Barbie FHV70 On The Go Carnival

This Barbie On the Go Carnival is a fully featured playset with a track, ferris wheel, stands and more! The colourful set also features fireworks that "pop" out the back of the ferris wheel when spun, creating a party like atmosphere that's perfect for the carnival setting.

In seeing her daughter Barbara play with paper dolls, Ruth Handler noted that she seemed to enjoy playing adult roles for them on a regular basis. At the period, the majority of children's toy dolls were depictions of newborns or young children. After seeing that there could be a gap in the market, Handler approached her husband Elliot, who was a co-founder of the Mattel toy firm, with the idea of creating an adult-bodied doll. He and the other directors at Mattel were adamantly opposed to the concept.

While travelling around Europe with her daughters Barbara and Kenneth in 1956, Ruth Handler stumbled upon a German doll named Bild Lilli, who she immediately fell in love with. Handler knew precisely what she wanted in an adult-figure doll, so she bought three of them to have on hand. She handed one of the dolls to her daughter and returned the others to Mattel. The Lilli doll was inspired by a well-known figure who appeared in a comic strip produced by Reinhard Beuthin for the German newspaper Bild in the 1950s and 1960s. A blonde stunner, Lilli was a working girl with a clear vision of what she wanted and was not beyond manipulating guys to get it. The Lilli doll was introduced to the market in Germany in 1955, and while it was primarily targeted at adults, it quickly gained popularity among youngsters, who liked dressing her up in clothing that could be purchased individually.

Following her return to the United States, Handler revised the doll (with assistance from local inventor-designer Jack Ryan), and the doll was given the new name Barbie, after Handler's daughter Barbara, who had inspired the doll. The doll made its premiere at the American International Toy Fair in New York City on March 9, 1959, and has been in continuous production since since. Barbie's formal birthday is celebrated on this day as well.