Customer Reviews

Happy Family Grandparents Gift Set : Grandma's Kitchen (African American Dolls)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

pros:

Everything, the toy is great. A winding blender, storage (real cabinets, drawers, refrigerators) for all those little toys needed to play in a barbie sized kitchen. And inside and outside flip down table and a chair with a boster seat for Ryan.

The grandparents are excellent dolls. Grandpa's hair is the same pretty rooted curly hair seen on African American Alan, except his is a handsome gray/ black color. Grandma has pretty rooted hair with gray streaks. And both faces have age lines, yet still retain the image the grandparents have aged gracefully. They actually used new body molds, they didn't just stick 'older' heads on Barbie and Ken bodies. Grandpa is stockier around the waist and Grandma is plumper than Barbie. I think Mattle should consider using these body molds for younger dolls, just to add some variety into the 'perfect shape' dolls of the Barbie line.

cons:
Well, there aren't any. Just a question. How hard is it to make african-american versions of the decals? If you're going to make a african-american option to the set, at least allow the pictures of the children in the African American set to match the African-American version of the Happy family. It sucks the African-American grandma's kitchen has pictures of grandchildren that aren't hers. I'm sure it wouldn't add much cost to the set to provide an option of what pictures to display.

While the product is a welcome addition to the "Happy Family" line and an excellent idea in the ever expanding world of Barbie, my 6 year old daughter and I were disheartened that the "family photographs" included on the sticker sheet did not reflect nor depict the African-American family we purchased, hence, the 3 star rating. If you choose to purchase this particular product be aware that the accessories included will not reflect the product in the box. To a 6 year old little girl this was incomprehensible. She felt it detracted from the realism of the product which affected her pretend play. While we purchase dolls representative of all cultures we predominantly buy African-Amer. dolls because we are.

This is one of the greatest toys. The detail on the grandma and Grandpa are amazing. Make clothes for them. Make a house for the regular family too! It's so fun!

Grandma and Grandpa Kitchen can be more fun it it were more durable . It is not durable at all. Grandpa went to set down and broke his bones in both of his legs. By the way, he must not be made to sit, only stand. You know that is very hard on an old man!
MY neice was over and she decided she wanted to give Grandpa a break and give him a rest, she went to position him to a sitting position and both of his legs broke! If he were real, we would have to call EMS and send him to the hospital! Poor man!!
This was a Christmas gift to my daughter and she cried her heart out. We only had Grandpa a few days. I was not happy when Grandpa broke his legs either. Not only to mention about the doll, the table and chairs seem to be flemsy as well. Barbie , you just don't make things like you use to!

I'm told my 6-year old twin granddaughters love the grandparents' kitchen. I haven't been told of any drawbacks, other than keeping the small pieces away from smaller children. We are also a multi-racial family, and I'm the white grandparent, but the African-American dolls matched their complexions better, so I chose them. I don't think it matters one way or another to the granddaughters. They have white and Hispanic Barbie dolls, too. I think it would be a good idea for the grandparent dolls to be made in Asian and Hispanic versions, though, since the children seem to love them. Having them available to purchase individually, too, would be a plus, so you add on to a collection and have all the grandparents represented.

I am 9 and I love this toy.Santa got it for me.When I opened it I was so excited.Later that day my sister who is 11 helped me set it up.She thought it was pretty neat.There is a few
flaws in it though. The little pieces are not too good because they get lost easily. The table is hard to get up but once you get the hang of it it is not that bad.It is hard to get into it because when you touch one thing others fall down.Then when your picking it up somthing else will fall if your not careful.One other thing, is that there is no other rooms but the kitchen. Also the baby has no where to sit. There are a lot of neat things you can do in the house too. You can fold it up for easy storge.When you open it you press a button.It comes with lots of food.I love the grandparents.They both have very neat glasses.Over all I love this set and it is a must buy!!!!!

I like this toy a lot but the grandpa's head looks like it is about to fall off. The one chair with the booster seat does not unfold right. And there is a lot os small pieces that can get lost easily. Another thing is that the little card board pieces rip easily. One other thing that I do not like it that the grandparents hair is as hard as a rock. Other than that this kitchen is okay.

We got this toy for Christmas for our little girl and were highly disappointed in it. The toy itself was a great idea, and would have been a 4 or 5 star if made better.

However, this toy was very very poorly made. From the second it came out of the box it had problems. The latch button on the side was too hard for our little girl to get open to start with. Then, once open, the doors on all of the cabinets and fridge refuse to stay shut and everything just falls right out. On top of that, the space between the cute little kitchen counter and the table is so small that the dolls hardly fit in the chairs in that space it's so tight!

It's really too bad, because if they had put more effort into better design this could have been a great toy, but because of the poor design I do not recommend it at all, that is unless you like to waste your money on toys that fall apart the second you pull them from the box and that your kid can't even get into on their own.

I am a Grandmother of 12. I enjoy playing with the set. However
the grandma could use more grey hair. It would be nice if grandpa could sit down.
It would also be nice if you could make them the skin color of
Shani doll. I agree that the set takes a great deal of care for a six year old. Help for the stiff hair: take the clothes off and rinse the hair in cool water with-out getting water down the neck.
Ellena A. Miami Fl.

It's great that Mattel has now incorporated another generation into the Barbie line. The kitchen setting is perfect, at least for our grandkids and this grandma who loves to cook for them. I also like that this set has self-contained storage. My granddaughter has so much, including the Barbie Dream House, that her parents' home sometimes looks as though Mattel has invaded!

BUT, there's some room for improvement over Mattel's prepackaged family structures. Biologically I am my black granddaughter's white step-grandmother. Her biological grandfather and father are black. My current daughter-in-law is white, and my granddaughter's three step-siblings are biracial. My husband and I consider his-hers-and-theirs to all be ours. We all relate as a loving, supportive family, without regard to biological parentage.

My granddaughter, and all children of the Barbie play-age, need to have their individual identities, as well as those of their family members and larger community, positively reflected in the Mattel dolls available. How hard would it be for Mattel to make the grandparent dolls available separately so that I could give my granddaughter this gift accurately representing her grandparents? Also, these older generation dolls could be used individually to represent older adults, other than grandparents, who are a significant influence in a child's life.

I also support the statement in the prior consumer comment that Mattel needs to change the scenery decals, perhaps by including a packet of decals so that each child could make her own selections.

Also, Mattel is long overdue to seriously acknowledge the vast number of folks of Hispanic and Asian heritage in our country through dolls other than those in the collector series. And while Mattel is at it, please add the great-grandparent generation, many of whom, despite completely gray hair, remain active and involved in children's lives.