Holiday Gift Guide - Dollies and their accessories

My daughter is 4 years old and loves her dolls. She has two special dollies, their names are Jammie Dolly and Purple Dolly. They were named by my daughter, based on their clothes. Jammie Dolly, as you might have guessed is wearing pajamas, not only does she normally wear a nightgown, if she is "undressed" her standard outfit is a set of yellow pajamas. Purple Dolly, wears a purple nightgown. When we got her, she actually was wearing a rain coat and boots, but she spends most of her time in her purple nightgown.

Our two dollies share a bed located right next to my daughter's bed. The bed that they use was the doll baby bed that my Grandma and Grandpa made for me when I was a child. A while ago, I had my parents pull it out of my closet, so that I could give it to my daughter. It was showing its age, so I repainted it and put a new mattress cover on the pad that serves as the mattress. I think that it is neat that my daughter is using the same bed for her dolls that I once used to use for my dolls.

We have one umbrella stroller that they try to share, but my daughter tells me that they don't fit well and usually wind up fighting. This means that one of the two is usually carried or stuck in a bag, when they are "traveling" around the house.

Those two dollies are an important part of my daughter's play. A few weeks ago for her birthday she received a gift card for the toy store, given the choice of what to buy she chose a new diaper bag for her dollies. This one evidently was better than any bag we already had and it included two additional bottles, some small cloths, a container of "powder" and a diaper. She makes sure her bag is well stocked before she heads out (around the house) with her two dollies. There are books, a set of Akron Aero dog tags that she tells me are her cell phone, iPod and DS, blankets, and of course, the bottles, cloths, powder and diaper that came with the bag. When she is done feeding them, she cleans the bottles with her cloth. When the dollies need to be changed, she finds a changing pad and changes their diaper (we only have one, so she pretends - because she knows that if she uses it for real, that it won't work again).

I love watching her play with her dollies. Some things, make me giggle, like the way that when the dollies are napping, she covers their face with a blanket. I asked her once why she covered their faces and wondered if they could still breath. She explained that she covered their faces because they can't close their eyes - there just is something about that line of thought - I never would have considered that they couldn't sleep if they couldn't close their eyes. Some things I find really touching, seeing how she is a little mommy to her dolls. She feeds them their bottles and then she washes them, wiping them clean with her new cloths. I definitely see a lot of things from her life acted out through the dollies. She takes them to daycare. Only she is both the mom and teacher, as she sets up centers for them to play. Occasionally, one of the dollies will misbehave and she will be sent to time out.

My daughter loves her dollies. I love how playing with dollies lets her act out the things that she is experiencing and observing in her life. My son pretended to be the daddy for his stuffed monkey, which I always found very sweet. Of course, he didn't have the advantage of all the accessories that come with a dolly. Sometimes, he will join my daughter in the play with her dollies, it is great to see them play together and to act as parents, teachers, etc to the dollies.

Speaking of accessories for a dolly, on important accessory (as any girl will tell you) are clothes! Last year, we found some pajamas for my daughter that came with a matching pair of pajamas for her dolly. She received them as a Christmas present from Grandpa. When she opened them, she was ecstatic and couldn't wait to wear the matching pajamas. I wasn't surprised at all by this - my daughter thinks it is great to wear things that are similar to mine, so why wouldn't she want for her dolly to match her?

Since she received those pajamas, she has asked more than once for more clothes that have a matching outfit for dolly. We found another pair of matching pajamas for the summer and got those for her, but I just wasn't seeing many clothes (outside of special occasion wear). Then, a while back, I came across a line of clothes that feature a matching outfits for girls and their dollies from Dollie & Me. We were shopping at Kohl's and they had a few different options of dresses and pants outfits. The outfits are available in sizes from 2T up to 16 (varies based on style) for the girls and the dollie outfit will fit their favorite 18" dollie. Dollie & Me also offers accessories and toys for girls and their dollie. They even have their own line of 18" dollies designed by the Alexander Doll Company, Inc.

I like that you can find their line of product from a number of retailers, both online and in stores, including Kohl's, Sears, and Amazon. The outfits and accessories retail from $6.99 to $80 and the dolls have a suggested price of $29.95. (you can link directly to the online sites through their Shop tab, select the style you are looking for and it will link you to the retailer or if there are multiple, let you choose which retailer to link to.)

We received a couple of dresses for my daughter and her dolly to check out. The clothing is cute and nicely made, the one skirt is even lined. The dress styles that we received both pull over the head to put on. This makes it easy for my daughter, who is super independent, to put on her own dress and then, I only have to tie the bow. I really like that the outfits for the dollie feature a full open back that is secured with Velcro tabs. This feature makes it a lot easier, especially for a younger girl like my daughter, to be able to dress her dollie on her own. No need for me to button and unbutton the outfit every time she wants to change her. Our dollies are slightly smaller than 18" and the sleeves are a little bit long, but I simply rolled the cuffs under and the dresses look fine on the dollies. I guess that summer outfits will be better for our dolls, since they are slightly smaller. I'd buy a new doll for her, but I'm not sure that anyone could ever take the place of Jammie Dolly or Purple Dolly - so we will just have to improvise.


Giveaway
Thanks to Dollie & Me, I have the opportunity to allow one A Busy Mom of Two reader to receive a free Dollie & Me outfit. The winner will be able to specify the size needed, but will not get to choose the style. I have set the giveaway so that the outfit can ship to the winner in time for Christmas.

To enter: Leave a comment sharing who would be the recipient of the Dollie & Me outfit - if you know the Dollie's name, include it too. I think that the names that little girls choose for their dollies are cute.

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Giveaway will remain open until December 6th at 6 pm and is open to residents of US only. Winners will be selected using Random.org random number generator. The winner will be contacted by e-mail (Please make sure that your email address is either in your comment or clearly visible on your profile or blog) and will have 24 hours to respond or a new winner may be selected. This is to ensure that the outfit can be sent in time for Christmas.

No compensation was received for this post. All opinions expressed in this post are my own. I received two Dollie & Me outfits for review. The outfit for the giveaway is provided courtesy of Dollie & Me.