“Going Home Barbie” is a gift to adoptive families who stay at the White Swan Hotel. Apparently, during the duration of your stay, Barbie will magically appear on your pillow. The doll has been issued on a donation basis from Mattel since 2001.
In addition to giving the Barbies, Mattel also sponsors this amazing playroom:
All of the products inside are Mattel.
Quite a few years ago, almost all of the 6,000 adoptive families stayed at the White Swan Hotel on Shamian Island because the U.S. consulate was located on the island. (U.S. citizens must exit through the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou while most other countries exit through Beijing.)
These days, the consulate is no longer on the island and there is an abundance of nice hotels for a much cheaper price. The White Swan Hotel ranges from $100 to $160 per night depending on the type of room requested.
The only reason to stay at the White Swan is to receive a “Going Home Barbie” aka “White Swan Barbie”.
Enter the tension.
1. The product is only available to adoptive families who stay at the White Swan Hotel.
2. Going Home Barbie is simply not for sale.
This lack of availability has made some adoptive families unhappy enough to create a petition pleading with Mattel to sell the Barbies.
Mattel hasn’t budged.
Overall, Mattel’s philanthropic gesture is received by the adoption community as a bit strange.
1. At 50, Barbie is too old to adopt from China. (She was created in 1959.)
2. You must be 30 to adopt from China. In the world of pretend, Barbie is in her late teens or early 20′s.
3. Single’s can’t adopt from China. Barbie isn’t wearing a wedding ring and there’s no Ken included.
4. There have been complaints that Barbie was dressed too “hippy-chick” to be adopting a baby. I think this 8th edition Going Home Barbie’s outfit looks appropriate. Personally, I won’t be wearing lavender lipstick while filling out paperwork, but who am I to judge?
5. The baby is a girl. Some have said that in previous editions, the baby looked gender neutral, but I’d say in this 8th edition, we can assume Barbie was matched with a daughter. (It’s the lace that gives it away.)
6. There are those general hang-ups about how Barbie affects the minds of young girls, makes them go berserk throughout the teen years, and sends them to therapy in their 30′s. (I had a Barbie. I’m fine.)
Since Going Home Barbie is only given as a gift, they have become quite the collector’s item going for $200-$300 on eBay.
So, yes, I’ll confess that I’m thinking about (just maybe) asking Hubs if we can stay at the White Swan Hotel for one night so that we can get a Barbie. Then, we can eBay her and pay for adoption expenses!
The back of the box.
I have one. We did not adopt from China but visited White Swan when friends were adopting and were given one. Maybe I will make some money and sell it on ebay.
Lucky you! What edition is she?
Hey, we actually have ours up on ebay right now!! She is up to $75 this morning!! Crazy! Figuring Joshua will not be so interested and we need the money. Your post reminded me that we had it and so we talked and decided to sell!
People seem to get so frantic on this issue. If you want one, pick one up on ebay. Even the expensive sales will cost you less than an American doll. If you don’t want to pay that, you can buy an actual Chinese doll for around $15. The idea that people have filed a petition with Mattel to make them publicly available is just odd, given how easy they are to get. A Chinese adoption is north of $30,000, what’s $75 more?
My daughter has one, but never plays with it.