How to Actually Afford American Girl on a Budget

If there's one thing that every single person is aware of when it comes to American Girl, it's that their products are expensive. The current price for a doll is $110, but they have been as high as $120 for some girls of the year. Outfits complete are usually $24 or more, and even mix and match pieces can cost more money than some actual human clothing. Furniture and accessories are even more than that.

However, there are many ways to afford American Girl, even if you don't have the money to buy items directly from AG. 

Firstly, nothing is purchased brand new. Especially directly from AG, which will have high shipping costs. Eve now as an avid collector for over 9 years, I don't buy much of anything from AG unless it's on sale, or it's a special occasion like birthday/Christmas. Select products go on sale monthly, which can be a great tool, although that most likely still isn't an option for a lot of people. And the good stuff, like dolls, big play sets, etc. never/rarely goes on sale. So let's break it down.

The Doll

It all starts with the doll. A little above $100 has been the standard pricing for them new from AG for years. However used dolls are very easy to find. Used dolls are also appealing if a child plays roughly with their toys or if they may not be into AG for that long. They can also be restored using methods I have detailed on this blog or that are also explained elsewhere on the internet. I use a combination of Ebay, Facebook Marketplace, and sometimes Craigslist or other selling sites/apps like Mercari or Poshmark. Finding a doll for less than $100 is incredibly easy. Finding a doll for less than $50 is difficult, but doable. Refer to my doll pricing guide for more information, but finding a doll requires hunting, but it's possible.

 

Getting it down to the price of other dolls from Target or Walmart is probably the hardest thing, because most dolls priced under about $40 are very TLC and in need of repair, but repair is possible.

The American Girl Benefit Sale in Middleton, Wisconsin can also be a great opportunity to get dolls for discounted prices. However, unless you live near the sale this option isn't that feasible for the majority of consumers. 

Making crafts

Then of course there's the clothes, furniture and accessories. Most of these things can actually be made. Refer to American Girl's YouTube Channel for more, but there's tons of other tutorials out there for doll items as well!

The Brush/spray bottle/hair care

A wire wig brush and water spray/misting bottle are required to take care of a doll's hair. American girl sells a brush for $8 and a spray bottle in different kits, but Target's Our Generation sells a brush and spray bottle for just $6 that's the same quality as American Girl's. 

For elastics, human elastics from walmart or any pharmacy/drugstore will work just like AG elastics, and some with most other human hair products. Do try to stay away though from rubber bands with metal clasps or anything you wouldn't use on your own hair. 

The Clothes

Non-AG clothing can be really cute, but often not colorfast. This means that darker colors of off-brand clothing, especially black, blue, red, etc. can bleed onto your doll and turn her skin blue, black or red. There are treatments to repair this but my best advice is to simply wash any off-brand doll clothing before putting it on an AG doll. Doll clothing is washed just like human clothing, with like colors, and washing the clothing will allow excess dye to not stain your doll's skin. 

Fit can be another issue. Plastic shoes I try to avoid. Our Generation has some outfits with plastic shoes but also has a good selection of high quality non-plastic shoes for a fraction of AG costs. Dresses are easier to fit than outfits with pants, and most stuff will fit, just not everything. 18" dolls from different brands are similar, but none of them are exactly the same. 

The Furniture

Most furniture can be made from cardboard, or out of other materials from around the house. When I started out I had the doll box closet (refer to my previous posts) and several cardboard items. Use your imagination to make backdrops, tables, and other items like those from American Girl.

The Accessories

Accessories, like everything else, are easy to make. Refer to YouTube, Pinterest and other blogs and look up tutorials to find things you would like to make. When I was younger I made my own cardboard backdrop, I made a set of uneven bars from thin dowels, and I used a box lid as a doll bed. 

American Girl Mysteries Grouped by Theme

*This post is not affiliated with, endorsed, or sponsored by American Girl or Mattel in any way*

I've been reading a lot of the American Girl Mysteries lately. They've always been some of my favorite books to read, as mystery was the first genre I fell in love with that made me start reading. As I've been reading though, I've been finding common themes between all of the books, so I decided to start making a list here of the Mysteries grouped into certain themes, similar to sub-genres, within the mysteries. Some books fit into more than one category, and this list is subjective, but I hope this will guide you as you read the American Girl Mysteries. This list is made up of all the mysteries I have read, but if you have your own suggestions leave them in the comments below!

Treasure
Throughout history, valuable objects have been the subject of stories, legends and tales. Whether it's a precious gem, a jade necklace or a French ring, the American Girls have been caught up in stories of treasure an awful lot.
Here are titles that revolve around treasure:
The Stolen Sapphire- a Samantha Mystery
The Puzzle of the Paper Daughter- a Julie Mystery
The Finder's Keeper's rule- a Maryellen Mystery
Lady Margaret's Ghost- a Felicity Mystery
The Cameo Necklace- a Cécile Mystery
The Hidden Gold- a Marie-Grace Mystery

Villains
Villains have a place throughout history. In every time period, there seems to be someone with malicious intent, someone who wants an object so badly, they'll do whatever it takes to obtain it. Here are books that deal with villains:
Peril at King's Creek- A Felicity Mystery
The Finder's Keeper's rule- a Maryellen Mystery
The Lady's Slipper- a Melody Mystery
A Thief in the Theater- a Kit Mystery
Danger at the Zoo- a Kit Mystery
The Haunted Opera- a Marie-Grace and Cécile Mystery
The Light in the Cellar- a Molly Mystery
A Spy on the Homefront- a Molly Mystery

Mysterious Persons
They pop up in every time period, in every culture, mysterious people. Who are they, and what are they hiding? here are books that deal with Mysterious Persons
The Runaway Friend- a Kirsten Mystery
The Silent Stranger- a Kaya Mystery
The Curse of Ravenscourt- a Samantha Mystery
Midnight in Lonesome Hollow- a Kit Mystery.
A Bundle of Trouble- a Rebecca Mystery
Intruders at RiverMead Manner- a Kit Mystery
Clues in the Shadows- a Molly Mystery

Urban Legends
There are stories, passed from generation to generation, that continue to influence how people think of the world today. Here are mysteries involving real urban legends from the American Girls' time periods.
Secrets in the Hills- a Josefina Mystery
This book follows the legend of "La Llorona" or "The Weeping Woman"

How Do I Store My American Girl Collection?

Storage is one of the most pressing issues regarding any fan of American Girl. Tons of outfits, each with their own pair of shoes, socks, and other tiny accessories bound to be whisked away by some mysterious force have made many parents ask, how on earth does one store all of their American Girl Products?

I have been collecting American Girl for 8 years now, and over time my storage system has evolved, but in looking back at my history, I've decided to show the ways I've stored my American Girl things.

The Beginning

This simple closet, made with one dowel rod and a doll box, was my first ever doll closet. 

Use Mini Doll boxes to add some space to store shoes.

My Doll Box Closet tutorial when I first started collecting American Girl
This is what every single person who ever gets an American Girl Doll should put together, the simplest doll wardrobe. Take your doll box, poke two holes in either side and slide a dowel rod through. If you have the space, you can even have the dowel much longer in length than the width of the box and create hooks on either side for more space, and some display. Using mini doll boxes, some more organization can be given to the space below for shoes, as demonstrated by one lone pair of slippers. Fun fact, the "closet" in this photo was the first one I even made, it's made from Molly's doll box (my first doll) and it hasn't changed much.
It's simple, it doesn't cost much (dowels are super easy to find at craft stores) and it will work as a collection begins. But, it won't last forever.

Boxes

The last boxes left from my days of storing stuff in AG boxes

Split items into categories like "health and wellness items"

I use the box to Rebecca's costume chest to store Historical Accessories that don't have another home, and also giant hats. 

Again, categories like "historical hats" on the left and "historical pants and skirts" on the right, are helpful. 

Re-purposing AG boxes, for a long time, was my preferred method of storage. You split everything you own into categories, and then put it into boxes and label those boxes. The awesome thing is that once a box gets too full, you just split it into categories again. There are a few of these boxes I still use, namely my "Health and Wellness" items, doll food, pet accessories, historical hats and historical pants/skirts. AG boxes are great because you don't have to spend any more money, you simply use the boxes you already have. Some have gotten damaged over the years, but they've been an awesome storage method so far. Boxes, however, do require splitting up the outfits you have, hanging the outfits and then sorting the shoes, socks and other accessories. Boxes don't last forever either, you have to split them a lot of times because, if you keep going for long enough, you'll run out of space. (side note, I have SO MANY BOXES from my 8 years of collecting.)

Higher-Quality storage

Best thing ever! A must for any American Girl collector.

After a while, you're going to need higher quality storage, something that can hold more stuff and hold up for longer than cardboard. That's where Target's Our Generation Wooden Wardrobe comes in. I have a video about it on my youtube channel, but this Wooden Wardrobe is one of the best investments you can make for your doll collection. Why is it better than AG? It's only $60, whereas AG's storage options are always more expensive. It's got different modes of storage, with a drawer, shelves, a rod and space beneath the rod. It's also one of the very few wooden products that Battat makes for their Our generation Dolls. I have packed a ton of stuff into my wooden wardrobe, and if your American Girl fan hopes to be into the brand for more than two years, I highly recommend this piece.
Inside look at the OG Wooden Wardrobe

Historical Collections

After I put all of Rebecca's stuff in her chest, I got inspiration for how to store the rest of my historical items.

My Historical Items are sorted by Character. I have spent a large amount of money over the past year or two collecting storage pieces for my characters, it hasn't been cheap.
The first storage item I got was Rebecca's Costume chest, as part of a lot along with some other stuff. The lot was around $100, but that was a great price considering Rebecca's costume chest was BNIB (brand new in box). Once I got Rebecca's costume chest, I realized that my Rebecca collection was small enough that I could fit everything of hers that I had into it, so I did. I'm sure one day I'll outgrow it, but for now Everything from Rebecca's collection is in Rebecca's costume chest. That concept sparked an idea.

Kaya and Marie Grace/Cécile's collections were the first to get a hanger organizer.

They just look really cool!

I have a third organizer for Melody which was hanging on my wall, but these things can get kind of heavy and the command hook it was on fell off the wall, so I just put it in my closet until I can find a solution to the problem.

Next, I bought these Hanger Organizers from Pleasant Company. Originally, they were sold with books in the velcro pockets, but over the years people now just sell the organizers separately. I found an excellent deal on ebay with two of them for $20, and I found a third one later. These organizers are perfect for medium sized collections. They have enough loops for 8 outfits, they look super cool, and they can hang in a closet if necessary. Although the original ones were Pleasant Company, Mattel also made a purple version to go along with the Just Like You line in the early 2000s. I bought one of these for all of my Girl of the Year stuff. These hanger organizers are awesome, they have plenty of room for a medium sized collection and they look really nice hanging up. The reason I say "Medium Sized" is because Kaya is the only doll who has pieces that don't fit in the organizer. Her furs from her bedroll don't have space to fit in it, but everything else does, including Tatlo's Travois. The Travois, for those who don't know, is a rack that can be tied to Kaya's dog, Tatlo, and he can pull stuff on it, but the rack is huge and doesn't break down much, so the hanger organizer is a relief to be able to keep it somewhere with the rest of Kaya's stuff.

Finally, the biggest storage piece of them all, Molly's Trunk. My Inside look at Molly's Trunk
Molly's Trunk cost me $160, but they go on Ebay for around $200, which was my budget when I bought it earlier this year. The piece is amazing, and I'm so happy I held out for a trunk in great condition. It has two shelves, three drawers, and a rod that can hold quite a bit of clothing, plus floor space below the rod. I keep all of Molly and Emily's items in there, and it is one of the coolest things I own. Trunks of any kind from American Girl or Pleasant Company are going to be expensive, but if you have one doll whose collection you really love, spend the money because it will be so worth it!

Coveted Storage Pieces

Julie's School Locker, it can fit dolls or tons of clothing and accessories- especially long dresses!

Despite all of the storage pieces that I've covered, there are some that I believe are great that I don't have. The first thing that comes to mind is Julie's Locker. It's basically a giant closet that looks like two lockers, has two sides, and you can fit a lot of stuff in it on the shelf above, on the clothing rod, and on the floor below. You should be able to find one for around $100 including shipping, but I decided not to buy one yet because I've almost run out of stuff to store, and my doll box closet is still going strong.

I actually was into collecting when this came around. I've debated on it for a long time. On the one hand, it's a cool accessory for any doll room, but on the other hand, it's kind of... pointless, at least with all the other storage I have in place.

Then there's this pocket organizer American Girl made a few years ago. It always seemed pretty cool, and finding one on Ebay at a reasonable price isn't difficult.

This is my future plan for my Molly and Emily collection. From what I've read, if you have this chifforobe and the trunk, you should be able to fit all of Molly's clothes inside of it...

Molly's chifforobe is one item I would love to find, but it is even more expensive than her Trunk. Still, I've read that Molly's whole collection can be split between the two storage pieces. I'll just have to wait and see though.

The following are various trunks produced throughout Pleasant Company/American Girl history. They are all really expensive.  Each piece can easily cost you $200, and maybe more, on Ebay. I would recommend these pieces, and other expensive pieces like them, only if (1) You have enough items to fill one of these trunks for whatever character you collect and your Doll Box Closet is bursting at the seams. Or, (2) You plan to save the items you have for a future daughter, granddaughter, etc. For those two reasons, I recommend the trunks.

If you collect for a character that doesn't have a specific trunk, pick one that you like the best or one that most closely matches their time period. If you don't have a reason to buy any of these trunks, then don't! Stick with your doll box closet, after all it's basically Free, and you can use American Girl boxes to store everything until you accumulate enough to go up to the next level.

Kirsten's Trunk

Josefina's Trunk, which will probably be next on the list with my growing Josefina collection.

Samantha's Trunk, not as hard to find as Molly's I don't think. But a long way in the future because I don't own a Samantha doll, I just like the trunk. 

Almost forgot about this one, this is Kit's trunk.

Addy's Trunk, with an Addy doll and clothing stored inside. 

Of course one day I would love to own Addy's trunk, Kirsten's trunk, Josefina's trunk, or Samantha's trunk, but those pieces are a long way in the future.
So, start humble, with your doll box "closet", and who knows where you'll go from there.

An incredibly tentative method to value American Girl Dolls

So I've been attempting to value American Girl dolls and accessories recently, and I don't like giving out dollar values to people. Collectibles are only worth what people will pay for them, and even as a collector I do not have gobs of money to spend on things. So instead I'm going to make a scale and based on this scale you can figure out a money value for your American Girl Doll (this deals purely with dolls, clothing accessories and furniture are a different story)

Currently, in 2021, the average American Girl doll retails for $115

Zone 1: TLC dolls
A TLC doll should NOT cost you more than $30-40. If the doll's hair is severely cut, limbs are floppy or falling off, or there are huge marks on the doll, do NOT overpay for it. The more work you have to put in to the doll to make it look new again, the less you should pay for it, as a general rule.

Zone 2: Excellent used condition dolls without all original included accessories
These dolls should cost you $50-$80, sometimes higher depending on condition or which doll it is. These dolls are used dolls that do not have excessive marks or cut hair, and with little cleaning can end up being beautiful. They may not, however, have all of their original clothing. As an example, I bought Ivy Ling from a friend about a year ago. She came with everything except her original underwear, and her hair was in played with condition. I did however want her original underwear, which I bought on Ebay, and I paid $50 for the doll because that's what I had been given as birthday money by my grandmother. She is, however, the perfect used doll, where she's not new but not in the TLC category. This is where most dolls will land, and depending on condition, the price could go up to $80, but not much more, especially if the hair is really played with or the doll seems really roughed up. For retired or more valuable characters, however, I'd say the $80 price point is more likely.

Zone 3: NIB, retired, and rare dolls
These dolls are new in box, valuable retired characters or rare dolls that are difficult to find. This includes dolls that have had a visit to the doll hospital and are now being sold, as they are in brand new condition again. This does not include Create Your Own dolls, which should have a price point of $200 or less, since the buyer doesn't have control of the features of these dolls second hand. These dolls are brand new, nothing is wrong with them and they are exactly as they would have been in a retail store. These dolls should be about $98-$115 depending on the character and just how good of condition they are in. They are in the best condition possible, so they should be treated as such.

No doll should really go above $200 unless it's bundled with authentic Pleasant Company or Mattel brand accessories, OR it's a 2011 or before Girl of the year character, because After Kanani Girl of the Year stuff became more popular to resell, but finding anything for Kanani and before is difficult. Even then, paying $200 for a doll is a really steep asking point. When you're valuing American Girl products, remember these rules:

How old the doll is doesn't correlate to how valuable it is. An older bad condition doll should be considered a TLC doll no matter what.
Dolls really shouldn't exceed $200 unless bundled, no matter which doll it is.
Do NOT overpay or overcharge for any dolls with cut hair, large marks or problems that will need time or financially intensive repairs.
Mint condition used dolls can be evaluated with more small details like neck strings, body fabric type (new or old) etc. on a stricter scale because their price range is so large.
Dolls NIB or in brand new condition are able to be sold at $110 and over as long as they match the condition they would be in if they were sold in store.

This is all just my opinion and value is relative. I know plenty of people will pay $80 for a TLC doll or find a NIB doll for less that $115, everything depends on what the seller is willing to take and what the buyer is willing to pay.

How To Order the American Girl Create Your Own Meet Outfits Separately.

*Edit June 6th, 2022*

These items are still available separately, but are now only available by placing an order over the phone. 

About 10 months ago, DeenaandBeena made a video on her youtube channel about how to order the Create Your Own meet outfits separately. Now know that when I say "meet" outfits, I mean the; Let's Create, Let's Explore, Let's Play, Let's Smile, Let's Daydream and Let's celebrate outfits. This does not include the design-able clothing like t-shirts and such, that's on another, easily findable and navigable part of the site.

If you're still interested, here's how to order these outfits.
1. go to the create your own website and go to create a doll, NOT the right side with the outfits:

Go to the Left side where it says Create!

2. Once you get to a doll, hit add to bag, it doesn't matter what the doll is or has on her because you won't be getting her anyway. After going to your shopping bag with the doll in it, click "add specialty designed items".

"Add Specially Designed Items" is right underneath the price of the doll.

3. Make sure you have created an account for the Create Your Own website, I did this myself and It is quick and painless. Then, after clicking on "add specialty designed items", you'll be able to order any CYO outfit or accessory pack that you want!

Afterwards, delete the doll.

Order whatever you want!

4. When You've added one thing from this section of the Create Your Own website to your shopping bag, you have to keep clicking "add specialty designed items" to add more outfits or accessories. Once you're done, delete the doll and your extra clothing and accessory items will stay in the bag, then you can checkout!

Like I said, still expensive though. This whole thing is $64

That's everything, please leave questions below if there are any and take the opportunity now to get everything you wanted from the Create Your Own Line.

Tradition versus change: Candelight for Rebecca and Felicity Learns a lesson

So I was reading Felicity Learns a Lesson and one of the central plot points is whether or net Felicity should drink tea. It being 1774, Felicity's father becomes a patriot and she wants to be loyal to her father, but she takes tea lessons with Elizabeth and her older sister Annabelle Coles, and their family is loyalist. Does she drink the tea at lessons or not? This reminded me of another conflict in Rebecca's third book, Candlelight for Rebecca, in which Rebecca's class is making Christmas wreaths for decorations, but Rebecca's family is Jewish and celebrates Hanukkah. Does Rebecca make the decorations with the class, and if she does what will her family think?

Making connections like these across the books is really important in giving the books educational values. Connections like these, if made early on, will help children become more successful in future history classes. It emphasizes that, even though these two stories are of different girls from different times and cultures, this theme of keeping tradition in the face of change stays consistent throughout history. 

As an added bonus, here's a little something cool from a very old American Girl book.

I am so sorry for how blurry this is, it's late at night and I'm lazy.

This is a chart from a book called "Five Plays" published by Pleasant company in the early 1990s as a resource for teachers in teaching the american girl stories. On the front inside cover, there's this chart which allows you to see how the books all come together and why they were all written with the same title stems. If you read straight down, you can see changes across a specific era, but if you read from left to right, all the Meet, Learns a lesson, etc. then you can analyze broad changes across history. How cool! This system [sadly broken by Marie Grace and Cecile along with various other changes to the company/publishing patterns] was built to teach historical thinking skills.

The point being, that connections is what history should be about. When we think of a history class, we need to think of how all the stories connect to each other, and Pleasant Rowland along with countless authors and illustrators did an absolutely fantastic job of encouraging that.

Samantha's Speech on Progress In America, analyzed

Samantha Parkington is one of the most influential American Girl characters in the history of the brand. She's one of the first and one of the most remembered, but an often overlooked quality is her ability to influence adults despite being a child during the 1900s.

As an example of this, let's look at Samantha's speech on Progress In America during her second book, Samantha Learns a Lesson [Beforever Manners and Mischief a Samantha Classic 1]
Now, in the book there's actually two speeches, one she does at school and then the one she delivers to the Mount Bedford Ladies Club, we'll be focusing on the second one as that is where the final version of the speech is.

"Americans are very proud of being modern, we are proud of the machines in our factories because they make so many new things for us. But Americans are proud of being truthful, too. If we were truthful we would say that the factory machines make things fast and cheap, but they are dangerous, too. They can hurt children who work in the factories. The machines can break their arms. They can cut off their fingers. They can make children sick. And children who work in factories don't have time to play or go to school. They are too tired.
If our factories can hurt children, then we have not made good progress in America, and I believe Americans want to be good. I believe we want to be kind. And if we are kind, I believe we will take care of the children. Then we can truly be proud of our factories and our progress."
[Abridged from Samantha Learns a Lesson]

Alright, so it's not any adult speech obviously, it's fairly simple and short because its audience is 8 year old kids. But, it's still powerful and very strong in its message, here's why:

1.Samantha's speech is incredibly concise, there is absolutely no sugarcoating and no stepping around an 'elephant in the room'. Partly this is because of Samantha's personality, but it works in the speech's favor as it gives her message a quick start, getting rid of the opportunity for any adults to tune her out before she can begin talking about her main point.
2.The author of the Samantha books, Susan S. Adler, deserves credit for the varied sentence structure within Samantha's speech that makes her message really hit home. The short sentences of "The machines can break their arms. They can cut off their fingers" each conjure up mental images of themselves. This gives power to Samantha's message as it creates a sense of despair about the overall situation, tugging on heartstrings and making people eager to listen for a resolution.
3.Finally, Samantha makes a personal connection with the audience at the end of her speech. She turns the focus from herself and her opinions to the "we" of America. When she says "I believe Americans want to be good. I believe we want to be kind." she's really emphasizing that this isn't just her opinion on one subject, but that it's an issue for everyone to be considering.

Now, how does this relate to today?
Today America is much better than in the 20th century. We have child labor laws and factory safety and fire codes and all sorts of things to keep us safe. However, Samantha's message on the dangers of child labor and the notion of being truthful about the state of progress can now be applied to other developing countries. While the speech is American focused, We can see the same concept all around the world when factories collapse or set on fire. There are also still plenty of children working in factories; they may not live in America anymore, but the dangers Samantha talks about are the same no matter where they are, and they still need our help. It is time for Americans to take Samantha's message further than ever, thereby continuing our progress and helping other countries do the same.

American girl #24 hairstyle and photos

This is american girl #24 (Leslie) in the print corduroy dress, melody's play outfit shoes and a pink cuff braclet.