Baltimore County father's 30-year tradition: Gifting Black Holiday Barbies to daughter
BALTIMORE - The Barbie movie continues to dominate the box office.
For one Barbie collector, the joy goes beyond just the doll.
Zach Grant, from Baltimore County, has been giving Black Holiday Barbies to his daughter for 30 years and doesn't plan on stopping any time soon.
He grew up watching his sister play with Barbies.
"You've got Doctor Barbie and Tennis Barbie and Mail Person Barbie," Grant said.
But certain Barbies caught his eye.
"I was always fascinated by seeing a Barbie that looked like us," Grant said.
In 1992, Zach's daughter Samantha was born.
Grant was walking around a toy store during the holiday season that year when he saw a Black Holiday Barbie.
"I liked how it looked and it was very powerful with the regalia on, and I said, 'I'm going to do something for Samantha,'" Grant said.
Grant bought that Barbie and has bought the Black Holiday Barbie for Samantha every year for the past three decades despite the challenges of finding Black Holiday Barbies.
"I'll go to Target and I'll see five White Holiday Barbies and one Black Holiday Barbie," Grant said. "If I'm not there to get it, it's gone and they don't order anymore."
Samantha loved Barbies.
"I played with them a lot," she said. "I loved Barbies. I had so many Barbies."
But the Holiday Barbies were not for play.
None of the Black Holiday Barbies Zach bought for Samantha have ever been out of their box.
"I remember a little bit when I was younger and I was like, 'Can I open this one?' and he was like, 'No,'" Samantha Grant said. "Even my friends when they would see them, I would be like, 'Don't touch.'
The collection consists of 30 years of Black Holiday Barbies.
Even as an adult, Samantha looks forward to receiving her Barbie.
"If my father is alive when I'm 62 and I don't get a Barbie, I'm going to feel a type of way about it," Samantha Grant said.
Grant said he has never checked to see how much the collection of Barbies is worth, but he knows that he doesn't plan on selling any of them.
He plans to keep buying Samantha the Black Holiday Barbie as long as he is alive, and the collection might not stop there.
"I sometimes just think, where am I going to put all of these Barbies when it gets crazy, but I do feel like it is something I will continue as well."
