Millie's DollCloset.com Doll Blog

Mini-American Girl Dolls

I have to admit that I like the American Girl mini-dolls such as the Kaya doll shown above (especially the cute mini-book that comes with them!)

However I never dreamed of re-dressing them as some of my friends have! They have done fantastic jobs AND have posed them in the snow and with spring flowers - See them many of them at this link

If you're interested in this hobby . . . or just want to own one, we have some available (and they are 15% off on our Customer Appreciation Day every Thursday)

Click on the names to see Kaya or Nellie!

When these dolls first came out for Pleasant Company (before Mattel bought it and changed the name to American Girl) the eyes were inset (they didn't open and close) . . . under American Girl, they switched to painted eyes - and frankly they look MUCH better! I have my own Kirsten from the original mini-dolls and took my newer mini-Josefina to the Los Angeles American Girl Place. . . she was a perfect guest -

Dolls in the News

Dolls can reflect what is going on in society . . . however it can be a hard job for toymakers to do this! A recent article in Playthings (an industry publication)addressed this issue.

Clif Annicelli, editor-in-chief, wrote that in 2009 "no segment of the toy industry sparked a higher volume of debate than dolls."

He goes on to say that in March of 2009 Mattel marked Barbie's 50th anniversary (amid more discussion on Barbie's physical characteristics) then went on to add a Jewish character, Rebecca Rubin shown above, in it's American Girl historical line of dolls. Lots of discussion and articles on how the Jewish community was consulted for their input and approval.

Later that fall Mattel debuted In Style dolls created by "an African-American mother who wanted to create dolls more reflective of her daughter and community".

The point he is making is that the more that culturally diverse dolls are brought into the marketplace, the more people complain that "it" wasn't done right. Yet the products most often sell and the children are happy about their new friends.

Think back about the controversy when Marisol (shown below) was marketed . . . it was outrageous that in the story her parents moved from Chicago to the suburbs!

Last year the Doll of the Year, Chrissa, (shown below) had a friend named Gwen who was homeless (gasp!) - more controversy!! Interesting that we didn't hear much about her other friend, Sonali . . .

Valentine Sale!

It's that special time of year to let others know of your love . . .and we're ready to help! All of our Valentine Specials are listed HERE

The Valentine Pants pictured above are on that list . . . and the pants and tees are made in the USA!

Dolls are on Sale too - like Lavender Confection Ginny shown below and the 14 inch Corolle Baby Doll, Suce Pouce. Great Deals!

There are outfits on sale for most every Doll including a new Pants Set for My Twinn Dolls - retired from My Twinn!

DollCloset.com Inventory Sale in ON!

Our two doll friends are here to announce our Inventory Sale from Tuesday, January 12th through Tuesday January 19, 2010

And coincidentally the start of Valentine's Day outfits for American Girl and other 18 inch dolls AND Bitty Baby/Maxy Muffin Dolls.

You may continue placing orders but we will not be able to process (ie charge) or ship orders until Wednesday, January 20, 2010

To thank you for your patience, ALL orders of in-stock items over $15.00 will receive an automatic 15% discount from January 12th through midnight PST January 19, 2010

Enjoy the savings - we'll be back soon with new items!

Hair Care for Madame Alexander and American Girl Dolls!

The doll shown above is Spring Fling - one of the new Madame Alexander Favorite Friends 18 inch dolls . . . unfortunately she is Out of Stock now - but more have been ordered!

What IS in stock are the new outfits from Madame Alexander especially for Favorite Friends but will fit most other 18 inch dolls too. Shown below is a real cutie - and perfect for the cold weather we're having in most places! The outfit is called Step Lively and includes the cute pink cowgirl boots!

All of these dolls sold out quickly but from some comments we've received we thought it might be good to review the best way to take care of your doll's hair - if she's an American Girl doll with a wig or a a doll with rooted hair like the Favorite Friends and the Gotz 18 inch dolls .

Both American Girl, Gotz and Madame Alexander tell us NOT to use heat on the doll's hair - that means no hair irons or hair dryers! It isn't real hair - it's synthetic and the heat can damage the synthetic "hair" strands.

Madame Alexander also cautions us NOT to use water on the hair . . . you can on American Girl and Gotz dolls BUT be sure you don't get water on the eyes (turns them silver)!

For combing - or brushing- the hair we'd receommend using a very small plastic brush like those that come with Ginny or Barbie dolls.

American Girl recommends that you comb the hair in small sections, start at the bottom of the hair portion and gently remove the tangles working up to the scalp. Then repeating and repeating! This method works well for Gotz and Madame Alexander dolls too.

There is a reason American Girl features a Hair Salon for Dolls at their stores - it's a common problem and not easy to fix . . . it often requires an adult's intervention! We took our Molly doll model in because her braids were getting pretty messy! As Millie is "hair challenged" it seemed the best solution - take a look at the blog piece here:

This is Molly with very messy hair . . . some of my friends say she's not really very bad BUT she didn't look good enough to be a model in our pictures any more - so she needed help!

Molly's hairdresser straps her in her red chair and covers her up so that her dress stays nice. Notice the little spray bottle . . . it's just water BUT never, ever get the water in her eyes or it will turn them silver!!

Molly is able to check out Nicki sitting in her chair for her hair appointment! Molly had to wait an hour in one of those little cubicle boxes (shown in the photo above) until it was time for her appointment.

One braid is done and she already looks better! The hairdresser said she could tell Molly was from the Pleasant Company days as her bangs are longer and hair is finer than the Molly's of today.

Almost finished! We got to pick out the color of her hair ribbons . . . red for Molly to go with her dress. She received lots of compliments on it - we call it Emily's Dress. Do you recognize it from the picture on the Brave Emily book?!

Here she is looking brand new!! We received a sheet of hair tips and some extra hair thingies. Molly was so good on this trip to the American Girl Place, she even got a Build A Bear from McDonalds!

Holiday Gifts Delivered . . . On Time!

The question we get over and over is "Will I get my order in time?"

We don't have Jingle Bell Elves to help us, but the answer is YES . . . if:

* You shop early enough (that is BEFORE December 11, 2009 for Standard Shipping) so that your order can be prepared . . .unlike most companies, many of our clothing items are pressed and put on hangers before they leave us;

* then packed carefully (as repeat customers know - we do a super careful job);
and

* mailed Priority or shipped FedEx Ground.

We try to use Priority Mail as much as we can as we have found them to be very dependable and reasonable in cost . . . however, the US Post Office has a limit on the package size of one cubic foot! As a result, many dolls that would have gone by mail in the past are now going by FedEX Ground.

Unfortunately, we have learned in the past 10 years that the Post Office and FedEx have capacity limits! Your standard delivery packages MUST be in transit by December 15th which means we need the order by December 11th. We know the Post Office issues later dates but, trust us, it doesn't work that way for most items. You don't need more stress!

The Post Office gets so bogged down that many times containers and containers of Priority Mail packages are stored at an airport and don't even begin on the jouney until after Christmas. If there is a snow or ice storm, delays increase even more.

After a certain point, all the Post Office can work on is the Express Mail . . . and the same applies to us at DollCloset.com.
That is why we urge you to use Express Mail if you order after December 11th and want delivery by Christmas.

Delivery after Christmas will also be delayed . . . several years ago a customer wanted some Birthday Party items for December 28th and told us to use Priority Mail. Her order did not arrive until a week and a half after the party!

Don't miss our Traditional Holiday Outfits!

Ginny Doll News!

We've just added some new 7.5 inch Ginny Dolls! Pictured above is "Loved Ones and Sugar Plums", the Christmas doll from Vogue and a real cutie.

Also new are Nurse Ginny and, my personal favorite, British Islander Ginny pictured below.

Following the pattern of the last few years, The British Islander doll was selected as a favorite Ginny by a "Ginny Doll Lover"! In this case, June Nelson, youngest daughter of Jennie Graves, the creator of Ginny Dolls in the 1950's was the lucky one to pick her favorite. The doll she chose was from 1959; the costume was replicated by Vogue for all of us this year only.

As wonderful as these dolls are, the best news (to me anyway) is that Vogue will bring back the 8 inch Dress Me dolls and doll outfits in 2010 - Hooray!! This year the ONLY 8 inch doll was the Forget-Me-Not Fairy Doll seen below . . . and it's been two years since there were any clothes for the 8 inch Ginnys. Can't wait to see the new ones in January 2010!

More Doll News!

The biggest news is, of course, Kirsten's retirement! She is such a cute doll but I don't think she's received the attention she deserves (unless you happen to be Swedish - then you probably know her well!) Above is our Kirsten dressed in our Scandanavian Winter outfit that we think is perfect for her. Coming soon are a few replicas including her winter coat (and snowshoes!) that was been retired quite a few years.
We'll let you know when they arrive.

Good News!

Our Early Bird Holiday Sale is preoceeding well! This week we have the Madame Alexander 8 and 10 inch Dolls up for sale . . . and some of them are brand new such as Wendy Loves Bambi (complete with Bambi and Thumper) and the new Hanukkah Doll (shown below)- the first one in several years.

Next week the Madame Alexander baby dolls will be on sale - don't miss it!

Sad News:

* The Life of Faith Doll company has unfortunately gone out of business - we have a few of their outfits still available such as Elsies Nightgown Ensemble shown below:

I personally think it's one of the prettiest sets around . . . and it's on Sale right now! We also have Kathleen's Kilt but shown on a Magic Attic doll Here .

* Also on the bad side of things is that several out-of stock dolls will NOT be here until the second week of December!!! That includes the Gotz 18 inch dolls AND the Madame Alexander new 18 inch dolls (see a picture below) - what a bummer! The positive news is that we hope to offer limited advance orders at a sale price on the Gotz and Madame Alexander 18 inch Dolls - we'll definitely let you know more about that!

Doll News from American Girl and Madame Alexander

The biggest news from American Girl is the upscoming "retirement" of Kirsten, the girl who immigrated from Sweden to end up as an American pioneer! I assume that American Girl expects to sell out of everything just like happened with Samantha. It certainly can happen but I don't think Kirsten has as many followers as Samantha does.

Kirsten was the inspiration for the DollCloset.com Pioneer dresses such as the lilac one shown above. Her stories were wonderful although they did tell of difficult times. Now we get to wonder if a new doll is coming from her time period such as happened with Samantha and Rebecca. We shall see!

Wow! Look at the dolls coming from Madame Alexander!! They are 18 inches tall and the same size as American Girl dolls . . . and they have a wardrobe to select from also!

We haven't seen them in person yet, but we hope to have them here in October . . . there are six different dolls with modern hairdos and trendy outfits. Our assumption is that they are from the same molds as the dolls from the Dear American Series. Each doll was from a historical period such as a Pilgrim. (Remind anyone of a popular series of dolls?!)

We had several of these dolls and found them especially good because of the vinyl shoulder plate so that scooped necks showed vinyl, not cloth. Unfortunately, the hairdos were not suitable for play. It appears they have taken care of that with the new dolls coming such as the one shown below. An excellent piece of news is that the dolls will cost around $40.00!! We will let you know when they arrive -

Labor Day Sale Coming!

Advance notice for our special readers . . . we will be offering a 15% discount on Saturday, Sunday and Monday (that's September 5, 6 and 7, 2009) on all in-stock items (minimum purchase of $15.00)

PLUS we will have a coupon for an additional 5% if you purchase $20.00 and up! Just put BONUS in the coupon space and click re-calculate - your discount will automatically show up on your Basket page.

What shall you buy?? Well. . . there's the cute new Denim Skirt for Fall or the Navy Jumper Outfit shown above - both perfect for Back to School Days.

Other ways to use your discount are for Halloween Dolls and Doll Costumes!

Shown above is a lovely Angel Costume available for American Girl Dolls and we have it in Medium Baby Doll sizes too.

And don't miss our Pumpkin Costumes . . . for American Girl, Medium Baby Dolls and for Large Baby Dolls (as shown below).
Click HERE to see the list of Halloween Dolls and Costumes - they are on sale through September 30, 2009!

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American Girl and Happy Meals!

Today I picked up two of the new American Girl specials at MacDonald's . . . you may be able to tell from the Pet Charms shown above that I got Kirsten's set and Kit's set!

They are really well done - each is a "book" with a picture of the girl on the cover. It's tied with a sheer ribbon. Open it up and it's a fold out two-sided picture from their world. For Kirsten, it's inside her cabin on one side and the other is outside play setting for Kirsten and her friend Singing Bird! For Kit, it's her attic bedroom and the other side is her schoolroom.

Our Kirsten doll model loves to wear her Bavarian Costume as shown above . . . it was made in the USA and looks very pretty on her!

Kit and her friend Ruthie are ready for school in their new classic school outfits shown above - and they have a globe and colored pencils too!

Other things you will find in the American Girl Happy Meal are mini-paper dolls, a story and directions for a craft. Definitely worth getting . . . and you can buy them without the meal if you want!

Travel the World with Dolls!

Our Annual Travel the World Sale ends Sunday August 16th at midnight Pacific Daylight Time . . . and it has lots of items that are NEW! Such as the Retired Irish Dancer of Today outfit from American Girl shown below:

We intended to show it on our American Girl doll model Nellie O'Malley but it ended up on American Girl Emily instead! (Looks cute doesn't it?!)

Several new 8 inch dolls by Madame Alexander also joined the list such as the sweet "Lilly Loves Sushi" shown below (it includes chopsticks and a tray of sushi too!)

Not to be left out are the 21 inch Karito Kids dolls from China, Kenya and Australia . . . (Piper from Australia is shown below).

Quick, take advantage of this super Travel the World with Dolls sale!

More Doll News - Updated !

We just received a shipment of doll outfits that were Sold Out! - and now are In Stock! One very popular dress is the Blue Sundress and Hat shown above. In addition the Pink Floral Dress with Hat is also back in stock . . . and so is Molly's Summer Print Dress!

In case you didn't get our Newsletter last week, we are VERY pleased that the Gotz Hook-on Table Chair for Dolls is back - and looking especially cute with Rebecca and a Bitty Twin demonstrating their use.

PS: That cute dress Rebecca is wearing will be available soon - the pants set on our Bitty Twin is HERE

Here's some fun news - MacDonald Happy Meals will feature items from American Girl in August!! Check it out HERE

More fun news - Carta Bella in Atlanta has been holding American Girl Art Camps! They work on everything including purses, hats and teapots - the dolls are part of the class too. Click HERE to learn more and see great pictures of the girls, their dolls and the Art! Maybe you can get someone in your area to do this too . . .

Here's a girl ready to keep her doll healthy and not sick with the flu - Good Job!

Vintage and Mini Ginny Doll Sale

Ginny Dolls are an American Tradition since the 1950's . . . and we're lucky enough to still have them with us! Right now DollCloset.com is featuring a SALE on the Vintage and Mini Ginny Dolls - like the Coloring Book Ginny shown above (notice her stylish french braid!). And do check out her companion mini-doll, Crayons Mini-Ginny!

There are a Baker's Dozen of Vintage Ginny Dolls on sale now through July 26, 2009. One of my favorites is the new Pink Confection Vintage Ginny shown below:

Remember . . . the 20% Customer Discount on Thursdays applies to items already on sale - such as the Vintage Ginnys!

Doll Bunk Bed and Sailor Dress Back!

We are so pleased to have this cute bunk bed back in stock! It sold out so fast last year . . . and then the manufacturer had to refuse one shipment so you can be assured these are just right for 18" dolls and baby dolls and actually, dolls up to 21 inches. Click HERE to read more about it.

Also back in stock is the new White Sailor Ensemble (click to see it modeled by our own Rebecca Rubin doll) plus the new floral swimsuit shown below is back in stock too. And yes, it does come with the yellow tube . . . but you'll need to help in blowing it up!

PS: Just in case your didn't get the DollCloset.com email Newsletter . . . every Thursday you can get an automatic 20% off on purchases over $20.00 End August 31, 2009