American girl dolls

Flip Flops

Fri, Sep 22 2023, 2:07 pm

The other thread made me realize just how many of us were obsessed with American Girl dolls as a kid!
Now I'm curious - which one did you have or want to have?
I was Samantha all the way. There is still a small place in my heart for her.

Lets Talk

Fri, Sep 22 2023, 2:19 pm

Flip Flops wrote:

I had Kit

Highstrung

Fri, Sep 22 2023, 2:23 pm

Only one girl in my class had one. She was the wealthiest and was an only daughter . She had Samantha and a matching dress to Samantha.
I loved to dream about it and felt satisfaction with reading the catalog and dreaming about owning one of the the babies or Molly.
We used to cut out the dolls and decorate our loose leaf dividers with the big image of the dolls. Simple pleasures .

gootlfriends

Fri, Sep 22 2023, 2:24 pm

I had Samantha. I bought the twins for my sister when she little and another sister bought her Kit when she came out. They know make miniatures which my mil got for my daughter this year.

bgr8ful

Fri, Sep 22 2023, 3:04 pm

Lol memories.
I had Elizabeth.
I read most of the books and watched a couple of the movies too. gosh I’d forgot abt them. The books were really good. Actually learned a lot abt different time periods.

giftedmom

Fri, Sep 22 2023, 4:31 pm

Samantha! But in retrospect poring over the catalogues and dreaming about it was probably a lot more fun than owning one. I would also cut out pictures to decorate school projects. My kids are totally uninterested. We inherited bitty twins from my sister who won them in a raffle and she never looked at them so I got rid of them. I don’t even remember if I donated or threw them out.

Amarante

Fri, Sep 22 2023, 4:38 pm

Unfortunately the original idea of the creator has been bastardized by Mattel when they bought it by creating a universe of expensive accessories.

Her original inspiration was to create dolls that would enable girls to use their imagination in the way that they used to - somewhat the antithesis of Barbie.

I am older so it was my girls who I purchased them for. I don't know current pricing but they weren't out of the realm for a major gift - I.e. birthday or Hanukah and - at least in my circles - they were often a gift from a Bubbe who was relieved that she would have several years of knowing what to purchase as gifts . Smile

I had the Madame Alexander dolls which were the equivalent of the "classy" doll. The original factory was in Brooklyn and I think my mother was able to get them at a discount there. LOL

I had the complete set of Little Women

sequoia

Fri, Sep 22 2023, 4:45 pm

I was obsessed with the catalog. My parents never bought me a doll 😢 even though they saw how much I longed for one. Maybe because I wasn’t a doll-playing girl in general. I wanted Felicity and Samantha.

I read all the books, though. Every single one. Felicity, Kirsten, Addy, Samantha, Molly. I remember when Josefina was added.

Years later it squicked me out to find out that people were shipping Felicity and Ben. She is a nine-year-old girl and he is way older!

chili-n-cholent

Fri, Sep 22 2023, 4:51 pm

I dreamed and drooled over the catalogues and always begged my mother for them.
Honestly I was a serious tomboy and never touched girly toys so I can't imagine I would have played with it if I would have gotten it but it was my yearly Chanuka/Birthday/Afikomen request.

gootlfriends

Fri, Sep 22 2023, 5:51 pm

sequoia wrote:

Out of curiosity, how old do you think he was? Apprenticeship was likely starting at 12. He could have been 14.

Rosie89

Fri, Sep 22 2023, 6:28 pm

My sister and I had Samantha and Molly, and we read all the books. I also used to spend hours pouring over the catalogs—that was part of the fun. It was disappointing when they came out with more dolls and the catalogues started to have less information about each one.

phoebe12

Fri, Sep 22 2023, 6:30 pm

When I was young, there were only 3. I have Samantha. She’s in a display case on my shelf in my living room. When I turned 41, I bought Courtney.

mommy3b2c

Sat, Sep 23 2023, 9:53 pm

phoebe12 wrote:

When I was young, there were only 3. I have Samantha. She’s in a display case on my shelf in my living room. When I turned 41, I bought Courtney.

I remember there being only 3. It was Samantha , Kirsten and Molly . Did I remember that correctly? I believe felicity was the 4th and addy the 5th. Did I remember that correctly ? I think then was josephina and then maybe kit? But after that I was way to old. Even by kit I was way to old . I collected all the catalogs and sat and looked at them for hours and hours and dreamed and dreamed …

cuties' mom

Sat, Sep 23 2023, 10:20 pm

There were only 3 when I was a kid: Kirsten, Samantha, and Molly. Felicity came out when I was in 6th grade. Addy came out when I was in 8th grade. I never wanted the dolls; I was happy reading the catalogues and books. I learned more history from American Girls than I did in my entire school career.

AmedeoAvogadro

Sun, Sep 24 2023, 2:56 am

My sisters and I had Molly, Kit, Rebecca (Jewish!!!) and bitty twins and tons of accessories and carriages and beds and clothing. My parents thought it was a worthwhile investment because of the thousands of hours (not exaggerating) over the years.
But looking back, we wonder if we couldn't have been the same entertained with cheaper dolls.
My parents had another little girl after many years and she is eight now but I don't think she has ever looked at those boxes. Are they out of style? Or maybe she just isn't the type? Or maybe you just need sisters close in age to enjoy them....