Barbies house, which one?

[Userjal]

Hi all, a bit of advice needed, my daughter has asked for a Barbie dream house for the past 2 years. We don’t have room for the main dream house plus the cost is crazy. I have looked at a few alternatives such as the Malibu house or the Barbie estate. Which are the best alternatives. I don’t want her to be disappointed. Thank you

How old is she? We just got the Malibu for DD who turns 3 soon, Morrisons currently have it down to £18 (we paid £25 for it but we still got a good deal) if you can find one in there. We've also got her the Frozen Castle which is similar to the Malibu house but for Elsa fans: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Disney-Frozen-Arendelle-Accessories-HTP22/dp/B0BN6M67TJ
We thought having two houses where her dolls could play would be more fun, and they both fold away. We also already have the Barbie campervan which is quite good and has a slide/swimming pool like the dreamhouse does.

The other thing you could do is give her a cupboard that she can decorate herself like this one: https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/ivar-cabinet-pine-70033766/#content
This is what my parents did for me (with a different cupboard, but we just bought this one for our kitchen and it's good quality) and I loved my Barbie cupboard, it had so much space to play. I made furniture out of cardboard, furnishings out of fabric, everything was designed by me so it became an art project as well as a Barbie house. When I was into Playmobil, it became my Playmobil house for a while then when I went back to Barbie dolls, it was a Barbie house again. I'm considering doing the same for DD when she's older.

Thanks for your reply she’s 6 and has had a few dolls houses, the Barbie house for her anyway has the wow factor so needs to be quite similar. The cupboard idea is great

We have already got the plane so don’t really want to add another mode or transport

Could you buy the dream house second hand? Maybe she could donate/ sell a few old toys to make some room. Unfortunately think she could be disappointed with the others if she’s asked for the dream house.

We don’t have many big things she can get rid of. I’m trying to picture and measure it in my house, I think we’d have to move furniture to get it in. I really don’t want to bite the bullet and get the dream house but I think we’ll be left with no choice

Honestly, it's huge and we didn't really have room for it either. But I did get it for DD when she was 4, reconfigured her bedroom a bit and it had daily play for a good 3 years. Interest started to wane around 7 and a half, where she was only playing with it maybe 3/4 times a week and then now, at nearly 9 I've got rid of it. But for the wow factor and cost per play, it was worth every penny.

If you can afford it, I would.

Check the house measurements carefully. Some of them are very very wide. I made this mistake last year and it doesn't fit where I planned!

They do come with lots of accessories. I got the smallest dream house from a few years which was the narrowest. It's the day and night one.

If I had to afford it I absolutely could, it’s just the size that’s putting me off. She loves to play and I know she will get lots of use out of.
do you know who sells the day to night house, can’t seem to find it? I’ve also come across the Jupiter house which is 20cm smaller than the dream house but about £80 cheaper.

Just check with the Jupiter ones that they fit proper 26cm Barbie dolls in them as a quick Google of Jupiter houses shows a page on Argos of some very small dolls!

Thanks! the one that’s on Argos says it fits dolls up to 28cm

This was the one I saw

Oh wow that looks perfect as a substitute for a Dreamhouse!

It looks great I’m just trying to work out the cons to it. From the reviews it’s more solid too but I just don’t want a disappointment face that it’s not ‘the Dreamhouse’