Recently I was looking in my daughter’s bedroom and noticed she has three big dolls, about 30 Barbie’s, 25-30 stuffed animals and many other little toys scattered around. Then I started thinking back to my childhood where I had maybe one doll and some other little toys. I asked my husband about his toys growing up and he shared that he thought he had allot of toys until he looked in my sons and daughters room. We then began a discussion about why our kids have many more toys than we did as kids. We came up with several explanations all of them probable. They ranged from the cost of the toys back then compared to now and even the possibility that maybe just maybe we spoil our kids more nowadays.
With that said we both agreed that our kids were not spoiled. We take the time to discuss with them about finances and the cost of toys, clothes, books, food, etc. With costs, budgeting and toys on my mind I started to take a closer look at how much some of my daughters dolls cost. She has 2 American Girl Dolls that were both gifts and cost around $110 dollars each. Now that’s pretty expensive for a doll. My husband told me that he remembers Cabbage Patch kids dolls sold for 30-40 dollars when he was a kid and that was allot. I started wondering if there were any dolls out there that looked as good as the American Girl doll but were not as expensive.
It didn’t take long for me to find a company that made dolls that looked comparable. The name of the company is Madame Alexander and they sell a wide assortment of dolls and doll accessories.
Madame Alexander is a brand of American collectible dolls introduced in 1923
They sell a line of 18” dolls that look great for $59.95 each. That is a savings of $50 dollars per doll, which is great. All that was left to do is order a doll from them and see if their quality was up to task. I decided to order the Favorite Friends-Varsity Girl 18-inch doll from my daughter. The picture online showed a brunette doll with partially braided hair, wearing a varsity jacket, jeans dress with leggings, shirt, and sneakers.
Within the week of ordering the doll arrived at my house. It was a week after my daughter celebrated her 8th birthday so I figured it would make a good post-present. On Saturday my husband and I put the doll box in our living room. I then asked my daughter who was in her room to get me something from the living room. I figured she would see the doll and then get surprised. It took a couple of times to get her to see it but when she did a big smile came across her face. Her and I quickly opened the box and took out her new doll. She and I immediately noticed that the hair on the doll felt very real. It was so soft; feeling just like it was conditioned and blown out. It did have a little bit of a funny smell to it but I think that will dissipate with time. The quality of the doll and her clothing was very good. My daughter really liked the authentic feel of the jacket and sneakers. They were like baby clothes. You know the way some doll clothes feel cheap and not real? Well these didn’t feel that way. Hope that makes sense.
Overall my daughter’s new doll from Madame Alexander was a good deal compared to the more expensive dolls out there on the market. In terms of overall quality the Madame Alexander doll was pretty even with the American Girl doll. At around half the price you just cant do wrong. I would highly recommend that you check out their website. You will see the doll collection that I ordered from and all of their other choices. They have baby dolls, newborn dolls, character dolls including Disney, Fancy Nancy, Pinkalicious and much more. I know I worry about spoiling my kids but I think I need to order another doll soon. Maybe this one will be for me.
Watch our short video to see our new Madame Alexander dolls in action
Disclosure: I’m a member of Madame Alexander Mom Advisory Board 2014. No compensation was received for this post.
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I have several of these dolls and think they are a great value for the money I play with my little girl with dolls that belonged to her older sister and some that were given to us by friends