My 4.5 year old twin girls would like 18" dolls for Christmas. They truly don't care if they're American Girls or some other brand, so I'd like to get a knock-off brand. I've seen Target's Our Generation dolls and Toys R Us's Journey Girls... but I've only seen them online so I can't tell which would be nicer. Or are there other good brands? What do you all think? I'm hoping for normal looking, easy to dress dolls that will hold up pretty well over the next few years. Is there anything else I should be looking for? Does it matter if they're poseable?
Are the ones at TRU the ones made by Madame Alexander?
I thought those ones looked really cute.
And Madame Alexander wouldn't put their name on junk.
At least...I don't think so. ;)
I have never seen an American Girl in person, but just purchased the Target version and it's nice. I'd really have to see them side-by-side. I understand that the quality of American Girl dolls is fantastic; I just didn't want to spend that much money on it as we've done some other big ticket items this year for Christmas.
When my daughter, who is 17 now, was in Kindy, she wanted a doll. AG dolls were not quite the rage they are now, but still popular, and expensive! I budgeted to get her one, and we got the catalogs in the mail every few weeks/months for about 2 years prior. While she loved so many things about them, so HATED their teeth showing! LOL
She was so particular about those sorts of things! She chose the ones they carried at Target back then, sans teeth! It was way better on our budget and we used that $$ to buy a big wooden case/carrier with a flip down Murphy bed in it, little "dressing table", clothes storage, etc. She LOVED it all!
She had gotten glasses the summer before Kindergarten started and struggled a bit with other kids questions and such when school started (but she loved them..she could see and she liked the specialness of them and was super careful, but suddenly all those months of that was tossed a bit by all these new kids at school). That was another reason we wanted a doll for her..a friend who wore glasses like she did. We had a hard time finding actual doll glasses, and in the end, my mother made her some that were perfect! She got it for Christmas, and brought it into school for a show and tell day and her teacher was great in using this as a tool to ge tthe other kids talking freely about her glasses (its was not as common as it is now for a 4 year old to get glasses back then).
She named her doll Susie after her kindergarten teacher Miss Susie! Her teacher was honored!
I've seen both of the dolls at both of the stores and my preference was the Journey Girls Dolls. They had nicer faces. They prices are nice on them too. Just as soon as my soon to be 2 year old neice is big enough to handle a doll that size I'm making a bee line to the store to scoop her up one.
Once your daughter has the doll, you will quickly be able to tell if you made a good choice. I always think a doll should come with a second set of clothes and a friend to play with besides the kid.
i would say targets Our Generation dolls why? well because OG has lots of big stuff like AG dolls my 6 year old has a journey girl and AG dolls she says none of them are same.but if you would buy her i would say american girls because you can put earrings,yes its not on the cheap side but its totally worth it when i gave my girl a American girl dolls she cried YES CRIED she loves the doll dont really like our generation since my girl when she sees our generation she says "mom that dolls creepy....."and holds my hand so cute anyways but i do like our generation's kitchen and bake set! hope that helps J. mother of 3 yes 3
michaels craft store carries a knock off also. if you watch for the sale you can get it for about $12 looks just like the american girl doll samantha although they also have blond ones and lighter brown haired ones. cute doll and my granddaughter loved it
I got one for my daughter at Kmart a few years back. A lot of people thought it was an American Girl for the longest time.... good luck!
I actually ended up buying a doll from JoAnn's Fabric store. It looks just like an American Girl doll. I was able to use the 40% off coupon in their ad too. It may be worth you checking out?
Actually Walmart has a nice collection of these dolls as well. They also have affordable clothing, furniture, and accessories for them. My 6 year old requested one last year and loved it but now she is learning more about American girl and is asking for it this year. I hope that helps!
Liz
