So, my almost 4 year old DD got a hold of the American Girl catalog that came in the mail the other day and is now totally obsessed with one of the dolls. She talks about it daily - wants to put it on her list for Santa, etc.
I know they are meant for older girls (company recommends 8+) but has anyone gotten one for a 4 or 5 year old? She has no interest in the Bitty Baby or I would get her one of those. They are just so pricey... any advice or thoughts? Thanks!
Re: American Girl dolls
My daughter got one in August. She just turned 4 last month. We were going to hold off for a bit (aka a couple of years), but McKenna is the doll of the year, so it was meant to be Anyways, we got it for her while in NYC, and she got to enjoy the entire experience. And she's been very responsible with it, taking care of her, etc, yet not quite attached to her hip yet. I've been buying the 18" doll clothes elsewhere (Target, online, etc).
I don't think she would have been as excited and understand how important it is to take care of it if she hadn't gotten it at the store. The entire experience made her think that it was a very important and big deal. So mission accomplished!
DD is five and has two. One is a Kirsten doll my SIL passed on to her (Kirsten is a retired Swedish character, and DH's grandmother, who was part Swedish, gave them to her granddaughters), and the other is Rebecca, which my dad and sister got her at the store this past summer. I had kind of had my eye on Rebecca for her anyway because my grandmother was from a Russian Jewish immigrant family in NYC in the early 20th century (yeah, I'm kind of into the historical characters), and fortunately she was the one DD liked the most. I hadn't planned on getting her one until she was a bit older, but we were all at the mall together and my sister suggested going to the store, and so we left with a doll.
DD is pretty gentle with her dolls, and American Girls are very good quality (if they are in need of cleaning or repair, they have a doll hospital you can send your doll to, which I'm thinking of doing with her Kirsten doll), so I'm not worried about how they will hold up. She is too young to really appreciate the historical aspect (although she does like the book that came with her doll), so I don't feel bound to buy Rebecca accessories for her at this point and have gotten some less expensive clothes and other things for 18" dolls. Zulily often has sales on Dollie & Me matching sets for girls and dolls which are less expensive than a single doll outfit from AG.
Thanks for all the thoughtful replies on this! I might take the "wait and see" approach given that DD started talking about it just a couple weeks ago. Maybe she'll lose interest - ha ha. Her birthday is coming up in a couple months, so we could always do that.
I do really like the concept of the American Girl dolls, particularly the historical characters. She went through the catalog and asked me to tell her about each one - though clearly she is too young to understand what the various stories mean. My fear is that she won't be able to take care of it, simply because she's young. The closest store is 3 hours away, so I guess we could make a big day of it - that's a really good idea in terms of seeing how special the dolls are.
Thanks again for the feedback - much appreciated!