My kids doubled over laughing at the American Girls web site

[hedgehog]

Kit, the resourceful girl living through the Depression, is going out to visit her friend the hobo and taking along her binoculars. In the 1930's, binoculars were very expensive, hardly a child's toy! Says my son "Sounds like there's going to be a stabbing in the jungle tonight!"

They also looked over all the accessories and wanted to know why there isn't a slave doll to go along with Felicity and Elizabeth, the two girls living in Colonial Williamsburg.

[bleedingheart]

1. my daughter loves the stuff

it is a good thing it isn't in stores...however when comparing American Girl to Barbie...American Girl is a far better product and the books teach history (to a small degree) which helps spark a child's interest.

I took my daughter to visit her uncle in Chicago and we spent a few hours just walking around looking at all the doo dahs in the store...it was quite a place...I have never seen anything like it.

I bought a great book on puberty there that does a great job of explaining all the different stages a girl goes through...

[hedgehog]

2. I think a little girl would love the toys.

The sales literature is a little over the top, though. It's the use of italics to describe the accessories that kills me.

On the other hand, the notion of a little kid wandering around a Hobo jungle in the 30's looking for her friend with an expensive pair of binoculars.... They should have done a bit more research on that one.

[bleedingheart]

6. the whole thing is over the top....if you think the web site is frilly

you would have to see the stores...

There are beauty salons for the dolls, restaurant, picture studio (get the girl's picture with her doll), and the one in Chicago had a theater...the entire store was 4 floors. My husband felt it was an estrogen overload...he and my son didn't want to even be in there very long...they went to CompUSA...hahaha

As for the binoculars...most of the girls in the stories are wealthy or privileged...and if anything the biggest drawback of the American Girl dolls are the expense....they are dolls for middle class and above ...

The dolls are $87 a piece and the outfits are around $26-$34 a piece....

Luckily I sew...so we bought a trundle bed for the doll and I am sewing the linens.
I am also working on a period dress for the doll, the other outfits were bought by grandparents (they have a gift registry you can email which has worked out wonderfully...for long distance relatives)...

My daughter requested another doll her birthday...not for her but for a friend to play with since so many girls don't have the dolls...

[hedgehog]

8. I like the idea of a toy that can be added on to for gift giving occasions.

It controls the clutter. In our house, it was Legos. I must have thousands of dollars worth around here after six kids.

[AllegroRondo]

13. You can find tons of clothes for them at local craft fairs

My daughter has a couple of the dolls. She saves up money just to buy doll clothes when we visit craft fairs. There are always a couple of ladies who sew clothes just for these size dolls. Some are very good at it, too. And the prices are much more reasonable.

[bleedingheart]

15. I have found that out as well

sometimes you find someone at a fair who is selling doll clothes for $10 an outfit and the dresses are gorgeous and the detail is amazing...however I have been to fairs where someone makes plain smocks that they sell for as much as they cost to buy online...

I told my husband you can always tell when a crafter really "gets into" the type of craft...they are typically high quality...no matter what they are making...doll clothes or wreaths.

[youthere]

3. My daughters love the American Girl stuff...

it does spark an interest in history (to some degree). They also have some great advice books like "The care and keeping of you" and "A smart girl's guide to middle school (and friends,and emotions, and math, and writing etc).
Some of the catalog descriptions are pretty corny, but all in all I'd say they have a pretty good message.

[hedgehog]

4. I thought the history part was pretty good, myself.

It introduces the notion of a multicultural country. My daughter, an American History major was upset that kids will be learning all of their history from the dolls. Really though, her problem is with the schools, not the dolls.

[youthere]

5. the history stuff is good..

I was talking more about the "interest" it inspires. My girls (for instance) haven't exactly become civil war buffs or anything from the American Girl line but they've been exposed to it in a way that connected with them, rather than through a blurb in a textbook.

[bleedingheart]

7. I like how the end of each book teaches some factual information

about the period (at least the Felicity books do that..not sure about the others)...

[youthere]

9. the others do too..

I think they do a pretty good job, considering these are dolls. I think what I like most besides the multiculturalism is that they present girls in a non-traditional way..girls that are "outside the mold".
The American Girl magazine is terrific for girls too, it covers social and environmental issues, and encourages activism.

[Reverend_Smitty]

10. My little cousins are nuts for those dolls

They have been to the store in NY a few times which also has a restaurant. So you can take your doll with you to lunch and then after the doll gets a "make-over" at the doll beauty salon. It's a cute idea but it costs an arm and a leg.

Every time my cousin is on the NJ Turnpike up near the area where you can see the skyline she always asks if they are going to American Girl today...no dear just the Newark Airport lol

[Lydia Leftcoast]

11. I thought there was a slave doll

At least when I was shopping for presents for my niece a few years ago, I paged through some of the books, and there was one about a girl who was a slave and whose father was escaping North so that he could work and buy their freedom.

[bleedingheart]

14. That is Addy...my daughter and I are planning on reading her

story and about Kaya the Native American girl...

[DainBramaged]

12. It's a Mattel subsidiary. Wonder if they have an American Ho doll?

[Shine]

16. OMG, I made the mistake of going into the American Girls headqtrs store in LA

:wow:

they had two levels, complete with a themed restaurant, full-on stage performance theatre...not to mention all the various dolls and their little outfits. Little expensive outfits. There was an actual salon for the dolls and, I swear, there were adult employees who were fashioning styles out of these dolls' hair, behind the counter. They was three person thick crowd of people in front of the counter, watching in total fascination. It was truly bizarre.

I had to leave after a few minutes. Thankfully, my 10yr old dtr is NOT into them, either. But hey, to each their own, I guess. Definitely not for me.

[AllegroRondo]

17. I've been to the Chicago store

and, yes, its just like that.

The latest thing is a salon where your child and her doll can get their hair done together, in the same style. You can even buy them matching outfits.