started, so there’s no need for adding accessories to the budget (aside for dolls).
Final Thoughts
Barbie’s newest house is a really fun, very cute Barbie accessories. It should give your child hours of enjoyment. We always love the new Dream Houses, and the accessories are on point. The sounds and lights add impressive touches, so don’t be afraid of the price tag. It could be the greatest toy under the tree this year or for any birthday surprise.
How long has your child been interested in Barbies? Will this be the first Dream House? Tell us all about it in the comments below.
