Getting American Girl Dolls at a Great Price

My daughter became obsessed with American Girl in 2012, after seeing a conveniently placed advertisement in a Girl Scout events catalog.  We made a special (and long!) trip to an American Girl store for her birthday and she selected Caroline. Caroline was full price at $105 at the time, and as of right now they are $115 each, with Isabelle last year going up to $120!

Now, some girls love Barbie dolls, my girl loves American Girl.  As of the American Girl sale this morning, we have 15 of the full sized dolls, 3 mini-dolls, and 2 Biddy Babies in the house.  So, as you can imagine, I’ve developed a bit of a talent for finding the dolls at prices I can live with.  If you’re interested in my tips too, please keep reading!

1)  The most important thing you can do is be knowledgeable about the product.  The best way to do that is to browse through the American Girl website, and through fan pages or unboxing videos on YouTube to get a sense of all the different face molds, accessories, outfits, etc.  That is the only way to be certain that you don’t buy something from a stranger, then realize _____ part is missing. This does not just apply to used items either, because I’ve had small accessory pieces missing or broken when buying new from American Girl too (their customer service always replaced it, they are usually very good!).

Tons of moms are just now discovering American Girl with their daughters, and I keep seeing it happen over and over again where moms are getting scammed online or buying the wrong dolls off of eBay because they aren’t fully up to speed.  For example, I just saw a mother get very irate this morning because she thought she bought a Jess, but it was a Marisol doll in a Jess skirt.  She was claiming to have been scammed by the eBay seller, but pictures were provided and the person selling the doll may have had no clue what she had and took a guess.  Jess is Asian-American, Marisol is Hispanic-American, and the dolls look completely different, so any buyer who knew the product they were after would have caught that difference immediately.  So, if you are new to the scene, remember that there is ALWAYS another doll and ALWAYS another sale!  It might not be exactly what you want each time, but it’s best not to rush into anything for the sake of a “deal.”

2)  Set up a profile on AmericanGirl.com, even if you are not ready to order!  Make your account, have your computer save the login information, put in your shipping/billing address, and PUT A CREDIT CARD ON FILE!  I know lots of people hate having their cards on file, but trust me that it is valuable to do so.  When you check out, you will still have to input the security code from that card, so your kids or a hacker can’t place an order in your name anyways.

Why should you do this?  Because every few months (2-4 times a year) American Girl is featured on Jill’s Steals and Deals on the Today Show.  This morning they had the old style Kit, Caroline, Kaya, Rebecca, and Julie on sale – doll and an outfit – for $55 plus shipping/tax.  The deals sold out, as usual, within 15 minutes of going live.

Now, a big problem with these sales are that the stock is very, very limited (I personally disagree with them broadcasting it to millions of viewers to only have a small number of dolls for sale), and the American Girl shopping cart sucks!  It really does, and after years of customer complaints, they have not fixed their system.  Simply put, you can have an item in your cart, but that item can sell out while you are in the process of checking out – meaning it’s gone before you can submit and lock in your order.  The American Girl policy at that point is too-bad-so-sad, you missed out!  So, while having an account already set up may only save you a minute or two of typing, that is often the time difference between getting the sale doll and not getting it.  Most accessories and clothes, however, remain in stock for hours, so I do recommend adding a sale doll to your cart and checking out as fast as possible!  Do not add a sale doll to your cart then decide to shop for other items, or your doll will be gone!

3)  Restocks happen, but they aren’t guaranteed.  Sometimes American Girl dolls will show up on Zulily, sell out, then become available again.  With the Jill’s Steals and Deals offers there has consistently been an East Coast and West Coast inventory.  Meaning, if the offer is initially televised at 8am EST, and it sells out at 8:13am EST, get back to the website around 10:45am EST and keep refreshing the page through about noon. The majority of dolls do get restocked in that time frame. This happened after the first Today Show fiasco, where the dolls all sold out within minutes during the first run of the show, and the West Coast audience was completely teased with no hope of finding a doll.  American Girl has been fairly good about offering a second-run restock to help alleviate that complaint, but they still have very limited stock to offer.

If at any time the doll will add to your shopping cart, check out quickly!

Now, not every doll on sale will restock, because the Kit pictured above did not at all, but pay attention for clues on a restock possibility.  Usually, if there is a Jill sale, there are other accessories on sale too as part of the offer (beds, clothing, pets, books, etc), which means there is an entire page of Steals and Deals on the American Girl website.  If a doll will not add to your cart, but it is still visible on that main sale page, it is highly probable that a restock will occur for the West Coast audience.

Also remember, if the offer says one offer per customer, don’t try to be sly and order extras, or to check out 2 different times with the same item.  Customer service usually catches on that people at the same address are trying to get more dolls than they’re allowed, and they will cancel the repeat order.  I’ve also heard moms complain that their entire order was cancelled and they got none of the sale items.

4)  Set up eBay alerts, and be specific!  If you make an alert for “American Girl,” you will get pretty much harassed with notifications.  If you want an Addy doll, set up an alert that says “American Girl Addy doll.”  If you want a specific outfit, you can make an alert that says “American Girl Gymnastics Outfit,” or whatever you want.  But, remember, eBay is often full of resellers who scalp toys (ie, they buy all the $55 Kit’s they can get their hands on, using 100 different relative’s addresses, then they resell them for $80-$1,000 each).  So the more you are willing to wait and shop around, the better your odds of finding a reasonably priced doll being offered by someone who isn’t scalping, but just trying to clean house.

5)  Craigstlist, Facebook, and other community resell pages are your friend!  Most people flock to eBay and they forget to check their local ads!  I actually found a Craigslist posting for 3 American Girl dolls that were in a second hand baby store.  I would have never known, or even attempted to look in that store, if I had not seen their posting online.  Unfortunately, the manager had a good sense of what the dolls were worth and priced them at $100 each, which wasn’t a super deal, but I did end up getting Kailey, the 2003 Girl of the Year (or Girl of Today, as it used to be).

6)  It doesn’t hurt to make some phone calls!  If you have any stores near you that accept donations for reselling purposes, chances are you have missed some great American Girl finds.  I constantly get American Girl books out of these kinds of places, and I pay about $0.25-1.00 for them, compared to the $7 retail price.  Every blue moon you’ll also come across a doll that way too.  Making calls might give you a heads up if anything is available – although don’t solely rely on calls, because the employees may not know what American Girl products look like compared to the Walmart dolls or anything else.  You can also talk to a manager and ask to be called if any dolls or a large amount of outfits come in.  Now, most Goodwill’s and larger second hand stores won’t do this because they have no system to handle it, but it’s worth trying with the smaller mom-and-pop stores that may be able to offer a more personable service to their clientele.

7)  Do not shop during Xmas and plan waaaaaay ahead for birthdays!  Not giving yourself a long time to shop around is the quickest death sentence to a good deal, and I have to admit that I flat out hate all the moms who come online and start whining “I need this very specific doll for $30 by the end of the week or else my daughter’s entire life is ruined and I’m a failure as a mother!”  Well, you’re certainly a failure as a planner!  I will buy things 12-18 months in advance and never think twice about stashing it in the attic or closet.  You should buy when you see an excellent deal on a new doll, or you find a bargain bin doll that is under $50.  Loads of people are willing to sell new and used dolls for $70-1,000, but that doesn’t mean the doll is worth that much.

Case in point, I got a Julie in today’s sale for $55.  Several times I had thought about buying her used around the $80 range – with no clothes!  Boy am I glad I didn’t!  Similarly, my parents bought Isabelle during my daughter’s dance recital.  They paid $120 in June and on December 10th there was a Jill’s Steals and Deals offer for Isabelle, her accessories, and her kitten plushie for $65 (around $160 full retail)!  There is always a deal coming, so don’t be quick to throw your money at a doll, especially one that is not part of a limited edition.  Yes, Girls of the Year are limited in terms of how long they are available, but they are not numbered in terms of 1 of 10,000 – there is no released information on the edition size, so millions of them could have been manufactured.

8)  Did anything just change?  While you keep current on what American Girl has to offer, take note of any big changes.  Is it rumored that a doll is going to be archived soon?  If so, American Girl may be having a mega-sale on their stock pile of that doll soon.

Today’s Jill’s Steals and Deals offer only existed for Caroline, Kit, Kaya, Rebecca, and Julie because BeForever was recently introduced into the line.  BeForever has offered reprinted books and new outfits for the dolls, meaning that the older styles on sale for $55 today were all over stock dolls that could not be sold on the website any longer.  Prior to this blow out deal, many of the older books were priced at $3 on the American Girl website (which, I prefer the old books due to the pictures!).  So remember, like every other business, American Girl makes too much too!

9)  Don’t get overly invested in one doll.  If you decided that your child can’t live without Kanani, be prepared to pay around $300 for her, as she was one of their most popular dolls and is no longer in production.  In fact, I highly recommend to stay away from most of the Girl of the Year dolls – don’t even show the older ones to your kids!  They are only available for one year, and once January 1st hits, you can never buy that doll in stores again – which makes the price of the used ones sky rocket.  If you happen to find one for a good price, by all means grab it, but don’t subject yourself to getting your child invested in owning them.

At best, have your kids make a priority list of dolls.  For example, let them look at the website and write down that their first pick would be Kit, their second pick would be Grave, their third pick Kaya, and on and on.  That way, you get a nice spectrum to search for.

If you want to hunt for sale dolls, you have to be ready and willing to take whatever becomes available.  Do not fixate on finding that one specific doll.  The more flexible you are, the easier your quest will be.

10)  Can you fix the doll?  A doll with a lot of marks, nail polish, cut hair, bad eyes, or a number of other issues may cross your path for a very low price.  Did you realize that you can rewig a doll, tighten the strings, remove many marks with a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, and even send the doll to the hospital to get new arms, legs, or a head?  If the price is low enough, there are worthwhile and cost effect ways to fix the doll and put her in very good condition again!

11)  We had a great comment suggesting networking, which is a fabulous idea too!  Anyone with older daughters may have American Girl dolls just sitting around.  It doesn’t hurt to ask around and let people be aware that you are looking!  You never know what you’ll find before you ask.

But, having many, many over-zealous aunts myself, please keep in mind that these dolls were always very expensive, and an owner may want to save their doll as a keepsake, or for their own children someday, so do not get overly attached to the idea of getting an older doll from a friend or relative.  If someone does not seem interested or ready to sell, do not push them or get angry with them.  Also don’t expect to get dolls for free, and do not even suggest it!  While American Girl is a doll powerhouse right now, they weren’t always that way, and the older dolls and retired outfits are, and will always be, worth a lot more than the items released after Matel purchased American Girl (they mass produce to an extreme, meaning there are more items, less rarity, and less collectible value overall in new dolls/items).

Plus, I have to admit, I was one of the older cousins in my family, and, growing up, if the younger ones wanted something that I had been told I had “outgrown,” I was expected to hand it over, or else a family fight would break out over how I was being spoiled and selfish.  It’s really a no-fun situation to be put in, and I still have resentment over the issue (more over feeling taken advantage of and bullied than over the actual items lost).  So, with that in mind, be respectful of others at all times!  Don’t pounce, pry, or demand anything from American Girl doll owners, don’t give them your sob stories or talk about your financial issues to guilt them, because, after all, this is 100% a luxury item that your daughter does not have to own to survive.  At the end of the day, if you cannot afford a $120 doll, then maybe your child doesn’t need one.

Those are my basic tips.  I hope you all have a happy hunting experience, and please feel free to comment any of your awesome finds!

Homework and the Frustrated Parent

I can remember very clearly my K-12 educational experience in a public school.  Sure, there are some details I’ve probably forgotten, but all the way back to age 5 I can remember a substantial amount of what I learned, and at what point I learned it.  And, you know what?  I can count on my hands the number of times that I had homework in elementary school.  I admit I was a pretty good student, I always understood the material, and I was one of the first to finish my work. So, unless I wasn’t absent over the flu for 2-3 days at a time, I never had anything that I needed to bring home.

As most of us may have experienced back in the “day,” homework was usually reserved for students who did not finish their assignments in class during the allotted time – and, for most of us, we were given plenty of time to finish.  I remember the teachers even asking if everyone was done, and if kids weren’t finish, we got more time!  Back then, we didn’t have anywhere near as much karate, dance, gymnastics, football, soccer, or other after school activities to get to everyday, yet, we were allowed to enjoy our time, watch television, play outside, or just sit around playing with our toys.  So why is it that our kids today are being overloaded with academics?

I read a blog this morning on the Today Show, and I also have a lot of thoughts on this topic (post found at: http://www.today.com/parents/why-one-dad-hates-homework-much-his-kid-does-1D80149262 ).

My son started kindergarten in 2010, and it was roughly what I expected in the education.  They did a lot of hands-on fun things that had secret agendas of learning (painting to learn about how colors mix together, for instance) and they worked on memorizing letters in the alphabet, and their corresponding sounds.  Actually, that’s pretty much what I recall of my own kindergarten experience.

However, the next year, for 1st grade, I noticed a change in that my son was being issued homework to do on Monday through Thursday evenings.  At that point, we didn’t have a big schedule, so I would have him sit down and do all four days worth of homework at once.  It took about two hours to complete, not counting the reading time requirements, which he did daily instead of in one long sitting.  This homework didn’t take an impossible amount of effort, but I did notice quickly that it was all busy work invented by the teachers/school and not actually things that my son had failed to finish during his classes.  Now, I understand that some students need a lot more practice than others, but perhaps the extra work should be given to the kids who aren’t getting it or who need additional help instead of piling it onto every student.

Even though I tried to remain neutral, and always made him do his homework, it didn’t take long for my son to start feeling frustrated.  As the school year went on, I learned that many parents flat out refused to have their children do homework four nights a week, so, on many occasions, my son was the only one turning anything in.  And since, it turned out, that homework wasn’t graded (just checked off), at seven years old my kid knew, without a doubt in his mind, that homework was frivolous.

Right before the 2nd grade started, our family moved from one state to another, and the state we happened into had a very low bar set for education.  They did many things that my son had already mastered in kindergarten and I would see him get back tests about correctly identifying squares, circles, triangles, etc.  Not the geometric cubes, spheres, or cones, I mean legitimate Sesame Street level testing!  Even though the class work was pathetic, homework was still being assigned on a daily basis, and it was still pointless busy work!

The 2nd grade teacher my son ended up with was also terrible, so terrible that I transferred him to another school the following year (would have done it sooner, but the school board requires a lottery drawing to get into a school that you aren’t zoned for).  But she never had any information for me if I asked about my son’s progress, I rarely saw papers come home, and she was close to retirement and checked out without a single care for any of her students.  I directly asked this teacher about my son’s homework, and she just pointed to giant stacks of papers behind her saying “oh, it’s probably in there somewhere…”  What I came to found out on my own was that my son was even more frustrated this year, and he figured out that his teacher wasn’t doing her job, so he completely stopped turning in his homework.  But, you want to know the kicker?  He was still doing the homework every night, correctly, and just throwing it behind his dresser!  Like he was testing his teacher to see when her give-a-crap switch would flip on.

When 2013’s school year started, I had two kids in school, with my daughter going to Kindergarten in one school, and my son in another, very highly academically rated school (while they both won the transfer lottery, there were no schools taking both K and 3rd).  For my son, this was the first year of his state testing, which meant a lot of homework that took two to three hours a night to complete.  The school days are already bumped up from 6 hours to 7, and now these teachers want the kids to have up to 10 hours of their day all about school work?  I also noticed that the end of the year awards were all based on who did well on state testing and not who did well in class overall, or who excelled in math, or anything like that.  What aggravated me even more was that my daughter, who was starting Kindergarten, was also being given nightly homework.  This work she was assigned was really not worthy of doing at home, and was likely an extension of the things she was already doing at school (ie, paint numbers 1-10, count out a 100 Cheerios and bring them in a baggie to school, etc).  It was just more busy work that consumed a lot of time that should have been used on other things.

And what I especially hated was the fact that Kindergarteners are now being forced to read, something that wasn’t going on in 2010 when my son began school.  The kids are NOT being taught or allowed to sound out the words, they have to memorize giant lists of sight words, and their entire academic year hinges on these memorization skills.  I get that some words, like “who,” don’t really work phonetically, so you have to memorize them, but I think it’s disgusting that children aren’t being taught how to sound out words.  What’s going to happen when they’re older and all of a sudden they’re faced with tons of words that were never on their memorization lists?  How are they supposed to figure them out if they are learning words based on sight over sound?

Now, I can say this year has gotten better.  I finally got both kids in one decent school and I’ve notice the homework has backed off a lot.  As of today, the kids might have about 20 minutes worth of work in a night, unless there’s a test to study for or something like that.  I still think it’s ridiculous to assign homework nightly, though.  I bought into the whole scam of school where from K-12 they drill into your head that education is the only thing that matters in life.  That the world is all about what you know on paper, not the kind of person you are, or any other skill sets that you might have.  Even my mother told me not to go to the vocational school for free as a Junior and Senior, because that was for “the dumb kids who won’t go to college.”  So I worked hard on papers and projects, I graduated at the top 10% of my class, and then I went to college and took out a lot of money in college loans. I fully believed that education was so much more important than enjoying life that I never picked up a real hobby, trade, skill, or anything else.

With all of my eggs in one basket and believing that the academic path held the golden keys to my future, I left school with $40,000 in debt and NO JOBS TO BE HAD.  Despite the financial aid office assuring me constantly that I would leave school making $50k a year (in hindsight I realize they never even asked my major), the world is not the place that I was promised.   I have had offer after offer for jobs that are part-time or minimum wage, jobs that don’t even require a college degree to begin with, but there has been nothing that has shown me the guaranteed life that an education was supposed to lead to.  In fact, I make more working for myself as a freelance photographer than I likely ever will make as a college educated woman (and no, I didn’t have a fine arts or photography degree, or even one in business), and instead of figuring out that I was good at photography in high school, and pursuing that option without a mountain of college debt on my back, I believed that education was the only answer in life.  Other people I know from high school are making a good living today instructing martial arts, giving piano lessons, and being dance teachers.  The people who didn’t go to college and opened their own businesses based on their passions, the people who got apprenticeships, or the people who went to the vocational schools over college are making more money and living a better lifestyle than I am able to, all because I thought going to college was the only right path to take.

I don’t write all of this to say that academics are worthless and should be avoided, but I think children need a healthy balance, and the current state of public schools are not allowing that to happen.  We have politicians and school boards making decisions on what kids have to learn and how much homework is required each night, yet these people are not in the classrooms one bit to understand the effects of their actions!  Most of these decision-makers have never been in a classroom since they were kids themselves!  I believe that kids need to do non-school related activities and see first hand that there is more to life than passing or failing a test.  I also think that it’s high time we debunk the myth that college is a magical dream world that makes all of your hopes in life come true.  College is a great thing to experience IF you can afford it, but other than expanding my mind and introducing me to new ideas, there wasn’t a lot of new information that came out of earning my degree.  I became very good at writing twenty page papers and learning how to agree with the professor to get an A, but I didn’t leave with any real skill set, and I didn’t learn much useful information.  If you have to take out loans to attend school, you cannot afford college, and, from experience, it is not worth spending the next ten to thirty years of your life paying these loans off.  The jobs just aren’t out there like they used to be decades ago, and we need to prepare our children for this changing economy over trying to cram endless amounts of academic work down their throats.

American Girling

So, I’m still being very lazy about getting my blog back together (Girl Scouts seems to have me running around like crazy), so here is a long overdue post from my vlog.

I’m quickly learning about American Girl dolls these days, so expect some posts about them to come up in the future.  My daughter got into Caroline, and I recently got wind of the Today Show deal and got ahold of Cecile and Marie-Grace for an amazing price.  I made a little show off video below: