American Girl Dolls
Berkeley Parents Network >
Advice >
Advice about Playing >
American Girl Dolls
Nov 2005
My daughters, 5 and 10, both want an American Girl doll for
Christmas. These are expensive and they have a lot of high-
priced outfits. But I do like the books that go along with the
dolls. Not to mention I can sew dresses for them and teach my
girls to sew for them. Has anyone found these dolls worth it?
There are some cheaper knock-offs in the toy stores. Has anyone
found the cheaper ones to be the same quality?
Jeanne
I highly recommend the American Girl dolls. My 10 year old
still plays with them, and asks for more accessories for her
birthday/Christmas. She has long since stopped playing with
Barbie or any other doll. They are pricey, but they hold up
well, and the stories that go with them are great. I would
recommend purchasing an authentic doll, but getting the
accessories at Target or other stores, as they tend to get lost
and more beat up than the dolls.
And for the ultimate treat, visit the American Girl Place in
Chicago or New York. That place is like Mecca for little girls!
Sherry
My 11 year-old has 3 American Girl Dolls. For many reasons, I
think the dolls although expensive are worth it! I wish we
would have purchased these long before the Barbie dolls. We
also like the politics of the American Girl company. They
donate to helping underpriviledged girls nation wide. We've
also visited the stores in Chicago and New York and like the
message of the plays performed at the stores.
anon
Funny you should ask... I was just in Chicago with a good friend
last weekend. She is trying to decide whether to spend the
money on an American Girl doll also for her 6 year old. We
visited the American Girl store, which is 3 or 4 levels of
merchandise, tea salon, beauty shop (for the doll!) etc... You
see little girls walking around Michigan Avenue with their dolls
or huge packages from the store. These dolls are very popular
in the midwest, but we were unsure how popular they are here in
California. I think part of the draw is having a playmate who
also has the doll, so they can play together (as my niece does
with her next door neighbor). I will probably buy Felicity for
my daughter when she is old enough to appreciate her as I came
from Virgina, and probably Josefina since my husband is
Hispanic. I like the historical aspect of the dolls, and
although I have not read the stories, apparently they are about
the girl being brave and kind (?). That being said, your 10 year
old may be at the outer limits of spending $100 for the doll
(i.e. how long do you think she will want to play with her?).
It is probably a better idea for your younger daughter.
Linda
My five year old daughter and a number of her friends love the
American Girl Dolls. I was able to get one for about 1/2 price
at Toy Go Round on Solano Ave. and also some homemade clothes
for her there. I bought the first one on eBay for slightly less
than catalog price. There are also patterns for the clothes and
not-official, but very cute clothes and furniture for them on
eBay. My daughter also loves to read the stories with me. I
find them a lovely alternative to Barbie, Bratz, Groovy Girls
and all that kind of thing.
kathryn
I can't answer your specific questions, but would share these
two thoughts/experiences with you: 1) at a recent family
portrait session, our 6 year old niece brought her American
Girl with her and INSISTED that she have a pic of just her and
the doll together (the photographer took one, and it's both
adorable and somewhat disturbing...). The doll goes everywhere
with her. It was a present from grandparents, and her grandma
made it very clear that this was an expensive gift that she
would have to take very special care of...and she does. She is
SO careful with it - it's actually been an effective lesson for
her. 2) As far as buying a knock-off version: looking back on
my own childhood, and from what I know of little girls from my
years of working with kids, it is very unlikely that the knock-
off version will suffice. Your daughters have thousands of
dolls to choose from - but the specifically want Am Girl, so
that they can be just like their friends. Nothing else will do,
and unless you have extraordinary kids - which you may very
well have - a knock-off will be embarrassing. I would spend the
money on the doll, and then perhaps you can get by with the
homemade clothes.
anon
In a word: YES! American Girl Dolls are great quality, great fun
and when they break they go to the A.G. Hospital and come back
good as new, rather than ending up in the garbage. My 9 year old
and now (This Christmas) my 4 year old have loved playing with
them and actually following the stories at times. As you rightly
pointed out, you can easly make the clothes, which has been a
really fun thing to do with my older daughter. You can also, on a
frequesnt basis, pick up cheaper, gently used outfits,
accessories and furniture at Toy-Go-Round on Solano. They are
expensive but worth it if for no other reason than they can be
repaired rather than thrown away.
hard for me to admit and easy to be sickened by the excess of
all the accessories, but I do actually think the dolls are
worth it and the outfits and accessories I have seen are
adorable, well made, and get played with. There is no excuse
for the expensive furniture imo, also beautiful, but I have
informed my daughters it costs as much or more than our own
furniture (we buy used- but still) and if we were
gizillionaires I would rather give that money to charity than
buy a 150 dollar doll bed. That said, they consider the dolls
real and play with them more and differently than other dolls
and toys. I think the fakes are o.k. until or unless they are
very savvy of the AG catalogs, etc. but they are more generic
and not a specific historical character- so if they are wanting
the American girl of today (choose your own hair-eye) a fake
would be worth it, I saw a beautiful Asian one for under 20 at
Marshalls once. But the historical ones with the stories are a
bit different and the modern ''girl of the year'' also has (one)
book to go along. The Target fakies have a much less appealing
face in my opinion. also I have to recommend the Samantha
American Girl Holiday movie, which I resisted renting, but
turned out to be really well done (really!), enjoyable,
informative, even a bit of a tear-jerker and we now own that
too. I don't think 5 is too young (they say 8 and up) unless
she will want to bathe it, hair-cut it, etc. others would be
better for that sort of play. You may find one used on
craiglist, they've been around long enough that teenagers are
selling theirs when they move on. I searched a lot on ebay and
the pricing goes really high on ebay- sometimes more than the
catalog price for one used with everything the same (made by
mattel, etc.) BTW the website www.buyblue.org rates big
companies on categories like responsible recycling practices,
humane practices, non-sweatshops, and also how much they donate
to whom -republicans, democrats or neither- I was surprised to
see mattel is not a Bush supporter rather comes out giving to
democrats and appear to be fairly progressive.
''grandmother ''to 3 American Girls
Dec 1998
I am sure that you cannot buy American girls except through their catalog,
but you may be able to buy them used at places like Toy Go Round in
Berkeley. Toby
The American Girl doll is sold only through the catalog, but the
company is good about shipping immediately and you can have the
item(s) shipped FedEx if necessary. If you haven't already ordered an
American Girl, look into the Magic Attic doll. It's the same concept,
18" doll from a catalog with wardrobe and accessories to purchase, and
with books related to the costumes. However, the doll has a hard
plastic (the same as the arms and legs material) body instead of a
stuffed one, which seems more durable to me, and it is about $30 less.
Eleanor
this page was last updated: Apr 8, 2012
The opinions and statements expressed on this website
are those of parents who subscribe to the
Berkeley Parents Network.
Please see
Disclaimer & Usage for
information about using content on this website.
Copyright © 1996-2013 Berkeley Parents Network