American Girl Doll - Delmar,NY

My daughter got one for Christmas. She loves it...but there are rules for the doll. If the rules are broken the doll will come to mommies room until she can prove responsibility.

She has followed the rules so closely, I'm very proud of my daughter.

Rule 1: Until we can get her a stand if my daughter is not playing with her she and her accessories are to be in the AG Doll box.
Rule 2: My daughter is the only person allowed to play with her, no brother, no friends.
Rule 3: No food or drink around the doll. (my daughter has a tendency to spill and I'd hate for the doll to get ruined)

She loves her, plays with her hair, her clothes, they go "for walks" down the hallway, play school...really promotes my daughters imagination. It's nice to see her choose playing dolls over TV.

I bought Addy about 10 years ago. I have no daughters or grand daughters but if I ever have one--the doll is ready along with the hardback books that came with it for $80.

My daughter is almost 17 and although the AG dolls are packed away, she will not let me sell them or give them away.
I think that says it all.
LBC

I couldn't justify spending so much on a doll/toy when my daughter really isn't into dolls. She was however into getting an AG doll because her friends have one - she's 6. So we agreed on getting her an Our Generation Doll from Target...it's very similar to AG, same size, fits in the same clothes and comes in eye/hair color combos similar to AG.

I know that AG is a big thing for lots of little girls, so I don't mean to bash people/kids that love their dolls. I think it's great fun for people that are into dolls. And it's great that there's such a girl focused toy.

But for our daughter, the Target doll was a nice middle ground. (Esp for $40!)

My daughter LOVED hers...I bought PJs when I bought the doll and she had so much fun getting ready at bedtime with her doll...and she had never been a "doll" kid before. I even sewed a couple dresses for it.

I believe if a child really, really wants one, it is so worth it...and I am the queen of cheap. I even bought one for a little girl whose mom was sick, and I knew they could never afford it...just could not stand the thought of that one child not having one when literally every other girl in their class had one (or three, or four...). Not sharing this to get a pat on the back--just saying I am cheap cheap, but the look on their faces when they got the doll made it all worth it, to me...

My daughter loved her American girls! She got her first one for her sixth birthday. If it went my way, she would not have had so many, I think it would have been more special if she just had a couple. However, my MIL is one of those people who goes overboard, and bought her one every birthday and Christmas from age six through age nine. Those were her years of playing with them, their clothes and accessories. After that, the dolls sat on her shelves for a couple of years. When she was 12, they went to live in the attic. They were worth it for the time that she had them. Enjoy this fun time in your daughter's life. I loved the books.

We ended up getting them this Christmas (5YO) and the thing that turned my choice to yes was a neighbor who said "there so expensive... don't you want to get the most use out of them". So far so good... they tend to use them when they have friends over and everyone brings them. I'm glad I did.

Re: teh Target doll I believe their clothes fit the AGD which is nice b/c they are so much cheaper... but I've heard that the hair is horrible and knots up pretty quickly... just and FYI.

My daughter is 8 and got one for Christmas from my parents. My parents get all of their grandkids a big gift and then too many smaller ones - that was her big gift. She loves it. We got it to look like her. She will sit on her bed and read with her...sometimes she sleeps with her. I think it's worth the money.

Even if they don't play with her, it's almost a right of passage in today's world.

Holy smokes!! I just looked up how much those things are and wow!

My older daughter got one last year for her 6th bday, and this weekend we are celebrating her 7th bday with a "doll and me" pajama party. My younger daughter just turned 4 and was always "borrowing" her sister's AG doll, so we got her the Target knock-off. It's nicely made except that the hair is impossible to keep nice and falls out when we try to brush it. The real AG has much nicer hair. I'm glad that my girls are into their dolls because it makes bday and christmas shopping easy- there are so many clothes and accessories they can get. We get many of ours from Target, craft shows, and Kohls (they sell matching outfits and PJs for girls and dolls). Enjoy!

Hi! My Sarah, 16, still has hers by her bed, not quite in bed but really close. The dolls are excellent quality and she has always taken care of her special friends. I think marrying the doll to the books to give the dolls a real life makes them special. As an added bonus the history the books teach is awesome.

My daughter is almost 11 now. She played with Barbies occasionally, but mostly only when she had friends over to play with. She played with baby dolls a little more often. So basically, she played with dolls but wasn't really into them that much.

She got her first American Girl Doll when she was 7 and she loved it. She has received another one as a Christmas gift, bought one with money she saved up, and even won the Chrissa doll in a raffle. She doesn't play with them as much as she did in the beginning, but they still come out now more often than the Barbie's ever did.

We are an AG doll family, my stepdaughter has 11 dolls! She has gotten them for Christmas, birthdays and saved up her own money. Now they are cherished and well taken care of.

She did receive her first doll when she was 5, and it wasn't stressed how to take care of it or that it was an expensive doll. Poor Emily is in bad shape! Her eyes don't work (don't let your little one get water near the doll's head or the eyes will rust), her hair is ragged and she has paint on her.

Fortunately you can send the dolls to the hospital for new heads. My SD hasn't wanted to spend her money on repair, she's wanted new dolls instead. Maybe one day she'll have her repaired.

Make sure you only comb the hair with metal combs. Luckily McKenna has straight hair. I'm sure McKenna will be a cherished toy for years to come! We have a variety of accessories from AG store, Target, and handmade. There are lots of neat crafts to do to make things for the dolls. It's funny, but we often go to the store and when we see miniature things we often call them "American Girl Size." Our AG girls drink out of shot glasses! My SD always wants shot glasses when we go on vacation as souvenirs. The clerks always give us funny looks, a 10 year old buying a shot glass! But then we explain they are for American Girl Dolls :-)

Have fun! You will probably enjoy the doll as much as she does--I know I do!

I found that joann fabrics had a huge assortment of clothes that will fit the doll. my daughter loves hers.. but grandma bought it.

What a lovely story. You did well to make her earn it and she will remember that you did and will value it more. She may play with it for a time and then be less interested -- but it is very, very likely she will come back to this doll again and again over time! Yes, girls of 9 and 10 and 11 and 12 play with them, and I've been to three different AG Place stores and seen girls in them who were clearly at least 12 to 13 and who were carrying their dolls around the store! So don't despair if she puts the doll aside for a time; it's a keeper.

Be sure to read your daughter the books too. I'm not familiar with the newer "character" books of modern girls but we have read all the historical books and they are excellent and teach girls a lot without being too preachy, and the historical details are good. At five, your daughter is a bit young yet for most of the books, but you might consider starting her with the Felicity books or the Samantha books, from the historical collections. Unfortunately, AG no longer makes or carries several of the historical dolls including Felicity and Samantha, and the business seems to be focusing much more on modern characters and stories (despite just having introduced two new historical dolls, AG does seem to be going more towards its modern character dolls and "just like me" dolls).

Also --- you can get clothes that are cheaper than AG clothes. Look online and other places like good, locally owned doll and toy stores. There are folks out there making gorgeous clothes to fit these dolls and charging a good bit less than AG. My husband likes to buy nice things for my daughter's two AG dolls and HE is the one who got a marvelous silk kimono from a craft show for one of the dolls!

Welcome to the board, J..

Good for you! Good for your little girl!

My granddaughters have AG and wannabe-AG dolls. They really like them! One even saved up her own money to buy a second. It's hard to tell in advance (who can tell the future?), but if a doll or some other toy is special enough to provide good play times now and good memories later on, its cost may be worth it.

On the other hand, I would hesitate about the accessories. Let the doll, not her things, be the center of attention. For gift-giving, I have bought doll outfits on eBay and at craft sales that are very cute, fit perfectly, and are less expensive. And doll furniture is fun to make at home, even out of boxes.

We opted for an American Girl sized doll from Target. The doll that looks most like us in the line of dolls doesn't look ethnic enough for my little neice who prefers her dolls with a complexion of most of her family. Odd though for a 2 1/2 year old but she simply loves that doll and her disney Princess 12 inch doll too. She bakes for them in her restaurant. That little girl is amazing.

My daughter had the whole AG experience for her 6th birthday. We live in Chicago, so we went downtown to the AG store where my parents and grandma bought her two dolls (Samantha & Nellie) and we did the whole birthday lunch in the AG restaurant.

At first, I wasn't pleased that they bought her two dolls because I thought it was too much and she wouldn't take care of them, but four years later, she still has them. They are still in great condition, and she enjoys playing with them. She doesn't play with them every day, but gets on kicks from time to time where she plays with them a lot. They are still a popular choice for something to do when she has friends over.

I think your daughter will appreciate it and value it since she helped pay for it. Enjoy!

My girls are 6 and 7 and LOVE their dolls. They've had them about a year and 1/2. They do go through stages where they're all about the dolls for a few weeks and then they'll move on to something else. The past few days it's been Little Pony. But it'll be the AG's again. The accessories are fairly worth it as they do play with all of it. But if you can get stuff from Target, why not.

I do not have a daughter, but friends of mine do. What I have seen and heard is that those dolls are cherished. Yes, they play with them but it seems to be so much more lovingly than I did with my dolls!!

What a great lesson she has learned about saving for something she really wants.

Enjoy your daughters' joy!!!

M

They are worth it, so well made! It's the accessories that seem a bit expensive for me. My dad bought my 4 and 7 year old the AG dolls that look like them for Christmas this year. I bought clothes, accessories, beds, shoes, etc on eBay, Craigslist, and at target, toys r us, and Walmart. They all have their own lines of 18 inch dolls and the clothes, etc are so much cheaper there. I found matching clothes for the kids and their dolls on totsy and at TJ maxx and Walmart (Dollie and me is one company, you can also find their stuff on eBay often). We live by the newest store so we have gone there twice for the experience. We did buy the real AG brush (works really well on their hair, which is beautiful!), and some basic clothing items and accessories. We ate in the cafe and got the dolls ears pierced on my oldest's birthday.

My girls both play with theirs every single day, take them everywhere, put them to bed each night in pjs, and change their clothes daily too. Definitely worth it, they love them and take better care of them than any other doll or toy they've ever owned! The historical dolls are cool because of the books and stories behind them.

My older daughter (9) has one, my younger daughter (6) wants one. For me, the jury is out as to whether or not they're worth it. We were at Target last night buying a birthday gift for DD's classmate, and they have American Girl knockoff dolls (My Generation or something) that look exactly the same for about a quarter of the price! Ugh. I think for my younger daughter, we may buy the cheaper one from Target. One thing I have noticed is that you can go on Etsy.com and find people who make really cute clothing for AG dolls at a fraction of the price of AG-brand clothing. From many of the sellers at Etsy, you can even request colors and styles. DH (who is a finish carpenter) is making DD a little doll armoire for her to store the clothes in. They want more than $100 on the AG website for one, but he's been able to make it from scrap wood he had around the shop and it matches DD's bedroom set, so that's a significant savings! Anyway, my older daughter does seem to like her doll and after it spent a few months on the floor of her closet and I threatened to throw it away, she does play with it now. :)

I'm still a bit disgruntled over this topic. my dd just turned 7 in jan, Daddy insisted on getting her one for chrismas, because she mentioned other girls having one a total of 2 times, and he knows his brother's 7 yo has 2 dolls and all the accessories ever made. ( exagerating a bit). My dd has never expressed an interest in playing with her cousins dolls and generally doesn't like dolls of any kind all that much,
So we got the doll and she is well made and very beautiful. But dd really hasn't played with her. She asks to bring her to church occassionally, but I honestly feel it's more of a showoff thing than an interest in the doll.

sooo that being said. If your Daughter likes dolls and is relatively responsible this will be great. If not well, it's only money.

theyre great i had one kids love them.. but i will say that those dolls are aaalllllll about what u can get for them.. i used to get these magazines in the mail with the most insane things u can buy for them.. i used to drive my mom n grandma crazy ... that stuffs not cheap