Married to the Empire

Monday, April 20, 2009

American Girls



Last Monday I joined my nieces, sister, and mother at the American Girl Store in Dallas. I'd never been before, as I'd never actually had a reason to go. The place is certainly fascinating. I find the concept of the dolls great. Little girls can read books about a character in a different time period and actually learn something. The dolls and accessories only enhance the experience. My one complaint, though, is how outrageously expensive this stuff is. Wow. I had no idea!

This store really encourages girls to bring their dolls with them. In fact, I was so impressed by all the little amenities that make carrying a doll around easier, that I took a picture in a public restroom for the first time:



That star above the toilet-seat-cover dispenser is a doll holder. Uh huh. So a girl can have her hands free to take care of more pressing business and no dolls are dropped in unsanitary places. It totally made me laugh.

We ate lunch at the bistro upstairs. The food was quite good, and I adored the pink tables. The tabletops were very slick, and any time one of the girls barely bumped her silverware, it went flying. I suspect this restaurant has to supply fresh forks to patrons frequently. I commented that I would love to have those pink tables in my home, but what a shock they would be to the cats. Whenever a cat decided to take a flying leap onto one of those tables, he'd wind up skidding right off. Might not be a bad way to train my bad boys to stay off of the table! But I digress...

The bistro encourages dining with dolls, and it supplies doll seats that attach to the table. Leah was the only one who'd brought her doll to the store with her:



But never fear! The restaurant provided loaner dolls for the other girls. Again, it highly amused me.




I really did enjoy browsing through the store and seeing all the neat (but overpriced) accessories:





And of course, there was the joy in having my nieces excitedly show me the things they were buying for their dolls. It was definitely time well spent.

8 comments:

ashley said...

This made me smile! I have wandered through the store here in Atlanta before, but never actually with a little girl and her doll!

I have the Molly doll sitting on my bookcase right now. I got her in 1993. :-) She looks a little worse for the wear - definitely well played with. I should bring her in to the store and take her to the little doll hair salon (do they have those in the Dallas store too?) and see if they can work some wonders!

Have you ever read the books? They're good, too. I devoured them when I was growing up!

Unknown said...

That is so interesting! My daughter likes the books but we have never been to a store and I doubt she would want to -- dolls have always creeped her out. Just horses!

Glad to see you all are having a good time. Best wishes.

Roxie700 said...

I brought one of the dolls for my grand daughter. She loves it. I admit the clothes etc. are way over priced. Good thing this grandma can sew. I have made many clothes for her doll. Matching pajamas for her and the doll. Fun for both of us. I am going to try to see if my grand daughter wants to go to the Dallas store. It sounds like a nice trip to me.

ann said...

That's really cute! I wasn't really ever into dolls as a girl, but if Emily decides she likes them I'll go to places like that with her :)

It would have been funny to take a Star Wars beenie/plush and prop it up on one of the displays haha!

Thumperdd said...

Looks like they've thought of everything, except the table thing. You had me laughing about the possible cat scenario...they'd be highly suspicious of you for days!

Danita

A. said...

Sigh. I loved my American Girl doll! I had Samantha, the wealthy Victorian orphan. The books were *fantastic*. A history lesson and a nice lesson in character, too.

Sue said...

Whoever invented AG must be making a killing, is all I can say. But I will also say that I find the stuff intriguing. Whenever I stroll the Magnificent Mile in Chicago, I usually end up ducking into the American Girl store just for the experience!

Anne Marie@Married to the Empire said...

And this is where I feel old, as some of my readers are actually young enough to have owned these dolls themselves! LOL

My oldest nieces loves the books. I'll have to see if the library carries them to give them a try.