"I want my Barbie sleeping bag!" I cannot tell you how many times I have heard those words now. I remember loving Barbie as a child. I think I had about a million of them, but amazingly enough, my daughter, not quite 3, is on pace to surpass my extensive collection of Barbie paraphernalia!

When we decided to start going to a Mother's Day out 2 days a week, I needed to buy a nap mat for her. I saw all of the cute mats that the kids had, and I wanted to make sure that hers was nice as well, and something that she would enjoy for a long time to come, if possible. We needed it by the next day, so we went shopping at Wal-Mart.

After asking, "Do you want this one or this one?" about a thousand times, I finally managed to get her to decide on this Barbie sleeping bag. She still loves it, but it did not work out at the Mother's Day Out quite as well as we had hoped!

Product Details:
This is a child-sized sleeping bag. It is 48" tall and 28" wide when zipped closed. It has a cute typically-girly Barbie print on it: it is quite pink, and covered with hearts, with a large picture of Barbie on both sides.

The tag attached to the sleeping bag says that it is suitable for washings, but I am having trouble reading that tag because it became shrunken and distorted in the dryer!
This bag is made of 100% polyester and is very soft.

Ease of Use:
This Barbie sleeping bag can be zipped shut, with an opening on the top, or laid out flat on the floor. It also makes a great blanket in the car or at her grandmother's house, and functions nicely as a picnic blanket!

We had to stop using this at the Mother's Day Out, though, for storage reasons. As much as my daughter may love it, it is almost impossible to store. Most sleeping bags come with elasticized bands or strings that can be used to tie the bag shut, or with a carrying case in which to keep the bag. This Barbie product offers no such features.

This makes it a huge pain in the neck to cart around! (And make no mistake, you will have to cart it around everywhere because your daughter will inevitably love it.) Even if you roll it up as tight as you can, it will just immediately partially unroll and puff up to 3 times its previous size, instantly taking over any bag or closet, however large, you try to put it in. It also means that she has great difficulty carrying it around herself.

After several weeks of attempting to stuff this thing back into her tote bag, already filled with crafts, dolls, lunches, and clothes, we gave up. We still have it, and I'm sure she will continue to use it later, but its life as a nap mat has been graciously ended! We instead opted for a cute and convenient roll-up mat by Baby Boom.

Durability/Ease of Care:
This sleeping bag does wonderfully in the laundry. It is not so large that it takes up my whole washer, and it always comes completely clean in the wash. Even after many, many washings and dryings, the pinks are still just as pink, and Barbie's eyes shine just as brightly. The fabric has not worn or pilled at all.

I had intended to post the care instructions here, but alas, most of them are shrunken and distorted to the point of being completely indecipherable. This is what it says, as best I can discern:
1. Always open your bag for airing after use.
2. Spot clean your bag with lukewarm water.
3. If exceptionally soiled, your bag may be machine washed as follows: Use liquid detergent only. 1/8 cup per 1 lb. bag.
4. Use oversized commercial automatic machine utilizing rotating drum action only. Do not use agitator type top-loading machine

After that, I can't see what it says, but I will tell you that from my experience, these directions are ridiculous. I wash it all the time, with my other clothes, in a top-loading washer, and no harm has ever come our way as a result.

This is a very cute sleeping bag, particularly for little girls who have budding Barbie obsessions. Our experience with it has been very good so far: the colors and material hold up well, it isn't terribly expensive. It is warm, soft, comfortable, and a big hit with the other kids at the Mother's Day Out, before I banished it to home use only (for now). If you are looking for a sleeping bag, and only Barbie will do, then this is a pretty good bet for you. As a nap mat, it fails miserably.

Personally, I recommend that you either go with a roll-up nap mat (for younger children), or a sleeping bag that has better storage options. It may be a pain to tote around, but I still constantly hear, "I want my Barbie sleeping bag!"

Recommended: No

Amount Paid (US$): 24.99
Type of Toy: Other
Age Range of Child: 3 to 5 Years