When to Buy a Real Dollhouse

I think you missed the boat. I can't imagine she will play with dolls much longer. Unless you can get a deal on a hand-me-down house, I wouldn't spend the money.

My biggest question to you, is did she enjoy the barbie dream house, even though she wrote on & broke the furniture.

I would appreciate it if things weren't stickered and written on too, however, that is what many kids do. I remember writing on my shoes!

If she enjoyed it, why does it matter if she wrote on it? The best value of the toy would be if she plays with it and receives enjoyment from it. If she can't play with it because it will break or she can't add a little decoration where she wants, then maybe she will just let it sit.

Just my thoughts...I am sure you will receive many opinions to spin off of.

You probably should have bought it when she was eight because in three years you are going to have a teenager. I've never met a teenager who still plays with a dollhouse.

My parents bought a wooden dollhouse kit and built it together for my sister and I when we were about six. We played with it till we were about eight and then just stopped playing with it. I don't remember what brand or where they got it but a quick internet search later and I found this place. At ten I was begging my parents for my own telephone jack in my bedroom so I could have "my own phone", playing Nintendo and building a library of books. I stopped playing with dolls by then.

http://www.realgoodtoys.com/

My girl is five and shows no interest in wanting a dollhouse yet though to be fair she's not all that interested in dolls either. She'd much rather put a bunch of toilet paper tubes together and roll marbles through them or build something with legos. She also lines lite brights up into little mazes on the carpet and drives her hot wheels through them to create a huge parking lot mess in the middle of the floor.

When I was a kid I wanted a roller racer (one of those sit and wiggle the handle bars outdoor wheeled toys). I wanted it so badly that I asked for it every year for Christmas and never got it. Finally after about the fourth Christmas in a row of putting it at the top of my list, by now simply out of habit, I finally got it. I played with it mostly out of obligation and then put it away after a few months. It may have gotten more use if I had it when I was really excited about it when I was younger.

In terms of her taking care of her toys. At ten she should be able to be taught how to be responsible for her things. At eight as well. My kid is five and doesn't break or deface her toys because she knows as soon as she wrecks a toy I make her throw it in the trash. She's had accidents sure, but I don't hold that against her. Willfully marking up something or breaking it because she was using it for anything but its intended use though, that's a no no. After being forced to dispose of a toy she ruined with the knowledge that she would not get another one, it did wonders for her disposition towards her things. She did NOT want to see her things end up in the garbage and treated them more carefully. The reason I made her do it herself was because if I just took it and disposed of it for her, she wouldn't feel as connected to the loss and that connection to cause and effect is imperative.

I am not sure that she would get too much use out of it given that she is already 10. Unless you got some sort of amazing deal on one, I probably would not bother...

you need to make sure of why your getting it before doing it. If it is for her you need to let her have it and play with it if that is the kind she wants. and that includes letting her "decorate" with markers. doll house to play with and doll houses that are collectors items are two very different things. the kind a previous poster talked about with the miniture furniture that is flimsy is for looks not for playing. does she want one that you actually play with then look at toys r us not the kind you build and then furnish bit by bit.

I still have my dollhouse that I built with my grandfather. I never played with it.
It was a show piece for me. I was very proud of my doll house because I built it. I still cherish it because of the time I spent with my grandfather.
I don't remember how old I was but I was likely around 10

We got a kit from Hobby Lobby when my daughter was about 8... Actually, grandparents footed the bill for it. It is HUGE and took up so much of her room that it was distressing for her, plus really hard to play with.

Grandparents continued to buy furniture for it from a miniature/dollhouse store in Elgin.... each "choice" was exhausting- from the sink to the couch, etc. and it was all cheaply made and not really "toys," so they all fell apart even with a light touch. A LOT of money to just toss in the trash!

The walls were never "papered" and it was never really even set up in entirety with furniture, etc. Just a pain in the butt all around. Finally, after hauling this thing from her room to a basement playroom, and then to ANOTHER house (very carefully!) when we moved last year.... it's now collecting dust in our garage and the furniture is all boxed up. She'd rather have the space in her room than a dollhouse in the middle of the floor.

In fact, if you want ours, you can have it for a low, low price! (I'm serious- and we're in Wheaton.)

Bottom line- my daughter cherishes the little bit of AG stuff she has (much like it sounds your daughter does) but still doesn't clean it up herself and is often rougher with it than she should be, even at 11 years old now. She has a couple of shadowboxes that she likes to play with, and bulletin boards to decorate that fill the void that the dollhouse was there for. I think those are a better fit (physically and figuratively!) than the huge dollhouse ever was!

Hope this helps!
-M.

Does she want a fancy store-bought (now there's an old expression!) doll house, or would she more enjoy one she participated in making?

One of the best doll houses I ever saw (at a friend's house, back in dinosaur times when I was a girl) was made at home. It started as a big cardboard box until my friend's daddy realized cardboard wasn't strong enough, so he built a wooden box the same size. He was able to put window openings, doors and stairs in it, and my friend helped with where to put the interior walls. Then she and her friends (including me) had a great time making furniture out of anything we could find around all our houses. It wasn't anything to show off in a magazine, but it was a house that was really played with! My friend took care of it, too, because she had invested so much energy in it.

That said, one of my granddaughters wanted a "really good" dollhouse when she was six or seven. Since we don't have that carpentry talent, a lot of her relatives got together and gave her a Plan Toys Ryan's Room dollhouse and a dollhouse-sized family. She has received furniture since then on her birthdays and Christmas. She doesn't play with it quite as often now that she's a busy third-grader, but she tells me she loves it and wants to keep it forever.