American girl dolls.

[cygnet]

What your American Girl doll says about you:
http://thehairpin.com/2011/05/how-your-american-girl-doll-shaped-the-rest-of-your-life


Ha!

 

[madelise]

What if you A.) have a daughter and B.) she doesn't like AG dolls (or Playmobil)? Interest in certain toys is not a one-size-fits-all sort of thing.

I thought it was quite clear from my post that I would be buying these things for ME. Doesn't matter whether my kid likes them or not as long as I can cover the house in them and not look totally crazy!

I'll be doing the same thing with Hello Kitty and those fancy collector's edition Barbies!! No, baby, sorry, Barbie needs to stay in the box. Yes, it is "yours"…. but she needs to stay in the box.

 

[distracts]

What your American Girl doll says about you:
http://thehairpin.com/2011/05/how-your-american-girl-doll-shaped-the-rest-of-your-life


Ha!

It doesn't have a category for "owns all the dolls!" but let's be real, I am so Samantha, as is every single regular PSer.

(Also, among the people I knew, Kirsten was the cool doll to have. Alllll the cheerleaders/popular girls had Kirsten. She was the last doll I got.)

 

[monarch64]

It is a BIG THING around here to drive to Chicago with your little girl (age 3/4-7 or so) and visit the American Girl store.

I have a 14 month old girl and started receiving catalogs last year before Christmas when she was only 5 or 6 months old (unsolicited--obviously all the toy and clothing co's share mailing addresses). I thought the camping accessories were cute (headlamps! tent! sleeping bag! backpack!) but that's about it.

When I was growing up my grandmother gave me a lot of fancy expensive dolls that she told me not to play with. I had shelves in my room that they stood on in their doll stands, looking all pristine and tempting. They're packed away in their boxes in bins at my parents' house now. My grandmother has an entire room devoted to dolls in her house. I really hope she doesn't mean for me to have them someday. I'm her only granddaughter, but she has a great granddaughter now who I am sure would love them more than me or my daughter.

The American Girl dolls were just getting big when I was a teenager. When I was in middle school, though, there were a few out but I do remember reading all the books.

Dolls are great for role play, but I don't see us (or the grandparents) spending a ton on a collection of dolls representing stereotypes.
I'm like TGal, I'd rather build Legos with my child/ren (even if it means stepping on them in the middle of the night.)

 

[Ximena]

$115? with accessories, books, etc it an be close to $130

Sometimes getting a 'gently used' does the trick. Kids change their minds all the time and can be rough.
As a kid, I loved American Girl books, got my first doll on my 8th birthday. OH boy, I sure destroyed that doll!!! Still have the doll [after two head replacements ha!]
Got much better overtime, have quite a few boxed, all came with very few accessories, my dad used to build a bed for the 'new' doll every Christmas and 'THAT' was super cool.
I find Just like Me a little weird, why would I want a twin? Have Two of them, same story with Elizabeth, Mia and Julie. I should make them avail at DB.

 

[packrat]

My gramma was like that too, Monnie, w/dolls. She had all kinds that I and my girl cousins were never allowed to play with, but she would get them down so we could touch them. Being the oldest, I was allowed to get out the collection of Blue Bonnet dolls (anyone know Blue Bonnet margarine? Years ago, you cut out the UPC codes and sent them in and then after so many, you got a doll-there's a whole pile of them) and set them up on the kitchen table after everyone else was in bed. I have them all now, and a bunch of other dolls. Gramma would get those "heirloom" type dolls, and then I always got first choice, then the other three girls got to pick the ones they wanted and she put tape on the bottom to designate.

My dolls didn't always play girl stuff, sometimes they dated Transformers instead of Ken, and sometimes my brother's Transformers came for lunch at Barbie's house. Sometimes they were decoys to lure the Decepticons so the Autobots could catch them.

 

[momhappy]

Don't forget to buy the below playmobil too. They also have a jewelry heist one for PSers.

Playmobil is very thorough in providing toys for anything a child could possibly want to play-act. It's why I love them so much. I think my parents also liked them because, like legos, they were fairly gender neutral and they could buy a ton and both my brother and I could play with them. Though really I hogged them and my brother just went outside and covered himself in mud.

My mom bought the patterns for the clothes and is going to make them. Some ebayers make nice ones too! I would NEVER pay for the clothes. Oh, and they aren't getting their hair styled for $30 either.

About half of the furniture I had was constructed by me, and well over half the clothes were things I had sewn or made my grandmother sew out of scraps. I don't think you even need patterns. I never used one for doll clothes, only for people clothes. For doll clothes I just winged it. My grandmother kept sewing wedding dresses, party dresses, etc but I had ancient greek goddesses, olympic athlete costumes, spy outfits, one particularly epic torturer/interrogator set that I jury-rigged out of a maid costume my grandmother made, spaceship commander outfits, etc. I think my grandmother's ideas of what sort of imaginative games my dolls got up to were very different than mine. Usually they were embroiled in some sort of galactic civil war or insurrection against a despotic government, not playing house.

What if you A.) have a daughter and B.) she doesn't like AG dolls (or Playmobil)? Interest in certain toys is not a one-size-fits-all sort of thing.

I thought it was quite clear from my post that I would be buying these things for ME. Doesn't matter whether my kid likes them or not as long as I can cover the house in them and not look totally crazy!

It actually wasn't clear, that's why I asked. You said that the moment you have a daughter, you were going on an AG shopping spree, which implies that the dolls would be for your daughter and not you.

 

[AGBF]

When I was a child I collected dolls. I had seen The Pryor Doll collection here in Greenwich, Connecticut, a huge collection amassed by Samuel Pryor, and thought I would keep all the dolls people gave me until one day I had a similar collection (!). I believe that some of my old dolls are probably still in this house, under the eaves in the attic. I know some came from Europe and if they have survived, are quite old! (They are small dolls, by and large, in costume. I do know I have some baby dolls. One Thumbelina, which turned over if you wound a wooden knob in her back, was the last baby doll I had as a child. I know she wasn't in tip top shape last I looked.)

I have several Corolle baby dolls (that smell of vanilla) that I bought for my daughter in the guest bedroom in Virginia. She never cared about them. I bought real baby clothes for them.

I remember that in my youth I badly wanted a Patty PlayPal doll and that it cost $25.00 and that my father said there was no way he was going to spend that kind of money on a doll! When I met my best friend (at our independent girls school) I found out that she had had one. In fact, she had gotten her mother in trouble by posing the lifelike size Patty PlayPal inside the playhouse behind their house and telling one of her friends that it was her retarded sister whom they kept out there. When the friend told her mother, the mother called my friend's mother, horrified. The moral of the story is that the kids who don't deserve them get the Patty Playpal dolls!

Deb

 

[luv2sparkle]

My daughter had one, Samantha. I loved them. I think they are worth every penny. I would much rather have my little girl loving a doll than watching tv or playing video games. My daughter read all the books as well. You don't have to buy the clothes, there are lots of patterns out there to make them. You could have a blast finding all the little things to go with them. We still have Samantha. They come in a very nice box and can be stored in it.

 

[Niel]

I agree preloved dolls might be worth looking in to. I don't know if they still do but you used to be able to send your doll in for refurbishing.

 

[Sparklelu]

Just wanted to say I posted that link about what does your AG say about you to my DD as she has several AG dolls as did her friends. Well you should hear the comments from her friends and the wonderful things they are saying as they reminisce about the dolls. Yes they are pricey, Dd got her first Samantha with her First Holy Communion money! But they were great friends to the girls.
The librarian in me insisted the books were read before the new doll joined our family.

 

[distracts]

The librarian in me insisted the books were read before the new doll joined our family.

Yep, my grandmother made me do this before I got a new doll. I had to read the books of the doll and some nonfiction books about the time period and then she'd quiz me. Theoretically if I didn't pass the quiz, I wouldn't get the doll for Christmas, but I was always a studious, bookwormy child, so I had no problems. I loved that when the "doll like me" came out it had six books so you could write your own stories like the ones the historical dolls had. I don't know that they do that anymore, but I suppose you could always just get some little journals to go with the doll. I have always written a lot and you can bet I filled those books up with some crazy, fantastical stories about Distracts-doll and DRAGONNNNSSSS (in the books, she was a dragon trainer and then they had to go fight evil).

My mom also made me do a lot of their guidebooks like the "Care and Keeping of You" books and the money management one.

 

[erinl]

I have an affinity for Pleasant Company as it was before Mattel bought them out. My mom bought my younger sister Samantha in 1986 or 87 when Pleasant Rowland (the founder) answered the phone herself and got her the doll and the matching dress-- I think she had a small office and a handful of staff.
I went to UW Madison for Grad school and I worked for Pleasant company for two holiday seasons--they had a huge warehouse in Middleton WI. Pleasant Rowland gave a big holiday party with quite a spread and spoke to the employees and seemed very approachable. She paid very well (for 1994/1995) and the employees were pretty happy-- I didn't work as much as I would like, because hours were scarce in Sept and Oct and became a lot more in late Nov early Dec when I was writing papers and studying for finals, so I had to pass a lot of my hours over, which were snatched up in a second.

The computer system we used was so easy and really impressive for the early 90s; I loved talking to little girls and their moms, who called in to get the catalog mailed to them or to place orders. I could hear Christmas and smell hot cocoa over the phone, I kid you not! I would get a bit sad when parents would call in and buy a doll and the entire set of accessories (which were much more detailed in the 90s than they are now). The set cost over a grand, and they would ask me which doll they bought for their daughter last year, then say, ok lets buy this one this year, and have the doll and entire set gift wrapped and sent to a boarding school. This happened 2-3 times in one season, it seemed shocking to me. The little girl didn't come home for the holidays????

At that time I got a 50% off discount, and many of the workers were moms and grandmas purchasing for their kids/grandkids. I was in my early twenties and had no one to buy for at that time-- I bought a doll for myself that I have since passed down to my daughter!

The second season I worked was much rougher. That was the year they introduced the "just like you" doll (holiday 1995) and demand far exceeded supply, and one of their manufacturers didn't come through for Christmas, so instead of moms and little girls I then got loud angry fathers telling me "I" had ruined Christmas for their whole family........

I have visited the store in Chicago and it is pretty impressive, but I miss the detail that the old sets had...

 

[monarch64]

My gramma was like that too, Monnie, w/dolls. She had all kinds that I and my girl cousins were never allowed to play with, but she would get them down so we could touch them. Being the oldest, I was allowed to get out the collection of Blue Bonnet dolls (anyone know Blue Bonnet margarine? Years ago, you cut out the UPC codes and sent them in and then after so many, you got a doll-there's a whole pile of them) and set them up on the kitchen table after everyone else was in bed. I have them all now, and a bunch of other dolls. Gramma would get those "heirloom" type dolls, and then I always got first choice, then the other three girls got to pick the ones they wanted and she put tape on the bottom to designate.

My dolls didn't always play girl stuff, sometimes they dated Transformers instead of Ken, and sometimes my brother's Transformers came for lunch at Barbie's house. Sometimes they were decoys to lure the Decepticons so the Autobots could catch them.

Ha! Transformers were the coolest. When the movies came out a few years ago I was like HELL YEAH. I had one older brother and he had all kinds of those plus GI Joes and whatever. "Action figures," they were called...I played with his DOLLS as much as he and his friends did, because we could take them outside and didn't have to worry about their hair getting ruined.

ETA: in the interest of full disclosure I feel compelled to add that I wore a dress and a matching purse and bead necklace absolutely everywhere I went in those days (in public, not in our woods where we played) and thought of myself as a LAYDAY. I also was very fond of the Eloise books. And if I was able to ever get my hands on any lipstick you better believe I was painting my little old chapped lips with it. But Legos, action figures, big wheels, bikes? Yeah. I rolled hard.

 

[soxfan]

so now she has to have beds for her two dolls. How CUTE is this set? (Sh*t, now I am excited about buying stuff..)

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190875063830&ssPageName=ADME:X:AAQ:US:1123

 

[rubybeth]

I had to save up for my Felicity doll. It took an entire summer of babysitting my little sister when I was 13, but it was so worth it. I read all the books from the library. Over the years, I collected one outfit, piece of furniture, or accessories kit at a time, one for a birthday, one for Christmas, and bought my own as I saved up my allowance or babysitting money. I was a bit too old for 'playing' with Felicity, but I enjoyed setting up the various scenes from the books in an area of my room. Eventually, I collected every last piece of Felicity's collection, and it is still in original boxes in the top of the closet in my old room at my parents' house. Felicity still gets dressed in one of her holiday outfits and put on display in her writing chair every Christmas.

My mom sent her away a few years ago to have her head replaced; her hair had been damaged when my little sister spilled a bowl of cereal on it within a week of me getting the doll. I could never bear to send it away, but my mom did this in secret as a surprise for my birthday. Felicity came back in a hospital gown and ID bracelet, and a 'Get Well Soon!' balloon, with a brand new head--for free! Apparently there was a factory defect with one of her eyes. I also later got an AG Girl of Today who I named Augusta and wrote a book about her.

I learned more recently that Felicity has been 'retired' and is no longer available. I don't plan on ever selling her, though, even though I don't want to have kids. She's my doll.

 

[Lulie]

DD loves them! They are well made. I've noticed that some of the newer dolls have a green hue to their skin that I detest. Limbs and hair can be fixed at home with white Downy and lots of patience
There are many people selling handmade 'AG' bedding, clothing and furniture on etsy/ebay.
A couple years ago, DH and I built 2 sets of bunk beds from this site: http://ana-white.com/2011/10/doll-bunk-beds and http://ana-white.com/2010/11/doll-farmhouse-bed very easy!

 

[soxfan]

DD loves them! They are well made. I've noticed that some of the newer dolls have a green hue to their skin that I detest. Limbs and hair can be fixed at home with white Downy and lots of patience
There are many people selling handmade 'AG' bedding, clothing and furniture on etsy/ebay.
A couple years ago, DH and I built 2 sets of bunk beds from this site: http://ana-white.com/2011/10/doll-bunk-beds and http://ana-white.com/2010/11/doll-farmhouse-bed very easy!

Oh thank you Lulie!!!! I would love to make them and sew her some bedding too! (Well, have my mom sew it, I suck at sewing.) I have a hand-held sewing machine, do you think that would work?

 

[Lulie]

Hi, I'm not sure how thick of a pile hand-held sewing machines can take but I would try unpadded blankets first, since they are very simple to make. I made DD's first set using this guide:
http://www.realcoake.com/2012/10/american-girl-doll-bedding-pattern-free.html BTW, her bed is from IKEA and the item number is 101.016.64.
DD sew these simple blankets but prefers quilted ones that match her bed. If you want them you can have them.
ETA: sorry for threadjack.

 

[jaysonsmom]

When I read saw this thread, all I could think of is: Oh, thank GOD my daughter is a tomboy! She has yet to own one doll! If she got one as a birthday present, it'd be immediately exchanged for something else, or donated to toy drives. We have spent a small fortune on musical instruments (keyboards, drum sets, guitars etc) and anything with wheels (skateboards, rollerblades, big-wheels, scooters, bikes), so if it is not one thing, it's another. Kids are expensive PERIOD.

 

[soxfan]

Hi, I'm not sure how thick of a pile hand-held sewing machines can take but I would try unpadded blankets first, since they are very simple to make. I made DD's first set using this guide:
http://www.realcoake.com/2012/10/american-girl-doll-bedding-pattern-free.html BTW, her bed is from IKEA and the item number is 101.016.64.
DD sew these simple blankets but prefers quilted ones that match her bed. If you want them you can have them.
ETA: sorry for threadjack.

those are awesome! I may try my hand at making some for her for christmas? I think my hubby is gonna make the bunk bed from the link you posted!

 

[diamondseeker2006]

My daughter had one, Samantha. I loved them. I think they are worth every penny. I would much rather have my little girl loving a doll than watching tv or playing video games. My daughter read all the books as well. You don't have to buy the clothes, there are lots of patterns out there to make them. You could have a blast finding all the little things to go with them. We still have Samantha. They come in a very nice box and can be stored in it.

I agree. I loved that my girls loved dolls! The older daughter had Kirsten and many sets of the books, and the younger one had one of the itty baby dolls. They didn't end up collecting them, but those were probably the nicest dolls they had. I will say that the most loved doll of the older daughter was a cabbage patch doll,though. She went on to name her own baby girl the same name as her much loved cabbage patch doll!

 

[packrat]

DS, my first CPK was a little boy w/the top knot on his head and his name is Bret Michael (precursor to my love of Bret Michaels from Poison years later I think). He is up in a glass cabinet w/my other childhood treasures and my kids aren't allowed to touch him. He slept in my bed from the time I got him in 3rd grade until JD and I got married when I was 27.

 

[Cind11]

My older daughter had Samantha and my younger daughter had Felicity, Nellie, Marisol, the Bitty Baby twins and another bitty baby. Crazy! They had some of the furniture and a lot of the clothes. They made such nice Christmas gifts. I loved the books that went with the dolls. Yes they are expensive but I preferred to spend money on them as opposed to a lot of the more disposable, "junky" toys. My girls are 19 and 21 and still have the dolls which are in really good shape.

 

[partgypsy]

Both my daughters went through a phase where they wanted AG dolls. It really was because their cousin was really into them and had multiple dolls (and AG themed birthday where you needed to bring your own doll), as well as friends who had dolls. They each have one doll (youngest has McKenna and oldest has Chrissa). They don't take the dolls out of the house unless it is to one of these specific AG play dates. So far they have taken good care of them, possibly because they both had gotten Target version dolls first, and only the AG ones when they were old enough to take care of them.

So, they are not "play play" like dolls, but more collectible to show friends type dolls.

They do have some real AG clothes (typically gotten as a Xmas gift) but otherwise most of clothes are not AG but from other places. One bunk bed was inexpensive and from Target, the other bed with trundle as well as bedding have been from craft shows.

Yes there are lots of really beautiful (and expensive) stuff out there for these dolls, but you as the parent need to show restraint, or if the child really wants it, have them save up for it or earn it somehow.

 

[soxfan]

I bought the fabric for the bedding. I am going to take a beginner sewing class and buy my own sewing machine so I can make stuff for the dolls. I need to learn how to sew anyway!! It's a good skill to have...

 

[Lulie]

I'm sure she'll love it, good luck!

 

[soxfan]

We did it. Hubby built the bunk beds and I made the bedding with the help of a friend who can sew! She LOVED them!!!

 

[momhappy]

My daughter wanted to clean out her toy closet yesterday. One of the first things to go was her Target version AG doll (she got it as a gift a couple of years ago). She will end up in a consignment sale where hopefully, she will find a girl who will actually play with her!

 

[smitcompton]

Hi,


I love the bunk beds. How wonderful your husband can do work like this.


Annette