Barbie Organization Ideas

I saw an idea in a magazine that I thought was pretty neat. If you find a shoe organizer that hangs on a hook, she can organize her Barbies and accessories in the shoe slots. These shoe slots are transparent, so she can easily see everything. Good luck keeping these things organized. My daughter throws everything in a big bin, and it's a mess.

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Our daughter had a whole lot more than 9 Barbies, so we purchased a a rolling 3 drawer organizer. That way it could roll out of her closet and back into the closet. She kept the Barbies in the drawers along with containers for the clothing. all very organized.. She loved, organizing it over and over.

I also purchased a 60 drawer Plastic cabinet.. Usually they are at the hardware store to store nails, screws, washers etc..

She kept it very organized with a drawer for high heels, drawer for sandals, for wedges, for casual handbags, hats, crowns, jewelry, Kens casual shoes, socks.. etc..

The fun thing was you could point at a drawer and she could tell you what was in each drawer! Like the memory game! any time I found some small piece of Barbie stuff, I just placed it in her room in a small bowl on her dresser and she would place it where it belonged..

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Since the ideas posted already are awesome, I will give you advice that we found helpful... my 3 girls are beyond Barbie years now but when they were younger, our house had a LOT of Barbie stuff (organized neatly). Not only were 3 girls given Barbie gifts from others all the time but older neices passed down their stuff. I don't remember buying them even one thing. When the girls were going to play Barbies, it would take them 30-45 min just to get ready; divide up the clothes, shoes, etc., set up the house, the pool, the pet shop. Ugh. The result was: they rarely played!

With their approval, one day they each chose 2 favorite Barbies, a couple changes of clothes and shoes, and that's it. We sold the rest at a garage sale and divided the money among the girls. From that time on, they played ALL THE TIME. They spent no time setting up and they just simply played.

With that realization, we began to do that with more toys; simplify. GREAT decision! They played more with more creativity and learned they didn't always need the latest, greatest thing.

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For my boys GI Joes - I bought the plastic shoe box from Target or Wal-Mart, then I bought the bigger plastic box for the "Stuff"...

if you don't want bins - then you should get some baskets.

the VINTAGE (1970's to 1980's) Barbie cases that are sold on ebay are good. But those are USUALLY for collectors...who knows!

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go to target or walmart and get a back of the door shoe bag. they have great ones now that have pockets in mulitple sizes. we have them on the backs of all our kids doors. they hold everything in our house from computer / video game stuff (wires, controllers, gameboy and games etc) to art supplies. my daughter has them on the backs of her kids doors and has her boys action figures, and kinects and legos and barbie stuff in her daughters rooms. we keep them in the hall closet for mittens and scarbes and hats etc. you can't go wrong with them. the one in my sons room has 2 rows of regular size pockets and the next few rows are wider and deeper. we got it at walmart

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I would say use an over the door shoe holder pocket bag thingy....the dolls could each have their own pocket and then some outfits and some shoes etc. in each pocket.

Somthing like this: http://www.amazon.com/Over-Door-Clear-Organizer-Storage/d...

they have them at Wal Mart, Target, Bed Bath and Beyond, and even some Dollar Stores.

Jessie

I realize you said you did not want to use bins to store all the barbie stuff, but my daughter uses a 3 drawer cart and has the barbies in 1 drawer (with at least 9 barbies) and clothes/shoes in another. It is nice that everything is in one area. Hopes this helps you.

We use the shoebox size clear tubs from Dollar General for the Barbies and their clothes. I got a little plastic thing with 3 drawers from Dollar General for little stuff like shoes and brushes. We have several different types of Barbies, so Princess Barbies go in one tub, character Barbies (like the ones from the Barbie moves) go in another and the rest go in another. It works really well! Not to mention, it makes clean up a snap. There's no more "I can't put it away because I don't know where it goes!"

My husband built us 4 small shelving units to store all the bins in. You can also get nice units at Pottery Barn or Ikea. Or just use an old bookshelf. It makes it look a little nice than bins just laying everywhere.

I haven't read any other responses, so forgive me if this is repeating anything ... For the smaller items, I like to use the zippered pencil bags you will find in the school supply area. There are clear ones so you can see what's inside, or designer ones - whichever you like. That's all I really keep separate - all the clothes and dolls go in a basket, along with the zippered bags. When I was a kid, I remember having an old, hard-top suitcase to keep all of my barbies in. Check out your local surplus store to get one for cheap.

When I was young we didn't have the house and all that and would have a blast setting them up. My daughter had a house which we had set up all the time and then we kept the rest in a rubbermaid bin. My granddaughter has my house looking like a toys r us and I only have her on weekends..lol. What I did with her barbies is put them in a 3 drawer plastic bin. The clothes in one, the barbies in the next and in the bottom I have some of the accessories. Shoes and small accessories I put in plastic Crystal light containers. They are oval and the label slips off easily. I use these for everything from beads and game peices to sewing supplies. Larger items like the furniture, I keep in a rubbermaid bin in the closet. The girls seem to like to change clothes and not mess with the setting up the house at 4. When they get a little older I will set up the barbie house and let them play with that but we will get rid of some of the other toys they outgrow to make room.

When I was a child, I had a...oh, I guess it's like a foot locker, only cube instead of a huge rectangle. Everything was thrown in it. I still have my Barbies, but I keep accessories separated into ziplic gallon baggies in it.

For my daughter, however, I've gotten a little more organized. I know you said no bins, but there's a better way (with bins)...I have one nice clear bin (but it's this nice orangey pinky color) that's large. In it is the Barbie furniture on one side. In the middle I have two clear shoe box sized plastic bins, one for clothes and one for all the millions of little pieces. I have one tiny box for all the shoes. On the other side of the large bin are the Barbies...so they are separate from the furniture by the two shoe boxes and tiny box for shoes. It looks nice, is organized...SHE can put them away how I want them...and doesn't take up a lot of space. We keep it in the basement, and when she wants the Barbies, we just bring it up.

Put them in cotton bags and hang them on the wall.

Ladies... I love all these ideas. I wanted to throw this out there to any moms looking for part-time work with a Professional Organizing company here in Richardson, Tx (Dallas, Tx).

If you know of anyone please send them our way. www.GetOrganized.ws

Thank you,

L. B.

We bought an organizer that hands on the door for Barbies but truthfully she just puts them in the doll stuff.

We bought a 2 drawer thing by Rubbermaid or some other company and the drawers are for her dolls. She has another one in a different color for pretend play toys. But everything just ends up being stuffed where every they end up.

I don't really depend on my daughters to keep their barbies that orgainized. So one day I brought home an empty box from work and that's where all the barbie junk goes. It's getting to be a little full, so I guess I will just add a second box. I figure as long as groups of toys are seperated, that's good enough. :)