Festival of Black Dolls Show & Sale Nov. 8, 2025

American Black Beauty Doll Artists (ABBDA) will host their annual Festival of Black Dolls Show & Sale.

When: November 8, 2025 

Where: the African American Museum and Library,  

659 14th St, Oakland, CA 94612 

Time: 10AM - 5PM (PST) 

FREE ABBDA Shuttle from 12th St., 19th St., and West Oakland BART. 

There will be a raffle drawing for the doll featured on the flyer. Buy tickets in advance online here or at the show.

For more information about this organization and this event, visit their website here.

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All photos and text are copyrighted and cannot be used elsewhere unless permission is granted by the author.

©Black Doll Collecting/dbg

There are countless items to collect and write about. Black dolls chose me.

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Thank you for reading. Comments that are not spam are appreciated. Spam comments will not be published, so don't waste your time. To contact me directly, go to the About page (visible in the web view mode); find and use the email link.

Zuru 5 Surprise My Mini Baby

My Zuru 5 Surprise Mini Baby from Series 2 is like the 4th one shaded in on the bottom row.

My day was brightened after opening a package that contained a Zuru 5 Surprise My Mini Baby Series 2. It was a gift from a faithful blog reader. I was unaware of these 3-inch silicone babies until MB asked if I'd like to have a duplicate of one she owned. Of course, I said, "Yes!" 

A Zuru 5 Surprise Mini Baby is a blind-capsule collectible toy where you peel, unwrap, and reveal five surprises inside the capsule. My capsule contained three sealed packages. 

Two packages contained the baby's rattle, bottle, blanket, and the accessories to assemble its crib, which has an attachable netting holder, netting, and cushion. Assembly instructions were also included (trust me, I needed those, but it was easy to do.)

My 5 surprises were the baby (seen in the next photo), the crib (and accessories), the blanket, a rattle, and a baby bottle. The crib has working wheels!

MB also sent me two diapers because diapers were not included in the capsule.

The baby wears a diaper and rests in its crib on top of the crib cushion.

The blanket covers the crib cushion, and the baby continues to rest peacefully.

This is a close-up of my adorable sleeping baby, his extra diaper, rattle, and bottle.

The baby is wrapped snugly in its blanket.

My Mini Baby is so adorable, as illustrated in the above photos. These dolls are gender neutral. This one looks more like a boy, so it's a Boy!

Thank you again, MB! I love the baby and the concept. 

5 Surprise My Mini Baby (website)

__________

All photos and text are copyrighted and cannot be used elsewhere unless permission is granted by the author.

©Black Doll Collecting/dbg

There are countless items to collect and write about. Black dolls chose me.

__________

Thank you for reading. Comments that are not spam are appreciated. Spam comments will not be published, so don't waste your time. To contact me directly, go to the About page (visible in the web view mode); find and use the email link.

If you're not already a subscriber, visit, "like" and follow the Black Doll Collecting Facebook page or bookmark the Black Doll Collecting home page and visit on Tuesdays and Thursdays when typically new posts are published.

Check out what I am selling here. 
Check out my eBay listings here.
Please follow my sister blog Ebony-Essence of Dolls in Black.
*New*Visit/Follow DeeBeeGee's Virtual Black Doll Museum
Donate here to support this blog. Thank you!

An Elegant #1 Barbie-ish Clone

Seller's photo

When I saw this doll on a Chinese site (the name of which I won't state*), I couldn't believe the price, which was $7 and some change at the time I ordered. The price jumped to $8 and some change after I ordered (and some sellers on the site had/have it priced much higher). I was skeptical about ordering because the first images on the ordering page appeared to be the doll's head on a human's body with real arms and legs without visible doll joints, as illustrated in the photo on the left. It was in the wee hours of the morning when I hurriedly carted the doll and submitted the order, along with one other doll that I'll post later. During the time I waited for the dolls to arrive, I kept thinking this one was too good to be true. She arrived better than expected, and in a box! The box was so banged up near the bottom that I just knew the doll's legs or something else were damaged, but they were not.

The box, which I unbent for this picture, describes the doll's features: artwork, faceup, handcrafted details.

STYLE in bold letters is on one side panel of the box.

The doll was attached to a box liner. A black hairnet covered her head  Double-sided care instructions and a free gift of a pair of aviator sunglasses were also in the box.

This is the front of the care instructions and the packaged free gift.

The flip side of the care instructions is shown above.

A close-up of her lovely face illustrates how much she looks like the #1 Barbie sculpt.

This first full-view photo illustrates the extra articulation.

After checking the movement in all her joints, which moved well, I fluffed out her bubble cut hairstyle. Next, I added earrings, which are pearlized map or craft pins. In my fashion doll clothing collection, I found a red party dress for her to wear, and I made a red felt clutch purse. I accented the purse with a pearl button. Because I didn't have a suitable pair of red shoes, I painted a pair of fuchsia high-heeled shoes red to match the party dress and clutch. I also made a pearl necklace for her.

She wears a red party dress, pearl earrings, and hot pink shoes.

This is a close-up of the dark pink shoes before I painted them red.

I placed each shoe on top of a pencil while painting. The bottom of the pencil served as a handle to steady the shoes as I painted. The shoes dried on top of the pencils with the pencils placed inside a paperclip dispenser.

The now red shoes

The glued sides of the red felt clutch were held in place with a paperclip on each side while the glue dried. I accepted the clutch with a pearl button.

She models the pearl necklace I made. 

This lovely doll poses for two final full-length photos.

She's simply stunning.

This doll looks much more elegant and sophisticated beyond her $7 and some change price. I am so happy I took a chance on ordering.

*The reason I don't share the name of the China-based site is because ordering from them is usually seamless, but I have had issues with quality and more recently a difficult return/refund experience that I don't want anyone else to experience who might happen to order from them based on my mentioning the site's name. 

__________

All photos and text are copyrighted and cannot be used elsewhere unless permission is granted by the author.

©Black Doll Collecting/dbg

There are countless items to collect and write about. Black dolls chose me.

__________

Thank you for reading. Comments that are not spam are appreciated. Spam comments will not be published, so don't waste your time. To contact me directly, go to the About page (visible in the web view mode); find and use the email link.

If you're not already a subscriber, visit, "like" and follow the Black Doll Collecting Facebook page or bookmark the Black Doll Collecting home page and visit on Tuesdays and Thursdays when typically new posts are published.

Check out what I am selling here. 
Check out my eBay listings here.
Please follow my sister blog Ebony-Essence of Dolls in Black.
*New*Visit/Follow DeeBeeGee's Virtual Black Doll Museum
Donate here to support this blog. Thank you!