At what age did you get your little girls their first American Girl Doll?
My daughter is 8.
I have never bought one.
It is too expensive.
She has asked for one before. But she has never been desperate about it.
Kids 'wants' are very fickle.
It changes all the time.
Thus another reason I will not spend that money, on it.
My 4yr old has two of them, a Bitty Baby and Kit American Girl. BUT I got Bitty Baby on eBay for $10, and Kit was found with 5 other AG dolls at a local Goodwill in brand new condition, again for $10. :)
They are amazing quality and the hair is so nice. The clothing is expensive but I also sew so I make all the dolls clothing, and she has gotten a few outfits for special occasions like Christmas (from her Aunt) and birthday (from Grandma)
I think for Christmas we will spring for the Bitty Twins. They are adorable little dolls and she loves them (friends have the twins).
I just received one of their magazines and my 8 year old dtr is asking for one. However, she will not be getting one. Target has dolls that are similiar to them and they too have all the accessories (maybe not to the extent) but are just as cute. I got her one of them in 2007 for Christmas. She has played with it off and on but not enough to want to continue to buy more of the same. The dolls at Target are quite a bit less. If I were you I would check them out before investing in one of these. Good luck!
If I remember correctly, she was about 8. She saved her 'allowance' for a whole year and bought her first brand new doll with her own money. At around the same time, an aunt sent her a gently used doll from a cousin. Although my daughter is now 14, last year we bought her the latest historic doll due to the fact that the doll looks like her, has the same first name as her, and in fact hails from the same foreign country as her great grandmother (who also has the same name as my daughter and the doll).
Last Christmas, my then 8 year old asked for an American Girl doll. We had been putting if off for some time, as it seemed like horrible waste of money. The doll with pierced ears, additional earrings and a doll brush cost nearly $140.00 with tax and free shipping. We had long discussions that this would be her primary gift. She would not be receiving the big stash of gifts under the tree like in the years past. She had been weighing her options for sometime and eventually came to us saying that she didn't want the doll after all. In her opinion, it was too much money for something she didn't think she would play with all that much. We returned the doll before Christmas for a refund.
We were so proud of her. She really considered the cost of the item, rather than simply, "I want it." Her grandmother had given her a gift subscription to the American Girl magazine. She has loved the magazine and enjoys other AG books on topics suitable for her age.
My daughter is 7 and would love to have one. I have been nervous because they are over $100, and I wasn't sure if she would care for it properly, or play with it enough. There are "wanna bees" at K-mart, Walmart and Sears. My daughter was especially interested in getting one that looked like her. I have seen the American Girl dolls, and I will tell you one thing that didn't appeal to me is how the body connects to the head. My boss' daughter has 7 or 8 of them. They all have fabric bodies and plastic heads and arms, the fabric body goes all of the way up to the neck area, and fastens to the head by something akin to a zip tie inside the fabric. With certain clothes, that area shows and to me isn't very attractive. As it happens, my fiend who sells Avon called to tell me that her Avon books had Madame Alexander dolls, and that that one that came out before Christmas happened to look like her daughter with dark hair and brown eyes...so she got it for her for Christmas. She said that she thought the next one coming out happened to look like my daughter ....so much so that two or three people including her daughter mentioned "hey this doll looks like Holly". I ordered it for her, and it really does have an uncanny resemblance to my daughter, same skin coloring, hair and eye coloring etc. My daughter has several "dolly and me" outfits and dresses, pjs etc. One Sears near us usually has a good selection, JC Penneys & Kohls some times have a couple to choose from usually around the holidays....and believe it or not....KMart has a huge selection of them! I bought my daughter the Avon/Madame Alexander doll and and K-mart dress set and matching jewelry for her birthday. She has worn the dress a whole bunch and I have laundered it at least a dozen times and it still looks great. Whenever we go out in public people stop to ask where we got the dolly that looks like my daughter and if I made the dresses. Last Friday, my Avon friend called and asked if I wanted to meet her at KMart as we had originally planned to meet at the Perkins right in front of KMart. When I got there, all of the Dolly and me outfits and dress sets were on clearance..reduced from $20 - $24 down to $11.99 - $12.99 and then an ADDITIONAL 40% OFF! I bought my daughter 3 more dress sets, a legging and tunic set, and then bought my niece (who looks like my daughter) a dress set because she is getting the doll for Christmas too! I mean really, a Madame Alexander doll for $30 and matching outfits for doll and child for anywhere from $5.99 -$18. depending on the sales that I catch, why not!? Oh, and by the way....the Madame Alexander dolls have a fabric body too, but it starts under the arms so regardless of the style of dress it looks good!
My son got Molly at 8. He then gifted her to my daughter at 7. That same year my 5 year old got Kit.
They have been played with and loved and now live in their crates until grandchilren come along. THe girls are 13 and 16 now.
Both my girls got their first itty bitty baby from grandma at age 1. At age 4 my oldest got her first american girl doll from grandma. She spoils my girls. They dont even play with them ever! Waste of money.
My daughter is 10 and has never had one. She has no interest.
Well... I gave my granddaughters Bitty Babies for their first Christmases. That was dumb, because they couldn't play with a fancy toy like that until they were much older (old enough not to mark on the doll)! But...
My oldest granddaughter really wanted an AG doll when she was seven or eight. She saved up (partially) for it, and it was partially a gift. When an AG store opened near their house, she saved up her birthday money to buy another; however, when she saw the price tag, she changed her mind.
Then her sisters started clamoring, and their mama and daddy gave them all wannabe AGs from Target that Christmas, which satisfied them completely.
Since then one of the girls has acquired another Bitty, but at a yard sale.
I am delighted, because doll clothes (from eBay, not from the big company) are a big hit at Christmas and birthdays.
By the way, I found a very used AG at a thrift store a few weeks ago. I had to put out some money to restring her arms and legs, but it was less expensive at the local doll hospital than at the AG store. The doll hospital woman also told me how to clean up the plastic parts (Soft Scrub, applied very gently, did pretty well), and I was able to tame the hair with a wire wig brush, a spray bottle full of cold water, and a lot of patience. This dolly is sitting happily on a shelf waiting for Christmas time.
At 100 bucks each? Hasn't happened.
Well I don't have a girl, but I got mine when I was 8 :D If that dates me at all. Yup, I'm a young'in. :D
My daughter loves dollies & plays with them all the time. Her grandparents bought her 2 American Girl dolls when she was 5 & bought her a baby just yesterday.
We buy their clothes @ Target or craft shoes. We "accessorize" them with leftover things from when she was a baby, or with things we find in the dollar ____@____.com your daughter has a true interest in dolls and plays with them often, American Girl dolls are fine investments. If she doesn't, I would not spend the money.
My daughter was 4 and got another at 5 and it's been worth every penny! She plays with them all the time
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My daughter was 4 and got another at 5 and it's been worth every penny! She plays with them all the time
My 4 year old gets the catalog but I won't be buying one for her any time soon.
I'm with S L M.
My daughter got the Bitty Baby when she was 3 and an 18" American Girl Doll when she was 7.
My daughter has older cousins who have them, so she desperately wanted one for her 4th birthday. We got her one off Ebay, for the same price as a new one, we got one with so many outfits and accessories. She also received my Kirsten doll from when I was a child. We sent her to the doll hospital and got her ears pierced for her 5th birthday because she was in rough shape. She is still a bit young for them, she plays with them, but not that much. I couldn't believe she wanted it at 4!
My daughter started with Bitty when she was three. She had several matching outfits and loved and played with her Bitty doll. She recieved her first AG doll when she was seven. For her 10th birthday we went to Chicago to the AG store, had lunch, got a new doll, saw the play and she loved it. It really was a fun day and a memory she will always have. She's 13 and every once in a while she will pull out her dolls. For us it was a great investment and something she can save for her own daughters some day.
My mom bought my girls Biddy Babies when they turned 2. Got them the suitcase set with the Biddy Babies. But no actual dolls until they were 5 and in Kindergarten. Hope this helps. Good luck and God Bless.
My eldest just got her first at 10 years old. She'd been asking for one for years. She was so disappointed when she didn't get it for her birthday, so it was her splurge and one big gift for Christmas.
My younger daughters want one too, but we're leaning toward having them be given for big milestones.
I had to save up my own money to buy mine, so I was around 8... anyway I plan on passing the doll along to my daughter when she turns 6 or 7.
It is pricey so I would base it on when the child will really respect the doll and understand that this is a toy BUT it needs extra love and care. It is nothing something that will be replaced if broken/ruined.
My MIL got our daughter's their AG's when they were 4 1/2. The one who just got hers last Christmas was incredibly excited, could not stop saying "thank you thank you thank you!", just genuine joy, it was all she wanted, so it has been worth it, she loves it. Now the older sister plays with hers a lot more too now that they both have one, and they can play with them together, or with their own friends who also have them. My 3rd grader really enjoyed the 'American Girl Today' book series so she gained interested in her doll again, as I think that 7/8/9 is really the prime target for the dolls. Depends on your daughter though, how much she is into this kind of imaginative play. Collecting things just to have them, is yes, a waste of money. We received girl of the year 2010 and 2006, which both have curly long hair - I would NOT recommend the curly hair dolls - it quickly becomes an un-comb-able mess! However it shows how much they have been played with!
