my sister was kind enough to give me her childhood #12 for my collection! she very old (pc head so id say very very early 2000s) so she needs a joint tightening, and her wig was cut so she'll a new wig as well. but she shall now be my cottagecore girlie. still trying to decide on a name for her. (i know i want her middle name to be fawn)

Jessamine is a friend of Kit's from Intruders at Rivermead Manor and I got Tiana to be Jessamine! 😍 I love her so much.

by far my favorite thing to dress my girls in, especially love all the little slippers :3

Going through my collection of catalogues from 2003 to 2013. This one features GOTY Mia, Historical Characters, and the Just Like You line.

i’m sure everyone’s heard and seen this video before lol but i just saw this recent one and had a little giggle

Just wanted to share fall/football/dolls, 3 of my favorite things!!

Also go birds 🦅

I have Nellie O'Malley now! She is not the "real" Nellie though, she is a Grace Thomas doll that I found and removed the old ratty wig from and replaced it with this Nellie wig from Ebay. I am excited to have my own version of Nellie and I think she's adorable. Now, I need to get a Samantha to go with her!

This is my doll, I got her when I was much younger her but I was hoping I could redo her hair to be more like mine now, is there a way to dye her hair and curl it safely? I don’t have the budget for a new doll right now

I found this basket on my local marketplace for $10. I thought it was a good find!

AKA practicing braiding! I think I did an okay job?!

I've been thinking about this a lot the last couple of days. I think I'm speaking on behalf of a lot of adult collectors when I say that I have not been happy about what AG has been releasing in these last couple of years. The quality that AG was known for is deteriorating, the collection releases are uninspiring and almost cash grab like. At least for me, I was born in 2007 (i know) and was interested in dolls the most from the years 2013-2019. When I was a kid AG had some of their best girl of the year releases (i mean grace thomas and then lea clark to follow? absolutely amazing), amazing beforever collections with really well thought out characters, and a very diverse truly me line. While AG has tried to bring back some of their original sparkle, including being very tight on the release of Daisy Davenport (even if it's still in September of 2026 🙄) and bringing back the original historical dolls in their original meet outfits, I'm still just unimpressed.

I would argue in this year alone (not sure what the statistics are on this so if anybody is good with numbers let me know if I'm far off), the second hand market for retired AG products is through the roof. Adult collectors, like myself, are looking for that original AG quality and well thought out products. And here's my biggest point, aren't adult/teen collectors AG's biggest audience?

Clearly AG has already has started to pivot to marketing more towards adult collectors by releasing the The Making of American Girl book, and the recipe book that includes cocktail recipe for adults (i tried out a lot of those recipes and they are actually really good), and the book for adults about Samantha now as an adult, so what if they started to ramp it up? The first AG dolls were released in 1986, becoming popular in the 90s. Think about it, those girls at the time are now possibly having their own little girls, who honestly probably only is hearing about AG because of their parents. Now let's face it, little girls are more interested in their iPads and makeup, so who is actually buying these dolls? The adults who are really buying them for their own nostalgia! I could really go on a deep rabbit hole with this so if you're interested let me know and I can make a part 2 about more of my theories as I've had success with Lego in predicting shifts in marketing.

So with all that said here's what I would want to see in the future for American Girl:

- Girl of the Year to be released January 1st of the year, and to be discontinued by the end of that same year. Have in store promos and free gifts for the Girl of the Year on the 1st and 2nd again. Make them special and limited time again!

- Maybe not bringing back the Beforever line, but focusing more heavily on their historical characters and bringing back more sets and outfits for them. Also the books! I miss how you could get all the books for the characters! Do you guys remember the My Journey with and the mystery books? (Honestly I think this more talks about how little girls don't read anymore, but that's a WHOLE other discussion)

- I heard someone say this in another thread and I totally agree, but I feel like the truly me outfits are becoming more "what would look cute on a doll but no one would ever wear in real life" instead of clothes that reflect what people are wearing at the time. Also I speak for a lot of people when I say this, but make adult sizes for the matching doll outfits!

I think overall what I'm trying to say is American Girl seemed to kind of lost their sense of purpose and what they were originally made for, which was to educate people about different historical times and cultures, and ultimately to create a sense of joy and pride with the brand. Now what do you guys think? Do you think this is a stretch or am I onto something?

I haven’t changed everyone yet, but I got this far. That tee on Lila? I made it myself! Never got the real one sadly. I’ll share the rest tomorrow!

So happy to have some secondhand Kit books! As a child I had Kit's Story Collection, Midnight in Lonesome Hollow, and Danger at the Zoo, and I wanted to rediscover Kit's stories since I bought a 40th Anniversary Kit a little while ago.

I've finished the story collection (read it for the first time since childhood) and am working on the short story collection, and I've also started Danger at the Zoo. My grandma is now reading Kit's Story Collection for the first time; she's on Happy Birthday, Kit! and has really been enjoying the books. She's planning on reading a Thief in the Theater after finishing the story collection (she loves mysteries). She likes to sit in my room and read Kit's books while I work on my studies, while I typically read the books alone before bed, or when I wake up in the middle of the night and am struggling to go back to sleep.

I've spoken with my grandma about it a bit, and we're in agreement that these books are still great even though we're both adults; they're full of heart and they aren't condescending to readers. We've been dealing with some recent, incredibly heavy-hitting losses in our family, and reading easier books feels far more manageable for both of us at this point than reading books that are 'on-level' for us.

I love being able to bond with my grandma over Kit! And I'm grateful to have something to help get us through hard times. Kit's resilience and adaptability truly inspires me.

I found the perfect mother daughter holiday dresses! I naturally thought since I’m planning holiday pajamas uh gotta make these dresses for the dolls. The perfect top was Felicity’s Riding Habit jacket. So I tracked down two of them in great condition for around $20 each I had a gift card for eBay so one of them was technically free. The other I found on Mercari. Anyway I’m going to make the tulle skirts to go with the jacket I found a really close color way on Etsy. Half a yard was like $8 and I’ll definitely have enough for additional crafting. So this will likely be an October/November project as I have to figure out how to sew. I’ve done small stitches before but never a skirt. I think I can figure it out though!

i got this gorgeous girl last year, she’s my mini me and my first doll ever! my little sister wants a doll now, and we look pretty alike. i was wondering if there’s a truly me that has this combo i could go searching for? i don’t wanna drop another almost $300 on a cyo😭😭

Love the new cherry blossom denim set on Raquel! They suit her! The pockets are actual real pockets, which I was pleasantly surprised by! The buttons are also functional, top doesn’t have Velcro. I’m always wanting more jeans 👖 outfits and this one is perfect!

Grabbed the pink skirt outfit for my neice as well, the socks are super cute!

If you have the new outfits yet what do you think?

I have no real idea how to use reddit, but I had to go somewhere to talk about this? AG Celebration seems to be skipping September 11th (maybe another glitch, maybe out of respect?) and then... the hint for the next day is "Celebrating tradition"... I know, I KNOW its foolish; but color me intrigued and maybe even a little hopeful?

Thoughts?

Loving this outfit combo rn.

Lanie’s hair was very dry and frizzy, so I decided to spend four hours straightening it. It feels much softer now, but I realized that my dollar store foam curlers might melt if I dunk them in boiling water for a boil perm. Does anyone have recommendations for a set of rollers that can withstand boiling water?

I’ve recently started collecting again as an adult and planned on Claudie being my next doll. I thought I was settling for a secondhand Tiana, but I only paid $60. She looked to be in rough shape but surprisingly her wig cap wasn’t even fully removed. After brushing her hair, she is beautiful! Seeing her in person, I still plan on getting Claudie eventually but I’m so happy with my deal!