Holiday Store Exclusives at American Girl

For almost a decade, our holidays have been inexorably tied with American Girl.  The Pea got her first American Girl doll as a Christmas present, and every year since then I haven't been able to resist buying her something from American Girl. This year I'm finally forced to admit that at age 14, she has outgrown American Girl dolls -- well, playing with them, at least! You can be an American Girl doll collector and lover all your life, and I think that's the way it's going to be for The Pea and for me.

In fact, it was The Pea who reminded me that we needed to pay a visit to our local American Girl Store, because the holiday decorations would be up and the holiday store exclusives would be on display.


Every year, the American Girl Store sells an exclusive doll's holiday outfit that isn't available online. This year's dress is a frosted violet floor-length gown with gold and lavendar sequins and tulle ruffles all over the skirt. Several accessories come with the outfit: a silver sequinned cloak, silver sequinned purse, rhinestone headband, and silver t-strap shoes. The whole ensemble is packed in a gorgeous gift box and costs $58, which seems a tad cheaper than the outfits of holidays past.


We found a few more items that are not for sale online at Americangirl.com: an entire accessories collection consisting of hats, infinity scarves, earmuffs, and mittens in white, red, and snow leopard print.


The Pea could resist trying on each and every item, in a variety of combinations and permutations. I have to admit, the accessories are adorable, and surprisingly affordable: the infinity scarves cost just $12.50!  Given that this store sells $30 doll outfits and $70 girl dresses, $12.50 almost seems like a pricing error!


The white snow leopard print must be popular, because on our second visit, just 2 days later, they had already run out of snow leopard print scarves.


Also available are earring sets and white cable knit stockings with fur trim. The Pea did her best to convince me that we needed to get a couple of the stockings "to decorate our house, as if we don't already have half a dozen stockings (granted, they aren't as cute as these).


One last store exclusive that I found was a special Santa dress. It does not come with the boots but I believe it comes with the Santa hat. The dress itself doesn't seem to be the usual high quality of American Girl oufits -- the white collar and white trim on the dress are made with plain white fabric instead of white fur like the cuffs and the hat brim. However, you can't beat the price: $14 with purchase of $50 or more!


The Pea fawned over the store exclusives with just as much excitement as any 7 year-old! I couldn't resist buying the red velvet scarf (did I mention it costs just $12.50?).  We had a great time browsing the American Girl Store. I know I don't have much time left to do things like this with her, so I'm grateful for every moment, and I'm extra grateful that she still loves American Girl as much as I do. I guess you're never too old for American Girl!