Madison Sale

The 18" dolls were $50 last year on Saturday, by Sunday, the AGoTs that were left were marked down to $35. The dolls may not be in a complete outfit- like the Kirsten I bought did not have original hair ribbons. You could tell her hair had been rebraided, but other than that she seemed perfect. She was not loose-limbed and could stand on her own. You will not find Lindsey at the sale, however, and any LE dolls that are there (maybe a few Kaileys and some Marisols) will be more. I think the LEs they had last year were $85.

I think the real bargains are the furniture- I bought several pieces for about 1/2 price. Kit's table did have a little ding in the metal top, but it was for my daughters to play with and none of us cared. Some of the chairs had paint scuffed off in places.

My experience was that if you looked VERY closely you could find something wrong, but nothing that might not happen the first time your child played with it.

I also bought a TON of books last year. They had lots of the historical paperbacks for $1, and the historical mysteries for $3 (I think).

Hope this helps, and welcome to the board.

jo

Edited to fix a typo.

<font color="#051E50" size="1">[ January 12, 2006 01:55 PM: Message edited by: mykidsloveAG ]</font>

Jo THANKS for your reply!!! That is just what I wanted to know. I would have to drive 8 hours to get there but figured we could also visit the Wisconsin Dells while we are there. I wanted to know how discounted they were. I do want furniture like Kits desk but as you know it is pricey. ONE MORE QUESTION THOUGH -- the sale itself isn't at the museum though? It is in Middleton at the outlet or factory I guess---IS that right? Did you find it hard to get tickets for Saturday I heard that you get them at ticketmaster?? IS it super crowded then ? Thanks again

Some other folks from Michigan are toying with making the big drive, too. Keep watching the board a little closer to the sale for details. I have calculated the trip from the Detroit area...644 miles....6 to 7 hours to drive there. I would also be taking my 7 y.o. daughter.

Lara

Hi! and welcome to the board!

I am from the Milwaukee area so I am pretty familiar with the sale. I have gone every other year or so since I was 9 (I am 22 now). To answer a lot of your questions you can do a search of past "Madison Childrens Museum AG sale" topics. Basically AG donates all returned and damaged merchandise to the Madison Childrens Museum (MCM). Some items are perfectly fine but might have been returned for some reason. Other merchandise might be damaged in some way. With dolls it is usually the eyes stick or the limbs are loose etc. Nothing major though. The sale takes place in a large warehouse. Volunteers help fix up merchandice that is damaged. The sale takes place for 2 days. The first day you need a ticket the second day you don't. There are limits on certain merchandise (every year it is different). For example every one is allowed 2 historicals and an unlimited number of Girl of Today dolls. This is what it has been in the past. At the sale you can purchase mostly dolls, furnature (beds, tables and chairs, trunk), childrens clothing, and books. In years past the historical dolls have been $50 and the girl of today $30. The price goes down the second day because you do not have the selection that you do the first day.

Last year I went on the second day around 10:00
(as you can see I am not one to stay over night in the parking lot)
They still had:
Kit's trunk: $ - ? (less than Josefina's- great condition)
Josefinas trunk: $100 (great condition)
Kit's table and chairs- $30
doll stands- 3 for $10
several odds and ends from different collections.
Books - $1.00 vs. the previous days $3.00 a book. which included angelina ballerina, amilia books, history misteries, hard cover and soft cover historical doll books.
(they just looked like they were the books on the bottom of the box but no pages missing or anything).
Dolls: Kirsten, Samantha, Kit, Kaya and several girls of today
No more Felicity, Molly, Josefina, Addy
-This has been pretty typical of what is left on the second day.
-Kayas Tepee (came with Kaya)

Everything at the sale has an x so that it is marked as a second. If your daugher wants a doll to play with I would say that this would be a good place to get one because you can pick out your doll, so you might find one that is absolutely perfect. One thing to keep in mind is she will have a small x on her bottom and you can not send these dolls in to the doll hospital.

If you want to go on the first day keep your eyes open for when the tickets go on sale because AG is not afiliated at all with the sale and they will not give you any information. (Go to the MCM website. Then click benefit sale.

Unfortunatly you will probably never find Lindsey at the sale. There were only a few there last year. (Like less than 10) and you would have had to be the first people in line. Which would mean staying over night in the parking lot.

Hope this answers a lot of your questions

Stephanie

You get your tickets through someplace like TicketMaster, but I'm not sure if it was actually them. If you go to the Madison Children's Museum website and look for the benefit sale information they will tell you the address where you can send a self addressed stamped envelope, then in May they will send you information about when tickets go on sale. I will warn you that good ticket times are hard to get. They only let about 125-150 people in at each 15 minute time slot. Last year was my first year to go. I was online waiting and the moment the tickets went on sale I started trying to get them (on a DSL, with a pretty good computer) the system was overloaded and kept bumping me off. My friend was on a phone trying to call and never got through. About 3-4 minutes (literally) later when I finally got through the best time I could get was 9:15. Apparently in the past you could just say "best available" and you would get the best time slot left, this past year you had to pick a time, so it was a bit of a gamble/guessing game. I tried the 7:15 first, sold out, 7:45 sold out, 8:30 sold out,8:45 sold out, finally 9:15. Maybe if I had tried 8:15 or 8:30 first, I would have gotten it, but I wasted my time trying to get tickets that were already gone- who knows. I was able to get everything I wanted at 9:15 except the doll clothes though- the quick list:
I spent right at $250-300 and got:
Kirsten $50
Kit's table and chairs + 2 more chairs $40+ $20ish
Josefina's table and chairs $15
Kit's desk $40-45
Addy's desk $40-45
about 20 books $1-3
2 AGP NY doll t-shirts $3 eachish
incomplete Kirsten dishes $6ish
incomplete Kirsten school bag $6ish
6 plastic doll sized back packs $1 each
2 pair of doll sandals $1 each

Edite to add- maybe I spent closer to 300. I have 250 in my mind, but the Kirsten was for my mother in law, so maybe I spent 250 on my stuff plus her 50, maybe it was 250 total. I can't remember now.
Jo

<font color="#051E50" size="1">[ January 12, 2006 01:54 PM: Message edited by: mykidsloveAG ]</font>

A few more things worthy of mention-

They do only let 125-150 people in at a time, but you can shop as long as you want once you get in. By the time I went in at 9:15 only a few people had come out and so there were maybe 1000 people in the warehouse. In fact, they didn't even let the 9:30 people in at 9:30, I think they held them about 40 minutes to let the place clear out a little. It was a MADHOUSE! Plus it was like 100 degrees. It was very crowded, very hot, and still very fun! I love a bargain- I shopped for over 2 hours.

That said- do not even consider taking a small child with you (they won't even allow anyone under 4 in) to the sale. My girls are 8 & 10 and stick close to me in public. I would not have wanted them there. I saw less than a handful of kids in my 2 hours- one was a 5 year old boy who was crying and his mom was yelling at him, trying to carry him and her stuff. People are dragging big bags and banging into eachother, and the lines to check out can be horrifically long. I don't believe there are any bathrooms inside that you can use- just port-a-potties outside.

If you decide to go next year- have fun! I haven't decided if I'm going back. I think I got pretty much everything my girls wanted last year. I may try and get tickets when they come out and if I can get a time before 8 I'll go, otherwise, I won't. It's a 5 hour drive for me.

Jo

<font color="#051E50" size="1">[ January 12, 2006 02:09 PM: Message edited by: mykidsloveAG ]</font>

Welcome to the Board! I went last summer for the first time ever, with some other board members. We had a fabulous time...at least now we can say that. At the time, we were hot and miserably tired. [img]wink.gif[/img] Not to mention all our purchases barely fit into my minivan.

Kit_Girl has some scans of flyers from prior years' sales that list some of the prices and limits. http://homepage.mac.com/civicsista/A...toAlbum35.html Click on the picture you want to see for a larger, more readable imaage.

Thank you so much for all of this information. i had searched the board for info before and went to the MCM website, but this is the most information I have seen! The pictures were great! There are so many things that my girls want now, and we are going to AGPC in February, but at these prices, kinda makes ya want to hold out! Thanks so much for sharing.

WOW What do I start THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO REPLIED! I am so overwhelmed I do not know where to start. Yes I am going to attempt to go and would love to hear from other Michigan that might want to drive along. I do have a horse trailer (we own 6 miniature horse) and could bring that for stuff! ha ha Sounds like a fun time! THANKS AGAIN TO ALL FOR THE WELCOME!

previously posted:

Quote:

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One thing to keep in mind is she will have a small x on her bottom and you can not send these dolls in to the doll hospital.

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">This is not completely true. You CAN send in a doll to the doll hospital, but at your cost. They will not repair a doll with an "x" for free, with the exception of the silver eye issue. They will repair even the "x" dolls with silver eye for free, I confirmed this with AG last year.

I'd also like to caution you about going with a 7 year old, unless she is strong and can "carry her own weight". It's not fun like it is going to AGP, this is just a big warehouse and there are TONS of people in there. The worst issue is all the bags people are carrying. Some of the furniture you have to carry along as well, so there could be sharp edges aimed at the height of children's eyes. If I were going to take a child, it wouldn't be till the Sunday sale, when it is definitely less crowded.

I can highly recommend the sale to anyone though who thinks the drive is worthwhile. I drove with friends approx 11 hours total to get to the sale myself. The best deals are definitely on the furniture items, I purchased Kit's bed,nightstand, desk and table/chairs, Molly's bed, Josefina's table/chairs, Samantha's bed and nightstand, and also the 3/1 bed. I was also able to get Josefina's and Kit's trunks. It's good knowing that next year, I won't be buying all that stuff! [img]wink.gif[/img]

There are also tremendous deals to be had on girl sized clothes. I spent a lot of time there, buying different sizes for my daughter to grow into and some to wear now.

Already starting on this year's wish list though, including either Addy's or Kirsten's trunks, Addy and Molly dolls.

adding: for instance, the Bitty dress my dd is wearing below was only $10 at the sale. I paid more for the matching doll dress!

Hey, and welcome to the board!

Laurie

<font color="#051E50"><font size="1">[ January 12, 2006 07:52 PM: Message edited by: dianasmama ]</font></font>

<font color="#051E50" size="1">[ January 12, 2006 07:53 PM: Message edited by: dianasmama ]</font>

I am new to the board as of 5 minutes ago, and I admit I am already an AG Addict! I am considering going to the Madison Sale in July but since it is such a LONG drive, I kind of wanted to know a little more about it. When you say there are discounted items what do you mean the $87 dolls for $79 or a bigger discount? About the items marked with an X--are there things wrong with them like doll that turned out with loose arms or are they just returned items? What I mean is can you tell they are seconds? I want to collect them but also want my daughter to play with them, so if they will not to be true COLLECTOR's dolls then should the X bother me? Please try to help me figure this out. Also don't it figure the first doll she wants is Lindsey and I see she is retired! My luck ha ha Thank All you for any assistance!

I haven't been to the Madison Sale, so I can't answer your questions, but I just wanted to say Welcome to the Board!

Welcome to the board! [img]smile.gif[/img]

You can google Madison Children Museum Benefit Sale and come up with the webpage with all of the official information on this year's sale so far. The prices are not released until the first day of the sale. But several of the members have gone and can tell you what the average price was last year.

The "X" just represents dolls that were returned or exchanged and it prevents people from trying to return them to the company for full price, etc...If you are going to get the dolls at the sale as playthings- the X shouldn't bother you.

I was talking to a friend of mine from wisconsin today about the sale and she asked me how much the tickets are that you buy from Ticketmaster... I realized that I had not seen this information anywhere. Anyone know?

There's many different places to camp in the Madison area. Then people can come the day before & not be tired from driving all night. Might be cheaper than a hotel room too. Aren't tickets from ticketmaster $10 to $15 plus service charge?