July 12, 2006

American Girl Place

Yesterday I joined my cousin for an afternoon tea party at the American Girl Place cafe. We were there to celebrate her daughter's ninth birthday. Have you been to American Girl Place? It seems that while I was busy wallowing in the life of 30-something adult, the most amazing doll store in the world sprouted up on the corner of 49th St. and Fifth Avenue.

The concept is similar to Cabbage Patch dolls. Each doll has her own name, hobbies, activities, characteristics, furniture, toys, etc. The store three floors of doll heaven. On the first floor you have your regular dolls - Marisol, Becky, Helen what have you. They ice skate, do rhythmic gymnastics, play flute, go to the beach, etc. and the races of the dolls vary widely enough that everyone can find a doll to represent themselves if need be. Even better, on the first floor you can find clothes to match your daughters' doll(s). So if you like that little teal sparkly top that Becky was wearing in the guitar playing display, you can pick one up for your little girl.

Here is a picture of the main showcase on the first floor. An army of dolls awaits adoption by the happiest 8 and 9 year old girls I've ever seen.
American Girl Place - Dolls

The second floor has period dolls. For example, Felicity. Felicity "lives" in Colonial America. And she has the clothing and the accoutrements to prove it.

Here she is modeling her tea set. Note the clothing, furniture and tea set are all for sale.
American Girl Place - Feclity Teaset

Here is Felicity posing with her canopy bed. Note that her night shiftand sleeping bonnet are for sale in real child sizes just around the corner from this display.
American Girl Place - Felicity Bedroom Set

Here is the Samantha display. She's a plucky girl from Victorian times. In addition to clothing, furniture and accessories, each doll also has a series of books based on her life.
American Girl  Place - Samantha

You can even buy your American Girl Doll her own doll. This display case had little tiny American Girl Dolls for that purpose. And each little tiny doll has her own book too, in case you were wondering.
American Doll Place Dolls

The combination afternoon tea/birthday party was a lot of fun. The wait staff use special chairs to seat the American Girl dolls at the table. All the little girls in the place were dressed in frilly little dressed and displayed the most gentile table manners.

In a cynical world where people losing more and more faith in today's children it was nice to see 8, 9 and 10 year olds getting exciting over the simple pleasure of doll ownership. Granted it's doll ownership on steroids and crystal meth but still. It was nice.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

The picture you labeled Felicity posing with her canopy bed and tea set thats actually not Felicity thats Elizabeth her best friend!

Anonymous said...

I have always wanted to go there...but I bet it cost big bucks to even have a measley cup of tea. It's really cute how they pose the dolls so it looks like real life.

muffins! said...

I have been to the one in los Angeles a few times. (I love relatively close)I used to love my American girl dolls, and I have 9 historic ones ( I read each book set for everyone of them too- that's 54 books!)and one that looks exactly like me, except that her hair is shorter because I've grown it out.I feel bad that I don't play with them anymore, but I do try to keep them in a place where they don't get dusty and their hair won't get messed up. Tell your cousin to take good care of her American Girl dolls... they are much more expensive than your everyday cabbage patch kid. Now I have a huge box of Kaya's and Kit's accesories somewhere in a closet and a set of books stored in the garage. What I believe would have been better for me to do, would be to buy some accesories for one or two dolls instead of tens, because you just don't see their worth when you can't "get to know them", you know? sorry for my rant. Bye!
-Amanda♥

Kellie said...

The American Girl Place is absolutley the best place on Earth. I'm currently on a trip to the one in Washington D.C. (I'm sitting in the hotel room as I type) and it was AMAZING!!!! I've also been to the one in New York and that one was amazing too. It's a MUST to go to the American Girl Place!!!! I highly recommend it!!!!