Interesting Question

Have you seen little girls gravitate toward dolls that look like themselves, or dolls that look completely opposite themselves?

In my experience, I've watched girls wish for dolls that looked just like themselves when they were younger, but as they've grown older, wish for dolls that looked completely opposite. I love that American Girl dolls have a variety of hair/skin/eye colors!

I'm closely watching my friend's little girl, who is only 3 1/2 but VERY precocious, when she comes to our house. We have so much fun watching which dolls she wants to play with. Bitty's out for her, because she wants LONG HAIR on her dolls!! [img]smile.gif[/img] That makes me sad, because I have some wonderful Bitty dolls, clothes, toys and furniture and she won't play with them. My little nieces will, though. They would rather have the Bitties than the "big girl" dolls! [img]wink.gif[/img]

I know my DD who's 3 has to have dolls with hair, she's always been that way though. She has a bitty and the twins but has never seemed to like them very much. For baby dolls she likes the collector ones her nana (my mom) gives her, their about as big as her.LOL Her favorite AGs seem to be Kit and her AGOT which both look like her except blue eyed. Our next AG order we're getting another one that will somewhat look like her GT24 and Jess, who may get put back for xmas.

My now 18 year old daughter didn't like baby dolls very long. She received Samantha on her fourth birthday and it was love at first sight. She also received a Bitty Baby, but hardly even looked at her. She happily gave her to my niece.

My niece was just as happy to receive the Bitty Baby and she still loves the babies best. She is 13 and all she wanted for Christmas was a set of Bitty Twins. Her 14th birthday is coming up and she wants clothes for her babies. She has also hinted about the stroller.

I guess every girl is different and their age doesn't always determine what kind of dolls they like. Look at me, 45 years young and I love both the 18" & the Bitties. [img]smile.gif[/img]

<font color="#33CCCC" size="1">[ May 21, 2006 11:04 PM: Message edited by: MaryCarly ]</font>

My youngest DD was almost 3 when I gave her a bitty. She played with her a little bit(and still does) but she really wanted a big girl's doll with hair. For her 3rd birthday I gave her a pre-loved Samantha and she carried that doll around everywhere she went. DD has always liked hair, though. As an infant she would have to be holding onto my hair in order to fall asleep. It's a cute but annoying habit I'm still trying to break her out of and she's 4 1/2 now! So having a doll with hair is a great substitute for Mommy.

I like dolls with hair, too. I'm eventually going to wig my bitty. I didn't like the twins enough to purchase them.

That is a really interesting question! I think younger girls do gravitate towards dolls who look like them, or how they want to look like.
I choose Felicity because I had ALWAYS wanted red hair.
My first AGT, Marie or retired #10, was the one at the time who looked the most like me. I have light brown hair and green eyes and they didn't have one like that (only blue eyes I think) so I got Marie, who has dark brown hair and green eyes.
When I got Kailey I was really into surfing and Australia, and I thought she looked like your typical surfing girl. Now I get the dolls I can make up the most interesting stories for. My mom bought me Sierra (26) because I didn't have any African American dolls (I was going to buy her anyway).
My sister wanted 23 because she looked like her but I'm getting her, she seems to have given up on her. She has always liked Addy for some reason and I think she picked Molly because she was the historical who looked most like her. My sister is 7 and I am 16.

I think most little girls do. It has something to do with a mommy instinct, I've heard. But not all of them do -- I look VERY much like Samantha, but when I was a kid, I really wanted Kirsten. I think it's because I've always hated my dark hair and eyes. I was the only one of my friends who had a Kirsten. Everyone else, who by the way had brown hair and eyes, had a Samantha. (It was interesting to see Samantha and Kirsten play together, Kirsten in her plain dresses and Samantha in a million frills and ruffles). The one exception was my friend who had a Molly, but she wore glasses.

Didn't I read here that the brown haired/eyed doll was the most popular AGT? And isn't that the most common hair and eye combonation in America?

When I was 10, I fell in love with Samantha, from the catalogues. The first catalogue I ever saw only had the first 5 girls in it, and no AGT. I have brown hair and green eyes, although when I was younger they were hazel. I had long (although straight) hair and bangs. Sam was definitely the closest to me at that age. I read her books (and Addy's), and when I requested my first catalogue (which was a 1995 one), I fell in love with the red haired, green eyed AGT. Since I already loved Sam, I asked for her for Christmas, and ended up saving my own money and getting the AGT the next year.

I've ALWAYS wanted red hair and green eyes, so I guess my first doll was the one that looked most like me at the time, and my second was the one I wanted to look like most.

I was never into Bitty because I, too, love playing with hair, and always have, (although the fact that I didn't even know of AG until I was 10 probably factors in, too). I learned how to do MANY styles on my Sam's hair when I was a kid, and that makes me love her all the more. I still practice new styles on AGs before I attempt them on my own, or someone else's hair. I wouldn't mind getting Bitty Twins now, because I think they're adorable. But they'd have to release a set of Asian twins, and it doesn't look like they're going to.

Now I have a wide collection of hair/eye/skin colors, and I love my collection for how diverse it is. Sam and Misty (although she was Kitty when I was younger, before I fixed her up) are still my two favorite AGs, and the only ones I would NEVER part with, under any circumstances.

I think it TOTALLY depends on the girl. The concept of the historical dolls and their amazing books that I've loved for 10 years, was what originally drew me to AG, and Sam was my pick straight off. If my first catalogue had had the AGTs in them, I'm pretty sure I still would have picked Samantha. The AG catalogues, then and now, focus on the dolls with, normally, girls that look very similar (especially look at the older catalogue covers), and I think they really tried to get you to want one that looked the most like you.

Bean Bunny, brown hair and eyes are, indeed, the most common hair/eye color combination in America. I think that plays a HUGE factor into why Samantha sells so well. I always loved that the "common" (I've always been bored by my brown hair and almost brown eyes, and am so happy they've turned much greener) looking girl had amazing stories and items, and even though she had the same color hair and eyes as most of the people I knew, she was still so pretty.

<font color="#33CCCC" size="1">[ May 21, 2006 01:32 PM: Message edited by: cami713 ]</font>

I agre, but it was a different case with me. I was 7 and looked nothing like any of the dolls, and was drawn to beautiful Samantha. I always wanted curly hair and Samantha is a complete oppostire from me. In 3rd grade I cut my hair adn looked like Kit, so I got Kit for Christmas. Elizabeth is one of my favorties because we look the most alike, we'de look even more alike if my bangs would hurry up and grow out already!!! *grumbles*

When I was younger I definitely wanted one who looked like me - brown hair, green eyes. I think I actually got the one with brown hair and blue eyes, because my eyes were still changing color a lot then. Now they stay green pretty steadily. Now, though, if I were to get a today girl I would just get one I like best, regardless of if she looked like me or not.