American Girl deals?

[bigsis]

I refuse to spend MSRP on American Girl dolls. It's against my entire being! :) Is there a good place to get the doll for a reasonable price? And is the quality *that* good for them to justify the price? TIA!

[AngelaS]

They are very well made and seem to handle a certain degree of abuse quite well.
I've seen them on craigslist but I've gotten the best deals at garage sales. I've paid $45, $5 and $4.50 for dolls in great shape this summer! :D

[brittone2]

My plan is to get a Gotz doll (sometimes also spelled Goetz because of the German origin) for DD. They make a doll that is the same size, and theirs is phthalate-free since they are a Euro company. Gotz was the original maker of AG dolls anyway (they no longer are, but they made early ones).

They run about 60ish retail or so I think?

eta: they are the Gotz or Goetz Precious Day collection, and they measure 18 inches. You can buy AG clothes for them if you really want to.

[egoldber]

You can try eBay, but most of what I have seen for dolls in new condition is almost retail, and for a few $$ more I'd rather pay retail and get the guarantee.

My older DD wants a historical doll for her birthday next month and I'm hoping for some sort of code. But the best codes I've seen for AG over the last couple years are either free shipping OR 10-15% off (which amounts to free shipping).

For my kid, its all about the stories and the books, so the Gotz dolls are not a good solution for us. But if you're looking at the Like Me dolls, then the Gotz dolls may be a good solution. There are plenty of deals to be had at the AG site for outfits and accessories.

[brittone2]

For my kid, its all about the stories and the books, so the Gotz dolls are not a good solution for us. But if you're looking at the Like Me dolls, then the Gotz dolls may be a good solution. There are plenty of deals to be had at the AG site for outfits and accessories.

Sarah's old enough that she probably has more of an idea about what a real AG looks like, etc.

For some reason, our local Goodwill has the best books many times. I was poking around in the books recently and found 6-7 brand new AG books for a few cents each. A bunch were about Samantha, which was cool as I'll probably get DD a Gotz doll that is a brunette (like her). I know it will be a while until she's into the books, but I couldn't resist and put them away in a box in the attic. I hope she eventually grows to like the books like Sarah!

[egoldber]

We've been reading through the books together. :) She can read them on her own, but some of the ideas and themes are a bit disturbing to her (threat of losing the family home in the Depression, sibling and parent being sold away during the Civil War, child labor in the early 1900s, etc.) and she likes to talk about that stuff to process.

We saw the Kit movie together yesterday and she really "gets" what a hardship it would be for us if DH lost his job and she was very emotionally invested in the movie.

So for her the doll is more a manifestation of the ideas and themes in the books than about regular doll play, IYKWIM.