Something like American girl?

[The Disney Bunch]

One of my dd's want an American Girl doll for Christmas which I am loathe to get for her since she is not a doll kid. She has been asking for awhile now so I am thinking of maybe getting her something similar but not so expensive. Any ideas? She really wants the one that you make to look like the child but again I am loathe to special order something that she is going to throw in the corner two days after Christmas.
If anyone has any ideas, I would appreciate it!

I did get her the American Girl DS game & figured maybe a few other American Girl things & see if that quells the desire!

 

[ktmo]

I am a complete newbie, but thought I would let you know that Target now has some American Girl type dolls. I haven't bought one, but they are about the same size and come in different styles (hair colors/eye color/clothing). I think they are about half of what American Girl dolls cost. I have been thinking about getting one for my DD.

 

[ajk912]

I don't think there is anything that comes even CLOSE to American Girl. Once you open the doll and see the quality of the doll, there is no comparison. Dolls aren't always something you play with (commenting to your "in the corner in two days") sometimes you put on a shelf and look at it and change it's outfit and comb it's hair every few weeks. Now, if your daughter is 5, yeah, hold off till she is older and can enjoy a $90 doll. But if she is 8 or 9 or older and truly the age for the doll (and she has been asking for it) I would definitely buy it!!! $90 isn't much in the grand scheme of things, why spend $50 a crappy doll!

 

[tink576]

If she want's a doll to look like her you could look at mytwinn dolls but they are the same price as american girl...one suggestion to lower the price if you are looking at multiple outfits would be to search ebay and craigslist for people selling the outfits for a quarter to half the price though.

 

[mjkacmom]

I don't think there is anything that comes even CLOSE to American Girl. Once you open the doll and see the quality of the doll, there is no comparison. Dolls aren't always something you play with (commenting to your "in the corner in two days") sometimes you put on a shelf and look at it and change it's outfit and comb it's hair every few weeks. Now, if your daughter is 5, yeah, hold off till she is older and can enjoy a $90 doll. But if she is 8 or 9 or older and truly the age for the doll (and she has been asking for it) I would definitely buy it!!! $90 isn't much in the grand scheme of things, why spend $50 a crappy doll!

Can't agree more!

 

[The Disney Bunch]

Sorry but I just cannot agree - yes the quality of the American Girl dolls are great but I just cannot justify spending $90 on a doll that will be set aside within 2 days & will only be taken out every couple of months or so. My youngest who is 5 is a doll kid - I would spend the money on her because she plays with her dolls, takes care of her dolls, spend time with them. But the older one just throws her dolls around & has no real interest in them. I just annot spend $90 on a doll for this purpose, especially in today's economy. I am looking for alternatives, not reasons why I should splurge on an American Girl doll.

thank you for all responses. I will check out the Target Dolls.

 

[mjkacmom]

Sorry but I just cannot agree - yes the quality of the American Girl dolls are great but I just cannot justify spending $90 on a doll that will be set aside within 2 days & will only be taken out every couple of months or so. My youngest who is 5 is a doll kid - I would spend the money on her because she plays with her dolls, takes care of her dolls, spend time with them. But the older one just throws her dolls around & has no real interest in them. I just annot spend $90 on a doll for this purpose, especially in today's economy. I am looking for alternatives, not reasons why I should splurge on an American Girl doll.

thank you for all responses. I will check out the Target Dolls.

If she isn't a doll person, and really wants an American Girl doll, and you don't want to spend $90, don't get her a doll. It's not a doll she wants - it's the label. If I tell DH I want a particular Coach bag for Christmas (NO WAY would I let him pick one out), and he got me a similar one from Target, it wouldn't be the same (not that I want a Coach bag - I'm a wristlet girl).

I remember spending $90 on a white Fur Real cat for my oldest when she was 7 or 8 (retailed at $35 - it was one of the hot items that year). It was at the top of her list. Sure, I could've gotten her a similar white cat, but it wouldn't have been the same.

You say that your dd5 is into dolls - my dd12 handed down her American Girl dolls to dd7, so everyone wins here! Dd5 is next in line.

 

[dawnbu40]

I look at American Girl dolls as an investment in a family heirloom. My DD18 still has the Molly doll she got for Christmas when she was 5. I have all her AG stuff (she later got Kirsten & the modern)tucked away for her to someday give her own daughter. The dolls and the books will always appeal to little girls and it will be a wonderful thing to share her old toys and memories with her future family!

 

[Pembo]

We bought dd5 a My Generation doll from Target last Christmas. She loves that doll, we even had portraits taken with it. It was a lot cheaper than American Girl however the hair is not very nice. It is hard to brush and ratted up quick despite all my attempts at smoothing it.

Because my dd loves "Alexis" so much she got an American Girl for her 6th birthday. We love "Alyse" just as much and her hair is much nicer. We got a Just Like You doll that has her hair color, eye color etc.

My suggestion, buy the Target doll and if she still wants AG, get it next year.

BTW-I found girl and doll matching dresses at BJ's for $20 last spring.

 

[ldo]

they are Girlz by Madame Alexander. They are $30. Only negative is that hair is a bit thin--they got pretty good reviews overall---better than Targ*t dolls, which reviewers said hair gets all matted quickly.
I was in the SAME situation---DD wants AG and I was going to get a "better" doll than AG at Tuesday Morning--a Goetz doll for $60--but then I thought--she really wants AG and it's certainly not worth $30 to get her a substitute--even if it is a better quality.
She is reading all the AG books (from the library for free) and is really into the historical stuff. When I think of spending $40 on a DS game, a $90 AG doll that reinforces her reading is what I decided to do. Otherwise, I would have gotten the Costco doll. Elaine

 

[RitaE]

This is my advice for what it is worth, after 3 kids.

Decide your budget
Let your daughter ask for what she wants
Then let her live with the consequences of the decision

If she wants an AG Doll and your budget allows for the cost, then buy her the AG Doll. If she doesn't take care of it or if she ends up not liking it, then don't replace the Doll with a different choice. Next time encourage her to think harder about her choice.

I gave up years ago thinking that I know better than my kids what they want.

I agree that if you decide not to buy the doll, then just don't buy a doll.
There must be something about the American Girl Doll that interests your daughter. It might be that her friends have them, it might be the stories behind them, it might be just being able to choose a doll that looks like her..

Whatever it is, I'm pretty sure that a Target knock-off is just going to disappoint.

 

[An_Island_Girl]

Please ask your DD about the Target doll before you go out and purchase one. I know many girls that would be very disapointed if it was a knock off and not the "real thing".

My DD4 and all of her pre-K friends have the cute backpack bags that have a place for your AG dolls. They all know that the dolls have to stay in the cubbies during school. Well we just an e-mail that asks that the girls not bring in their dolls anymore. Apparently some of the boys were teasing a little girl on the playground that "her parents must be poor if they can't buy a AG doll." This is a group of 3 & 4 year olds, and even they have name brand awareness!!!

 

[StillPinballFamily]

A story with a slightly different perspective/suggestion:

When my now DD18 was 7 or so and the AG dolls came out and were hot, she wanted one. They were like $70 then (+ shipping, etc.) - think it was $86 total. I didn't think she was a doll kid either. Younger DD, yes, but not this one. This purchase wasn't gonna happen out of "my" money!

This kid saved for months until she had enough to buy Samantha. She saved up again (b-day $, etc., - no allowances around here) and bought Kristin about a year later. She did enjoy playing with them - and the few outfits we got and now they are safely put away. Younger DD also did end up with two different AG dolls later for Xmas and b-day, (one was the one that looked like her) and to this day 10+ years later, my older DD is VERY proud (and yes, smug!) that she BOUGHT THESE DOLLS HERSELF and her younger sister didn't. It was a terrific outcome and ever since has been extremely conscious about money and how she spends it. What a life lesson that grew out of wanting one of these dolls!

So (finally for the suggestions!) - maybe encourage your DD to save between now and Xmas for a doll and see how much the "name" brand one means to her - Maybe it is important and maybe not... (Maybe you could come up with the $ difference if she is motivated enough to save and gets close...) Or, for Xmas, you could give her an AG catalog or one of the AG Girl magazines wrapped up with *some* money towards a doll and she'd have to come up with the rest.

The way I see it - it is sorta like the name brand clothes some kids want and say they "need" - if they are told "We'll give you $X for jeans, but if you want the (fill in the name of a fancy brand here) ones, you'll have to pay the difference yourself." Sometimes they will, and sometimes they won't - but you'll swiftly learn (and SO WILL THEY!) when something is important to them and when they might just be following the herd without thinking about why.

Good luck!

 

[zoemurr]

My DD is not a doll kid either, but she really wanted a Twinn doll. My reasoning was that even if she didn't play with it, it would be a great keepsake for me when she is grown. They are a lot bigger than the AG dolls though, and wear newborn clothes (which we find a lot on clearance) and not AG size.

After we got hers her brother wanted one (Now he is a doll kid ) so we have one for each of them. If there was a house fire I would grab my kids, our photos, and then those dolls. They have been very well loved, and they are very special to us. I'll try to post a pic

 

[melancholywings]

I'm a doll person, I wasn't when I was a child but became one as an adult. I collect asian ball-jointed dolls, pullips and blythe. DD has a few AG's. I love photographing and sewing for them. In my hobby there are many young girls who were not 'doll children' but became collectors because of a quality doll that called out to them. They create personalities for their dolls and write for them. Learn to sew for them. So there are more ways to play than just make believe.
AG have great quality, My Twinn as well. At her age I think she'll be disapointed with a poor quality clone. If she decides she doesn't want the doll later you can easily resell them (or you can even pick one up second hand on ebay/craigslist for $50-$80). Some of the resell dolls fetch almost the same price new. There are few toys on the market that do that.

 

[DVCBELLE]

I was growing up at the height of cabbage patch fever and I remembr the Christmas when they were IMPOSSIBLE to get. My mom paid to have a "cabbage patch" doll made for me - I am sure she paid a lot for it to - she was so upset that she couldn't find me one - she said I opened it and I did a pretty good job of trying to act like I loved her but she could see it in my eyes.

If your daughter wants the AG doll - I would get it - my DD isn't a doll girl but she loves her AG dolls!

 

[lady_hlh]

My DD begged for an american girl doll but she isn't a doll kid and it really isn't in our budget so I refused to buy her one. My MIL on the other hand got her a bitty baby and then a just like me AG doll and is mad that my DD barely plays with them. I told her not to buy the dolls because it was a waste of money but my MIL never listens to anything that I tell her.

 

[NMW]

I'm probably not a good one to ask since my DD has 13 AG dolls and is getting another one for Christmas, but I'll chime in anyway. I think for a Christmas present, something the child really wants, I would always try to get that certain thing. I think kids are brand aware these days and if she wants this doll because her friends have them, she looks at the catalogs, etc., then she may dissapointed with a knock-off doll. Depending on the age of the child, I would explain how much the doll costs, that she may have to give up other presents because of it, etc. and see what she says. I would let it be her choice.

Target is the only place I have ever seen dolls that size. I hate everything about ebay, so I wouldn't personally try there, but that's an option too. Good luck!

 

[luckey-lasvegas]

While I agree that nothing compare to an AG doll, I also started my DD out with a target doll. The quality isn't as good but it was a good starter for her. After years of asking for an AG doll I relented and have not regreted it. My DD was never a doll girl either but she LOVES her AG dolls. But if your mind is made up you can check with ABC distributing. They have a AG knock off. I also saw a 17" high School Musical doll in the Target add this morning.

WWW.abcdistributing.com

 

[MichelleinMaine]

I too had a "not doll" sort of DD (age 8) I'll admit it, I wanted her to have an AG-type doll and got her a Target doll last year. Figured if she didn't like it, at least it was less than AG.

First off, the Target doll's hair is terrible. There are bald spots (her doll came with the hair up- it looked fine up, but very thin in spots when down.) And it all matts up like the baby dolls I used to have as a kid. You'd think they'd have better materials by now.

BUT- DD loved that thing! Much to my dismay (with the awful hair!) it went everywhere with us. After alot of looking around, we found her a Goetz doll at Tuesday Morning ($30) as a substitute. She bought it with her Christmas money. Very well loved too. We ended up getting her another Goetz for her birthday. (And she then finally decided the awful Target doll could be given away,lol)

For my DD, she just wanted an AG- style doll. One of her friends gave her a bit of a hard time about it not being a "real" AG... DD told her it didn't matter that it wasn't Samantha-Molly-Kirsten-etc, it cost less than AG and she could use the rest of her Christmas money for other stuff for her. (I also explained to her that Goetz was the company who actually made the orginal AG, so they were certainly "cousins" on an equal playing field.)

We also make all the clothes, food and "stuff" to go with her dolls (vs having such and such outfit or accessory.) It's something we do together for fun- how can we make something we'd seen or something "they" might like to play with.

I guess you'd know your DD/her crowd the best, but I have to say it makes me sad that little kids have to be so brand conscious.