American Girl

Walking down Michigan Ave in Chicago you'll see large gigantic red bags dangling from the arms of middle aged women and their daughters/granddaughters. For those of you unfamiliar with these bags they have come from a little store called American Girl.



My first experience with AG was almost 19 years ago. Wow, I just aged myself. My mom had received this catalogue in the mail that was filled with dolls. And not just any dolls, but dolls with hair you could brush/style with beautiful clothes and accessories. It was love at first sight, until I saw the price tag - $88 for the doll/book. The whole starter collection doll/book/accessories for close to $110. I really wanted this doll called Samantha for Christmas, but also realized that $100 was a ton a money for a doll you played with. Christmas morning came and went, and no doll. After breakfast a mysterious package was found behind my grandpa's chair. It had my name on it. (My parents always found ways to surprise us with unexpected gifts ex. Nintendo with the power pad year before). I tore through the paper and found a box. Inside I was wishing it was the doll I so desperately wanted. I carefully opened the box to reveal the most beautiful doll I had ever seen. I gingerly removed her from the box and refused to put her down. Several of my other friends also received AG dolls as gifts and we scheduled play dates for our dolls.



During the course of the next year I continued to receive the AG magazines. To my surprise they unveiled a new doll the following year - Felicity. You guessed it, she was my Christmas wish that year. My parents once again tried to fool me into thinking that I wasn't getting a doll. I mean one expensive doll is enough right? The mysterious package once again appeared at my grandparents house and Felicity became the object of my affection that year. I continued to play with my dolls, but the play dates became fewer and fewer. I mean I was getting older and playing with dolls became less cool. However, those magazines still continued to come and with my mom's gentle nudging she continued to fuel my love of dolls.



That Christmas I received my third doll - Kristen. At the time there was only 4 dolls offered by AG. The only one I didn't have (and still don't) is Molly. I didn't play with Kristen much. In fact her hair is still in the same braids she had when she arrived Christmas morning. The dolls still remained a permanent fixture in my room, but now were shuffled from shelf to shelf to make room for more important things - stereo, Cd's, etc. I didn't receive any more dolls until I purchased one in 2003.



I randomly came across an AG magazine and flipped through it. They had introduced several new dolls since I started collecting them back in my youth. As I paged through I came across the "Girl of the Year" collection. AG was selling a new doll for only a year as part of a limited collection. I don't know what happened inside me, but I had to have this doll. Yes, it's a bit weird that a 22 girl wanted an AG doll. I received the doll (surprised the prices hadn't gone up) and proudly displayed my newest purchase on my desk. The next time I went home and found my other dolls and bought them back to my college duplex with me. Yes, my friends thought I was crazy and one of them said she felt like the dolls were watching her, but I felt like it brought me back to my care-free childhood days. Seeing as I purchased my doll days before she was set to enter the vault I began receiving the AG magazines again and the newest Girl of the Year" was introduced.



I mention this because I was home for Thanksgiving this year and my mom asked me if I wanted Lanie (2010 Girl of the Year) or a sewing machine. Easy answer right? I actually hesitated and didn't respond. I'm old enough now that I shouldn't want to continue receiving these dolls, but I do. The only one I'm missing is the very first one Lindsay. The only years they didn't have a Girl of the Year doll was in 2002 and 2004. I have the remaining six dolls, plus my original three. My mom has also started collecting her own dolls over the years so we have a total of 13 with my sister's doll.



The AG company has exploded. When I was little the stories didn't exist. You could only buy accessories over the phone or through the magazine. Now they have four stores (that's right, KC has it's own store now). The friends concept wasn't around but I feel that it has been incorporated nicely. They have begun retiring the dolls too. Lucky for me, I have all the ones that have retired except Felicity's friend Elizabeth.



My love of dolls was passed on to me from my mom. I'm so thankful she encouraged me to love dolls and I hope that one day I can pass on the experience to my daughter. If nothing else she'll never have too many dolls to play with.