Well so far musical instruments and art supplies have been a big hit. She loves her blocks. Legos are nice. And as I said, my wife is into the American Girls thing from when she was a kid, so she’ll probably provide those things. She got her first My Little Pony recently from the aforementioned friend. I don’t think kids need hordes of cheap plastic crap.
Not a terribly sound argument. If Max Payne was such crap why was it in every theater? If McDonald’s were so bad for you why is one on every street corner? Ubiquity of market saturation is not an argument that the item is not crap.
In fact I think American girls are a lot less loathsome than half the other toys out there. But basically my daughter has a room full of toys without me bothering to go out and buy lots of them. We have SO MANY toys in this society. Our biggest societal malady is conspicuous consumerism, and if you don’t effectively teach your child what conspicuous consumption is then yes, it is in fact abusive. So many kids these days are genuinely harmed by having every whim pacified. To act like it’s some kind of hardship to not receive some piece of plastic dreamed up by a marketing department somewhere is pretty silly.
shrugs You don’t have to agree, by all means continue thinking the child is missing out by not being given every toy they want.
I’d like to see their credentials first.
I tried performing the surgery myself, but realized that I was setting myself up for a huge malpractice suit. Trying to suture the wound was like trying to push a string. Actually, it was exactly like that.
If you’ve ever tried putting the drawstring back inside a hoodie, you know what I’m talking about.
LOL, there is no difference. A boy shouldn’t get every video game he craves either.
LOL, she doesn’t do it to get toys. When I get annoyed at her she uses it as a ploy to keep me from being mad at her. I am creepy because my daughter is able to charm me with hugs and because I don’t give in to shrieking in my face?
You’re silly. 
My daughter has 5 AG dolls, with their accessories.
We never bought her one doll. Molly was her first (Daughter wore glasses as a child). Her aunt bought the doll, we bought the bedroom set. Samantha + bedroom set was supplied by a competitive grandma (who was pissed she hadn’t gotten Daughter her first AG doll–but that’s another thread). Kirsten+bedroom set was bought by her other grandma because Daughter was so into Laura Ingalls Wilder at that point. She won Josefina, and her bedroom set in a raffle (I drew the winning ticket and was on the committee for the prizes. There are still some women who think I rigged the whole thing. Believe me, I did not want another doll and bedroom set–they take up a LOT of room).
Having read (and loved) A Little Princess (as had her aunt as a girl), Daughter was enamored of The Last Doll concept, so aunt bought her Kit (no bedroom set). Competitive grandma got her an Itty Bitty Baby (never played with).
All of this now resides in a HUGE Rubbermaid tub in the attic. She had a ton of fun with all her dolls. She had all the books and loved them. She went on to enjoy historical fiction (the Dear America series) and loves anthropology and history today. The furniture is high quality, as is the clothing. Daughter fully expects to hand hers down to her daughter, someday. Another aunt made her some clothes from AG sized patterns. Put a price on that–who wants last year’s Barbie or Bratz?
The dolls are wholesome (IMO, Barbie looks like a stripper or a hooker–or both). The dolls WITH the books are a great package. They should not be bought for little, little girls–the girls should be reading at a 2nd grade level, at least prior to purchase.
I remember when the AG Place was the ONLY one in America and people came from all over to visit. It was such a fun place to go (once). You can get your picture taken as if it’s the cover of AG magazine. You can have tea (with your dolls) and yes, visit the hospital. There was no hair salon etc when we went.
It can be a racket, but if delved into judiciously, it can be great for girls. I also loved the books by AG–the Care and Keeping of You got Daughter to brush her hair when no amount of fussing, cajoling, punishing etc by me would.
It may not be your thing, but you don’t have to go whole hog. My mother loved talking to Daughter about how much like Molly she was during the war–it sparked a whole discussion about rationing and recycling. Good stuff.
We made a point that if Daughter wanted the school accessories, she had to save up her allowance for it. She did–and learned the pleasure of a delayed gratification. To me, stuff like AG (quality toys) send a much better message to kids than the crap picked up at the check out aisle to keep Junior quiet. I’d rather spend the money on something that lasts than Happy Meal quality crap that seems to litter so many homes. YMMV.
Your post has angered me greatly and I am going to refute it point by point… in a minute, after I have an ice-cream-sandwich.
Out of curiosity I went to the web site for the AG store in Alpharetta GA (I’d mistakenly said Roswell- they blend together). The hair salon charges $10-$20 per appointment (roughly the same as a cheap haircut for people). They have an online portfolio though. You can also have the dolls ears pierced there.
My apologies. I did indeed misread your tone. Thanks for clarifying!
Yeah, I certainly did not read it as though you were seriously peeved about it. Sure there’s the truth said in jest thing, but there are definitely things I wished I’d done or had when I was a child.
What a timely thread. The thief family just returned from a trip to NYC, and the high point for our 3 girls was a surprise (to them) trip to the American Girl Place on 5th Ave that Cal Meacham mentioned. Four stories of dolls, books, clothes, etc. The 8 year old was thrilled out of her mind, the 6 year old was very, very happy, and the 4 year old just wanted to get whatever her sisters were getting. We went on Tuesday, so there was no line, and we had our very own American Girl Personal Shopper, Tom. Tom was actually quite helpful, and deserved the 20% commission he was probably making. Each girl got a doll - Elizabeth the Revolutionary period slave-owning tobacco farmer from Virginia, Julie the dirty hippie from 1973 San Francisco, and one of the “looks like you” dolls that the 4 year old picked out, that looks nothing like her.
We had lunch in the cafe as well. Lots & lots of pink. Lots of sugary food too. They loved it. Every other dad I could see had a look of enforced enjoyment, mixed with resigned desperation. I’m sure I looked the same.
So yes, it is a bleeping racket, and I bet we could have gotten out of there more cheaply, but the girls really, really, did enjoy the visit, so I don’t regret it. Hopefully they’ll remember it when I’m 85 and incontinent and cursing at the aides at the home. If they don’t, I have tons of pictures.
BTW, my high point of the vacation was when I was waiting in a pizza place and Geraldo Rivera walked in and ordered a few slices.
muldoonthief Glad you had a good time in your visit to New York. I think it’s funny that you decided a trip to New York wasn’t expensive enough so you decided to drop 5 bills at the American Girl Store. ;p
::sigh:: You use a safety pin, or a bodkin, if you’re into sewing. Bodkins are a bit easier to use, but safety pins are generally more available. I couldn’t tell you where my bodkins are right now, but I could put my hands on several safety pins in under half a minute.
As for sewing a head back onto a doll, I’d use a curved needle, one that’s in the shape of a halfmoon. Or I’d just hotglue it back on.
I have never met Tom, and yet, I weep for him.
I never even thought of using a safety pin, but you’d need a pretty small one. The sleeve is tiny. I was somewhat unaware of bodkins, but I imagined something very much like it.
I’m sure that Tom is a very nice guy, but…
I’ve met guys that work at The Disney Store. My sample size is small, but they’ve all seemed just a little… off.
I’ve never thought of the AG as the Slave Owner or Dirty Hippie doll, but I am now!
And my daughter has the Dirty Hippie one! SCHWEEEEET!
Thanks, muldoonthief!
I think this happens way to often.
My problem with this is that when I was a kid…I got very little. I could beg, plead whatever and nothing. When I look back, I don’t remember getting anything* that wasn’t really inexpensive. My parents weren’t rich, but they weren’t poor either.
Now there is me. I buy my kids stuff all the time. I buy my kids friends stuff as well. I just remember all the times when I was a kid and couldn’t have stuff or couldn’t go with friends to things. It sucks. It hurts. Nobody gives a damn…no friends parents will even pay your part of a pizza outing. I don’t want a kid near to me to be 100% in that world.
It costs, but, thankfully, I can afford it…so I do it. It also helps that my daughter is as cautious or even more with the money than I am 
Just last week I bought $200 worth of clothes for one of my daughters friends when we went clothes shopping for my daughter. The friends mom is a single mother with health issues (and bills) and her dad won’t spend a cent on her. Of course, we had to pass it off as hand downs of my daughters (The friend is smaller than my daughter) or I would have had an angry phone call from the dad. I know this isn’t ethical and is being untruthful…but I’ll be DAMNED if I am going to let a kid near me go through what I did!
So…if an AG doll would have come up…sure, why not!?
- One huge exception was on my 16th birthday I got a car. It was a Pinto and used…but it RAN. I still don’t know what happened with my parents with that…but it is a very notable exception
Is Elizabeth Felicity’s best friend? Felicity as I recall also lived in the Revolutionary war period. But I can’t remember if that was Boston, MA or if she was in Virginia.
I hear you, Blinking Duck. I never had a birthday party as a child. Never–not one where you invite friends and get presents and there are balloons etc.
So, my kids? You better believe they got Bday parties. I did LEGO madness parties; medieval knights parties, treasure hunts, Beanie Baby tea parties, parties where I took 10 girls downtown to see the cows on parade and out to dinner.
I made my kids feel that their day was special dammit–I don’t begrudge a penny of it. I had as much fun as the kids. Of course, they were in on the planning and the making of the cake (the sword one for the knights as a particular fav), but there were goodie bags and the kids had FUN.
Satisfy a whim? You better believe it. Then again, I said no a lot to other stuff, like a Playstation and M computer games and makeup at 12… YMMV.
Yeah, while Tom was nothing but professional, he seemed a little too knowledgeable about the dolls. He’s been there quite a while too - he said he was working the day “Jon & Kate + 8” filmed there, which was more than 2 years ago.
Making up sordid backstories for the dolls helped me past the sticker shock.
According to the Elizabeth book she bought, yes, Elizabeth & Felicity are best friends. They work tirelessly to torment Elizabeth’s older sister, Annabelle, who is only interested in finding a husband.