American Girl owners?

[KrystalS]

DD loves baby dolls, aside from her dollhouse/petshop toys that is all she plays with. She has 2 cousins that have the AG dolls and she loves to play with them. I had planned to get her one for Christmas. However, after looking at the website and seeing the target age and the bitty babies I'm starting to wonder if she is too young for the bigger doll. She still likes to "bath", feed, etc her dolls and these dolls are fairly expensive and I don't want something to happen to it. So does anyone have the AG dolls? How old was your DD when you bought it? Would the bitty baby be too young for an almost 5 yo?

[shishamo]

Hi,

My 6 year old got her American girl doll when she was 4 (it was a gift). It worked out fine, but to be honest, she's not into dolls much so it really never recieved that much attention. My 4 year old also plays with her older sister's American girl, and it has been fine also, but again she is also not into dolls. She does have a bitty baby.

They both will, however, spend HOURS pouring over AG catalog. Hours!

If you are worried about it (and yes, these babies are pricey!), Target carries a doll (MY generation?) that is the same size as the AG, so you can start from there and see how it goes?

One thing that may happen with a young owner is the tangled up hair. I've been battling with that!

[Rainbows&Roses]

IMO, Bitty Babies w/o hair can be used from 2 and up: Bitty Twins with hair from 3 & up: American Girl dolls from 5 & up. Of course this depends on the child a bit too. My ages are based on if your child is good at taking care of possessions and keeping hair brushed, etc. It also depends on whether you (or someone else) is willing to spend the money initially and then potentially more $ down the road for accessories, etc.

My daughter got a bitty twin (the other went to her cousin) for her 3rd birthday. She was pretty good at taking care of her, though she did get ink on her face once and a sticker on her body somewhere. Those bitty babies hold up to abuse pretty well and despite not getting brushed that often, the hair is still in great condition.

I got her a Costco clearanced out Madame Alexander doll (same size as American Girls) and a sale Target My Generation doll (ick, yuck, ick - avoid these as the hair is just nasty) for Christmas last year to see how she would do with "big girl" dolls. It just so happens that when she saw Mia in the January 2009 AG catalog she fell in love and wanted her. So this provided a good test. The deal was she had to take care of her other dolls till her 5th birthday in August and then she could get Mia. She did and we have Mia now. Her dad reads her a chapter in the books every night and for the first time she is asking to go ice skating and is excited about it.

So as I said earlier, it really depends on the child, but it sounds as if your daughter does well in taking care of them so you could go with the older doll if you wanted. When I talked to someone at AG, they said the "age limit" is mostly for the hair and being able to read the books and understand the historical part of them which is the basis for the company. That is all well and good, but I don't really know if my daughter will be interested in dolls when she is 8 years old, so I would rather get her some now when her interest is there. We have all 3 movies and saw Kit this summer, so she is starting to get a bit of the history too.

AG dolls have amazing resale value!

[brittone2]

Gotz has a precious day collection that is more affordable than AG but still good quality from what I've read (they were originally the makers of AG dolls if I'm remembering correctly?). I have a Gotz doll put away for DD for the future. For a while Tuesday Morning stores were carrying a lot of Gotz dolls marked down quite a bit.

I'm pretty sure you can use the same outfits, accessories, etc. as AG since they are the same size. A nice bonus is the Gotz dolls are phthalate-free if that's a concern for you.

Karito Kids makes cute AG-style dolls...they are more modern, a little bigger than AG dolls, and represent many different nationalities. They are also phthalate-free.

I don't have much experience w/ dolls and DD yet, but I think the age when they are ready to care for hair, etc. on a doll probably really depends on the kid/parent. If you are going to be upset if the doll's hair gets matted/knotted, etc. then I'd wait to buy one or opt for a less expensive doll. I just wouldn't expect all 4-5 year olds to be able to keep an AG doll looking perfect, kwim?

[egoldber]

Personally, I think that 5 is the minimum age for the 18" dolls and older is probably better.

[AngelaS]

I got one of my girls a doll when she was 5 and she was too young. The AG dolls' hair takes some care and I shouldn't have picked a long hair doll!

My littlest one won't get one until 6. I want them to show they can take care of them better than her big sister did. :P

[KrystalS]

Thanks everyone for the advice, if I get her one I'll definitely get one with shorter hair. Her cousin is 10 and her dolls hair is always tangled. So evidently thats a big responsibility.

[MamaKath]

Personally, I think that 5 is the minimum age for the 18" dolls and older is probably better.

ITA with this, I would probably go for the Bitty Twins if your child likes to play with the hair but is still into feeding/caring for a baby doll.