Birthday Trip to American Girl

[Cuckoomamma]

Rather than a party, this year we offered to take dd (11), her sister and a friend to AG. I called to see if the cafe can accomodate all our food allergies.

What does a birthday trip with a friend to the AG store usually look like? I was thinking that we'd give the 3 girls a dollar amount of what they each could spend (an outfit). Is this what's normally done?

[Seitvonzu]

i think from the trips i've made to AG place in dc (we've done meals in the cafe twice-- both times lunch), that the "cafe" experience is the main "birthday" thing. i know they do parties, but they also sell a "birthday package." you might want to call and see what's involved, since you aren't doing a full blown party. it seems to involve food, a cake, the staff/customers sing happy birthday and the birthday kid gets a crown. the dolls also get crowns (super cute...my friends and i tried to get them for our dolls and were asked "is it YOUR birthday?" when we responded honestly? no hats for our dolls! and we even had dd (who was 3.5 at the time) with us... and they wouldn't give her one either!)

each time we've been, we've sang happy birthday at least 3 times during our meal ;) it's popular!

i think your idea about giving a dollar amount for an outfit is more than generous as a favor...that could get pretty expensive if your going to do the meal/dessert at the cafe also.

one different idea is would the girls be interested in the "salon" for their dolls--- it might get you off cheaper than an outfit. hairstyles vary from 10-25 dollars (most are about 15), ear piercing is $14 (includes a set of 6 pairs of earrings though!), and the "spa package" (washing up doll arms/face and some extra goodies to take home for more pampering) is $12. last week when we went i had my felicity doll's hair done and purchased the spa package so we would get the robe/slippers/cucumber stickers for at home pampering ;) it was 27 dollars. so-- 2 "salon services" for the price of an outfit-- and it's definitely an experience specific to the store. (you might want to make sure the friend's parents know about this though....in case they don't want her choosing ear piercing...)

have fun! sounds like a great birthday to me! :)

[Seitvonzu]

oh- and as for food allergies, we were seated next to a little girl with a peanut allergy. the server and the management came over to discuss the situation with the family. they are 100% NUT FREE as a restaurant. while they can't guarantee a few of the items (i think they said brownie/cookies?) 100% (because of cross contamination off site?), they have ZERO nut ingredients.

i thought that was pretty neat :) even on my fancy salad i've gotten the last two times, i didn't notice/miss the standard candied nuts :) have fuN!

[Cuckoomamma]

Thanks so much for including all those details. I just called back and left a message asking about the crowns. There's a lot of the meal that I'm going to be bringing in (for 5 people) so I'm hoping they agree to throw it in. Otherwise, the general customer service rep I spoke with said that it would be roughly $3 more per girl and $13/adult. Considering I don't want the cake and icecream, I'm hoping they'll just give it to us. They had already said they'd bring out a candle for her with grapes, so I'm hoping it won't be too much extra if anything at all.

Did you get a cape or a robe from the salon experience? Our store is listing a cape.