OT: American Girl accessories

[nonzerosum]

I'm thinking about diving into the AG world for my DD5. She really wants the JLY doll and I thought we'd get a few accessories as well (for Xmas). I've heard lots of great things about the quality of the dolls, but what about the accessories. Specifically, she wants the bakery counter set (it's like a piece of furniture). What have your experiences been with the furniture/accessories? What quality is the "food" ? Is the furniture decent? Of course, everything looks great in the catalogue, but we often knows how that goes.... I think toys are now even being airbrushed to make them look even more fab. Any advice would be great. Thanks! Also, do you know when AG tends to have free shipping?

 

[dreamer17555]

I'm thinking about diving into the AG world for my DD5. She really wants the JLY doll and I thought we'd get a few accessories as well (for Xmas). I've heard lots of great things about the quality of the dolls, but what about the accessories. Specifically, she wants the bakery counter set (it's like a piece of furniture). What have your experiences been with the furniture/accessories? What quality is the "food" ? Is the furniture decent? Of course, everything looks great in the catalogue, but we often knows how that goes.... I think toys are now even being airbrushed to make them look even more fab. Any advice would be great. Thanks! Also, do you know when AG tends to have free shipping?

I responded in the other thread but will do it here as well. The Bakery Stand isn't that great. Honestly. We have it. If its her first AG doll think about getting her a food set and the Sweet Shop Table and Chairs or any table and chair set. They will get a lot of use and play out of them.

Another idea is to get the doll a bed. That also gets a ton of use.

-Becca-

 

[nonzerosum]

I responded in the other thread but will do it here as well. The Bakery Stand isn't that great. Honestly. We have it. If its her first AG doll think about getting her a food set and the Sweet Shop Table and Chairs or any table and chair set. They will get a lot of use and play out of them.

Another idea is to get the doll a bed. That also gets a ton of use.

-Becca-

Thanks for the tip. Is the stand poor quality, or does it just not get used. My daughter REALLY wants it, but I'm not interested if its junky. Thanks again!

 

[dreamer17555]

Thanks for the tip. Is the stand poor quality, or does it just not get used. My daughter REALLY wants it, but I'm not interested if its junky. Thanks again!

Its sturdy and not junky but my DD begged for months for it and honestly it is hard for the dolls to play with it. They can't stand at it without someone holding them and its just not one of the better toys.

-Becca-

 

[luvmy3]

I agree with the other poster, if its her first doll, go with a table and chair set and a food/dishes set. I got my dd Samantha's Birthday set and she played with it all the time. It was also a cute place to keep her dolls set up in her room. We had gotten a bed from Target that she used alot too. The quality wasn't as good as AG but it held up very well, we even gave it to a friend for her doll.
If you want to get her other accessories to see if she'll play with them I recommend Targets line. If she doesn't end up playing with then at least you didn't spend a fortune on the stuff. If you find she really likes to play with all of it you can buy her the more expensive AG stuff knowing she will most likely use it.

 

[#1 Pocahontas]

We have the Sweet Treats table and chairs, food, and bakery counter. If you were to only pick one of the furniture pieces I would go with the table and chairs. They get used in our house daily. My girls do use the bakery counter but really just to hold the food. They will place things out on the top of the counter to decorate it, and put all the food back in it when they are done playing with it but other than that they don't "play" with it. The food is really cute and it probably gets played with the most.

We had the Target doll table and it was terrible! The top broke off and we must have glued it back together 5-6 times. My daughter barely nudged it the last time it broke and I had had enough. I threw it away. The chairs that go to the set are WONDERFUL and we have kept those but the table was a piece of junk. I saw Kit's table at a friend's house and saw how nicely it was made and that is why we splurged to get the American girl table. I'd rather spend a little bit more to have something that can be played with rather than something that breaks all the time.