What age for first American Girl doll?

[ang79]

DD1 was passed down an American Girl doll from my younger cousin this summer (right before she turned 7). DD1 loved her like crazy for about a week or two, and now she is just laying in a doll bed and never played with. When I ask her about the doll she tells me she's just not into dolls that much (she also does not play w/ her princess barbie dolls either and she tends to go in spurts with what she likes - right now its Lego Friends and making habitat scenes from those little Safari Toob animals).

DD2 will be 5 at the end of the month. She knows that I have a Samantha doll from my childhood saved up for her. The girls saw an American Girl catalog that came in the mail yesterday so all day she has been asking me when she can have her own American Girl doll. I told her she has to show me that she can take care of one of her other dolls (she picked out a M&D doll w/ long hair) by not letting it lay on the floor, get tangled hair, lost, etc. and if she does a good job, maybe when she turns 5. She tends to be the more careless one when it comes to toys (always losing things, letting them lay around and get stepped on, etc.) but has also been the one that is more into dolls. And I'm wondering if she has an American Girl doll, if DD1 will be more likely to play w/ hers, as they can play together.

Is 5 a good age? Or wait another year til she's 6 like her sister was? And at what age does the doll play stop now? I had my Samantha doll and 4 other large, expensive dolls that I played with (Robin Woods) til I was at least 12 or so, and I have all of them sitting in storage for the girls.

[sariana]

I don't know the answer to your question, as my DD will be 6 in January and does not have any AG dolls (yet). But our community has classes for making clothing and other classes designed around AG dolls, and the minimum age is 8. They have been offering the classes for several years, at least, so I am assuming they must get takers. I think most of them are labeled for ages 8-12.

[ang79]

Any others want to chime in? Is 5 too young?

[egoldber]

I think it really just depends on the kid.

Older DD got her first 18" AG doll for her 7th birthday. She got Kit and then Samantha awhile later. Eventually she saved up her own money for a Like You doll. She took somewhat indifferent care of them.

Younger DD started playing with older DD's AG dolls early, just because they were around. She takes fabulous care of them, but she is like that with all her toys. In general though, she prefers to play with Bitty Baby. She adores Bitty and all the baby accessories.

So in general, if she takes good care fo her things, I don't think that 5 is too young. Maybe try to get a doll, like Kit, that has short hair. The long haired dolls are much harder to keep nice and even with a careful girl, the hair can end up looking like a rat's nest. But Kit's bob always looks fabulous. ;)

[citymama]

DD1 got her first doll a few months before her 7th birthday. If your 5 year old seems ready, I would get her a look like me doll rather than a historical doll.

[KrisM]

DD got her first just after turning 5. It is a just like you doll with medium length hair. She did a fantastic job of taking care of the doll and hair and really understood it. She's 7.5 now and has 4 AG dolls. They get played with multiple times a week. She has Kanani, McKenna, and now Saige, all who have long hair. She can take care of them all, really. Kanani came on her 6th birthday even. That hair is the hardest, I think. Anyway, I still brush through them good about once a month, but overall she's always done great.

She was never into baby dolls. She had the dolls and accessories and never liked them. She got a Corolle doll for Christmas at 3.5 and it got more play, but she really wanted a doll that could pose and she could style the hair. So, AG it was and it was a good decision.

However, our neighbor is also 7.5 and she has a couple dolls, including McKenna, who has very nice and easy hair. Her McKenna always looks a mess. She doesn't take the time to brush it or style it and it shows. It quickly goes back if I brush it for her, but I can easily tell which doll goes to which girl.

[newnana]

I don't think 5 is too young for a nice doll, depending on the kid. However, it sounds like you would be really upset if the ones from your childhood that you saved for them were destroyed. With that in mind, I'd get her a knock off or an actual AG doll on sale (think ebay or craigslist) at first to see how she does. When my DD was 5, I bought her a lot of items on eBay with a ton of outfits and accessories for about the price of a new doll. The seller even had all the original boxes. I figured since it was a better deal, if she loved in and played with it, I wouldn't be as upset if something happened to it and as she got older we could move to other dolls. She did great and now has 3 dolls, one of which she purchased herself.

I agree with others that a doll with short straight hair would be easiest for her to start with. If she's interested in it and you think she'll play with it, go for it. But if you will be upset that yours will be ruined, I wouldn't start with one of those.

Gotz makes one that has hair of the most similar quality to AG. Those are sometimes at Tuesday Morning's for $25-40.

I'm sure the price of this one will go up, but on ebay I'm talking about something like this:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/AMERICAN-GIRL-of-Today-HUGE-LOT-including-DOLL-/350926330175?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item51b4d6d93f

It sound sli