So, the Mecca of all girlishness, consumerism and future bankruptcy–American Girl–just opened a store up in my fair city. I never paid much attention to this store before, even as I read/heard countless tales of moms and daughters trekking to the Chicago store for a special shopping trip.
We just started getting the American Girl catalog not too long ago. Zoë loves looking at the catalog. I tell her it’s a book so she hasn’t quite thought about it enough to realize that it is a propaganda tool to get girls indoctrinated into over the top consumerism.
I will admit right now that I had no clear idea of just how pricey these dolls are. One Hundred Fucking Dollars. For a doll? Are you kidding me? My daughter–bless her little heart–still eats random food she finds on the floor (after she blows on it). I am so not buying her a doll that costs $100 plus dollars. Then you have to buy the clothes. The outfits are $28. These are doll clothes. Clothes. For. Dolls.
I am not cheap. I don’t mind spending money–but this seems like such a ridiculous amount of money for a doll. Am I just wrong?
What do you think? Would you spend that kind of money on a doll? Have you?
Embracing Imperfection 
I think it is ridiculous too, but I don’t have kids yet and I could totally picture myself getting sucked into buying my future kiddos the toys they really want. Personally, I like to give gifts to that are activities not things (e.g. horse-back riding lessons, day of Shopping, etc.) If she doesn’t ask for one, then you can be off the hook easily! It probably won’t be any easier as she gets older. The toys get more expensive. Some of the children I work with all have the latest iPhones, iPads, etc. and I am like, “Seriously, you are 8 and your phone is so much cooler than mine!” Either way, you will make the right decision.
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Heck no–even if she wasn’t way too neglectful of her belongings. You can get similar dolls and clothes elsewhere–my mom got AJ one two Christmases ago (dark skin, curly hair). Over this Christmas I attempted to detangle said doll’s matted hair (with real hair products, ha ha) and ended up cutting half of it off. With no remorse since it didn’t cost a hundred friggin dollars!
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Not a chance would I spend $100 on a doll. Not when in just 2 minutes time could the hair be cut off or the face be coloured with felt marker or nail polish be used to decorate her eyelids. Nope. Fly at it with a $10 barbie, but it would just tick me off if it happened to anything more expensive. Obviously, I’m cheap too. 🙂
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I have not bought one either, as I think the whole thing is crazy. But I can also tell you it is very possible that Supergirl is the ONLY one of her friends that does not have one. In fact, when we were talking about taking a trip to Chicago her response was “Ooooh, can we go get an American Girl???” My response was ‘eyeroll.’ 🙂 I plan to stall as long as possible as I do not feel she is very responsible with any toys? So why buy a super-expensive one and have to worry about it?
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Absolutely not. No way, no how.
But what do you do about grandmas (I’m looking at YOU, Mom!) who buy that kind of stuff?
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Jadzia,
I totally get that whole grandma thing–we have a Escalade kid car from grandparents. I know it’s fun to buy things for kids that you maybe couldn’t afford to buy for their own kids, but just because you can doesn’t mean that you should. I would much rather have money put away for the kids in their savings accounts and then buy them something inexpensive. Because if we are honest–kids don’t know the difference between the toy that was $10 and the one that was $100.
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I will remember this post and one day hold it against you 😉 .
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