Barbie Dream Besties Update with Daisy and Ken

Back in November, before the whole advent calendar series started, I was looking at Mattel's new Dream Besties.  These dolls have an accompanying YouTube show featuring six friends: Malibu, Teresa, Renee, Brooklyn, Daisy, and Ken.  However, dolls representing two of the characters (Daisy and Ken) were not released with the very first wave of products, so I didn't have them on hand for my initial review.

Because Daisy and Ken are different from the four dolls that I've already reviewed, I didn't feel like I could move on without taking a quick look at them:

Dream Besties Daisy and Ken by Mattel ($19.99 each).

Advent Calendar wrap-up: Lego Princesses, Schleich, and Dirds

Happy New Year!  Before I launch into the regular reviews that I have planned for January, I figured I should close out the advent calendar series by showing you the last three calendars that I have on hand.  I actually only purchased two of these for review, and the third one, Lego's Disney Princess calendar, was an incredibly thoughtful and timely gift from my mother-in-law...who had no idea that I was planning an advent calendar series for the blog!  She knows me very well.

Here are the three remaining calendars:

From left: Lego Disney Princesses, Sky and Ocean building blocks, and Schleich Horse Club.

Advent Calendar #7: Barbie Cutie Reveal by Mattel

It's looking like this will be the last full-length advent calendar review that I'll be able to squeeze in before the end of the month.  But I still have three (four?) calendars that haven't been opened, and I'd love to share them with you, so maybe I'll try to pull together a little summary of the remaining calendars to close out the series.

Today's calendar is from the Barbie Cutie Reveal line, and features a full-size Barbie doll with decent articulation:

Barbie from the 2023 Cutie Reveal advent calendar, $33.99.

Advent Calendar #6: 3D-Printed Animals from Crafts3Dcom

All of the advent calendars that I've looked at so far have been mass-produced items by big, well-established toy companies.  Those tend to be the calendars that are most relevant to the doll world.  However, I didn't want to let this entire series go by without featuring something a bit off the beaten path.

Since I've been thinking a lot about advent calendars over the last few months, I also hunted down a special calendar for each of my kids.  The one I chose for my eldest is from an Etsy store called Crafts3Dcom, and has a 3D printed dragon behind each door.  This concept was so appealing that I bought a second calendar to show off here on the blog:

Petra with dragons from a Crafts3Dcom advent calendar.

Advent Calendar #5: Playmobil from the Brandstätter Group

It turns out that a really good way to make Christmas arrive quickly is to write advent calendar reviews every few days!  I can't believe that the 25th is already less than a week away.  But I'll continue this series all of the way through the end of December, so I can pack in as many calendars as possible.

Today's choice is a Playmobil advent calendar.  This was a last-minute addition to my list, and at $35, one of the more expensive calendars in the mix.  But it's added a lot of holiday cheer to my house, so I'm really glad I included it:

Pieces from the 2022 Playmobil advent calendar.

Advent Calendar #4: Polly Pocket by Mattel

I hope everybody is enjoying the advent calendar series so far!  I'm not producing reviews quite as quickly as I'd hoped, or at least not quickly enough to open all of the calendars before the 25th, but as someone who's always saying she wants to write shorter, more frequent reviews, this is excellent practice.

There's no real rhyme or reason to the order that I'm opening these calendars, but I noticed that I'd featured two MGA products in a row (L.O.L. Surprise and Mini Bratz) so it's probably time to give Mattel a chance.

I actually have two Mattel calendars in mind for this series, and the first one I'll be looking at is the 2024 Polly Pocket advent calendar, which includes the super-tiny 1.25 inch version of Polly:

Polly Pocket from the 2024 advent calendar by Mattel. 

Advent Calendar #3: L.O.L. Surprise by MGA Entertainment

I haven't talked too much about L.O.L. Surprise dolls since they first came out in 2016, but from what I can tell, the toys are still going strong.  At Target, there's still an entire half of an aisle that's dominated by these little surprise ball characters and the larger OMG dolls that followed them.  Granted, the Miniverse toys have recently started to take over, but there's never a shortage of L.O.L. varieties.

So, the third advent calendar that I'm going to look at this month is focused on a cute L.O.L. doll and her expansive wardrobe.

If you're new to this advent calendar mini series, you can read about my motivations and expectations here, and see the second calendar here.

Makeover Babe 2.0 from the 2023 L.O.L. Surprise advent calendar.