Buying an American Girl Type Doll That Looks like Child or Not?

get saige! but order her TODAY, she's the 2013 girl of the year AND she has red hair. AG has free shipping b/n now and 11/3 with $100 or more, and they only do that a few days twice a year. saige will probably sell out in the coming days - I know McKenna sold out early October last year.

I would think about her other dolls and if she's ever had an interest in one being a mini me. If not, then look for a different doll, or maybe go with a character and get the book and accessories. My SD has had dolls that looked like her and it didn't seem to matter, really. She just wanted the doll. So if you're not sure, go with the cute one. You can always go to Michael's and get a redhead cousin later.

I also agree that if you get a catalog in the mail, you could just "leave it out" and take note about what she comments on.

I always had an idea of what my daughters liked and wanted because they said so. Not because they knew I was going to buy them one, but because when the catalog came they would look at it and ooh and ahh over which dolls they liked best. I knew one daughter loved Emily and Kaya, and one loved Molly the most.
Just leave a catalog laying around and see which one your daughter is drawn to!

I can understand your desire for the gift to be a surprise, and only you know whether your daughter would prefer it that way. There might be some advantage to her being part of the selection process, however. My daughter LOVED looking through the options displayed on the website and deciding which one she wanted. The website allows you to get a doll which combines different features (skin color, eye color, hair color, hair curliness, etc) if you want one looking more like her, by the way; that's what we did. I did end up suggesting we get the one with hair and skin more like hers, but that's because she is biracial and I felt it was important for her to have a doll which celebrated that 'look' instead of accidentally supporting the idea that beauty is only light skin and long straight blond hair. Based on your post, those considerations aren't important for your situation; I'm just mentioning why it was important for me that our daughter was involved in picking the doll.

Anyway, she was thrilled when she got to open the package at her birthday party even though she knew what was in it, and she has loved the doll. I will also add that additional outfits often are not tied to a particular doll, so don't let that determine what you get.

Have fun with it!

I would personally ask her in a way that wasn't direct or about her. So do your friends like dolls? Interesting! When I was a girl I wanted a doll that looked just like me. And let the conversation flow from there... Or I didn't like dolls when I was little, but my friend had one that looked just like her and I thought that was interesting. Do you have friends who have dolls that look like them?

I don't think anyone here can answer this for your family.

I would ask her. I read in your SWH you want a surprise but from my experience with my girls and their AG dolls half the fun was looking through the catalogue and selecting the perfect doll and then having the anticipation and excitement of knowing they were getting her for Christmas. Could the surprise be the doll's bed or an extra outfit or getting her with her ears pierced?
Personally, I think surprises are over rated. Studies on happiness show that much of the fun is in the planning and anticipation of getting something or experiencing something (ie. vacation) that you want. The high from the thing or experience is often short lived after getting it or experiencing it. Most of the "high" comes from the anticipation and looking forward to getting it.

The American Girl website has pictures of all of the named dolls plus all of the "make your own" options too. Could you find a way to look at the website with her? That's what I did for my girls and they both wanted dolls that look like them. Sadly, we couldn't make it work. American Girl didn't have the right combo of hair texture/eye color/skin color.

I would only buy my nieces Addy. My grandchildren will only get Addy. So to answer your question, yes.

Does she ever make comments about her hair or looks? If yes, use that to help you buy one.

She has red hair. Does she ever say, 'I wish I had brown hair'.
If she has straight hair, consider getting her one with curly hair.
If she has curly hair, consider getting her one with straight hair.

Sort of like getting her the 'mini' version that she keeps mentioning.
Does that make sense?

You know, when I worked with little girls who had these dolls, they often wanted the one that was popular in their group. In the early 2000's, many of the girls had the "Kristen" doll... there were loads of them. Even offered the more 'look-alike' dolls, they would choose the popular one. You might ask your daughter kind of offhand "Oh, I saw those American Girl dolls in an ad today. There were so many!..." kind of open up the conversation that way, find out 'well, which ones do your friends have... which one do you like?" or 'wow, if you were to have a doll like that, which one would you pick?" If you keep it casual, she might not catch on.

In our school library there are tons of American Girl chapter books and certain characters do get checked out more than the others. Might be worth it to just keep it light and conversational-- ask which ones she might have read about, etc.

My daughter (8) is a brunette and loves the dolls with blond hair.

When my daughter wanted one of these dolls I thought she'd want one that looked like her, but instead she liked one that had different hair (in color and curls) and different eye color. She didn't know she was going to get one but was just longing for one. After she got her doll, I asked her if she wanted one that looked like her but she just didn't see the appeal.

Let her look through a catalogue and casually browse the selection. Or just leave it lying around where she can findit. AG should be sending out their holiday catalogue really soon. My daughter has about 4 of these dolls and they are all different. She didn't care which AG doll she got. Her god mother collects them and has about 30 or so. Any the outfits are all very cute and come in a very cute little box. She will love it, but I would order it sooner rather than later.

Play dolls with her and ask her some questions without being too obvious about it.
"What's your favorite doll?" "Why do you like her?"
Just get a feel of what she wants for a doll.

We bought my daughter an American Doll for Christmas last year. I had gotten the American Girl catalog for about a year because she loves getting mail. She had a couple she really liked but she liked them all. She mostly likes the accessories. We ended up buying her Marie-Grace.

The year before we got her a My Generation Doll to see how well she would take care of her before we spent the money on an American Doll. Her name is Everlyn.

She actually ends up playing with Evelyn more than Marie-Grace. And actually her favorite doll is a Mommy & Me Doll she's had since she was 2. Her name is Baby Claire and she is almost bald and she has blonde hair. My daughter has brown eyes & hair.