Barbie Coloring Pages

Barbie Fun Facts

• Her birthday is March 9, 1959. Barbie was "born" the day Mattel president and Barbie inventor Ruth Handler debuted the doll at the American International Toy Fair in New York. She was inspired by paper dolls. Ruth decided to create a three-dimensional doll when she saw her daughter playing with paper dolls, pretending they were students, cheerleaders, and career women.
• German woman Bettina Dorfmann holds the Guinness Book of World Records for having the biggest Barbie collection in the world. She's been collecting since 1993, and owns 15,000 different kinds.
• Barbie doll has had 180+ inspirational careers. Every year since 2011, Barbie doll has introduced a career that has been under represented by women – some of those careers include computer engineer, architect, entrepreneur and film director.
• Ken and Barbie's relationship was once on the rocks. Things between Barbie and longtime boyfriend Ken fizzled in 2004, causing them to split up after 43 years together.
• The first Barbie doll was sold for $3.00. Today, a mint condition “#1” (1959 Barbie doll) can fetch as much as $27,450 at auction, as was the case with an extremely rare #1 blonde doll in a May 2006 auction held by Sandi’s Doll Attic. The most expensive Barbie, however, was designed in partnership with Australian jewelry designer Stefano Canturi to raise money for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. The doll sold for $302,500 at auction in 2010.
• Barbie was never a bride. Though Mattel has debuted bridal editions of Barbies, the split between her and Ken was fairly easy, because the company has never claimed they're married (no messy divorce, no arguing over who gets the Malibu mansion). That doesn't mean imaginations everywhere haven't unofficially made the two tie the knot.