The Journey of Parenthood…

Girl’s Trip: American Girl Doll Store First Visit

Girl’s Trip: American Girl Doll Store First Visit

The purpose in my planning a girl’s trip with Britt and Tess was because I wanted to visit the American Girl Doll Store in Atlanta!

Growing up I had two American Girl Dolls (the OG Samantha as well as one of those design your own types).

I found both of them in the attic and when I did they were in pretty rough shape…as in Samantha’s poor face was completely smashed in (apparently from the heat in the attic).

I sent both dolls off to the American Girl Doll Hospital (yes it’s a thing!) and they did an awesome job making them look like they did originally.

I gave Samantha to Britt on her 5th birthday and my second doll to Tess on her 5th birthday.

To be honest? Britt hasn’t been all the into Samantha. My hope was once Tess got her doll (she named her Rosie, as in the child of Ron and Hermione) that they’d both be more into playing with them.

But nope. That hasn’t really happened.

So my new hope was by taking them to the store that they’d be more into their dolls 😉

And Samantha really, really needed some desperate hair help. Bless her heart but Samantha has that OG hair and it’s ROUGH.

Our only plans for the 2nd part of our trip was to visit the store and it didn’t open until 11.

We took our time getting up and getting ready and then met Robyn and Lorelai for breakfast in the lobby before heading out!

The American Girl Doll Store was literally 5 min or so from the hotel (we stayed at Holiday Inn Express ) and we pulled in the parking spot exactly at 11 am!

Perfect!

They only do two doll hair reservations at a time so Britt and Tess went first and Lorelai used that wait to look around the store a bit.

Poor Samantha took so long that Lorelai’s doll was just about done when Samantha got finished!

The girls got to each choose a hairstyle.

Planning Tip: If your daughter has an older doll (like Samantha) be warned that they won’t be able to do all of the hairstyle options.

I was proud of Britt for understanding that and she choose a super cute hair style!

I was especially proud though of Tess. Y’all Tess is indecisive like her mama…we struggle to make a choice. Any choice. Ever.

But she did AMAZING with these choices. She chose a hairstyle for Rosie completely on her own (neither Britt or LL got the same one as Tess) AND she chose the ribbon colors for her doll’s hair all on her own too! SO PROUD.

I took notes on my phone as the stylist worked on Samantha’s Hair.

I typed them all in this easy-to-print card for anyone who may be wanting to help their daughter style the American Girl Doll hair:

How To Style and Care For Hair on an American Girl doll

This is a very simple how-to in caring for and styling American Girl Doll hair. It’s much easier than you think!

It is highly recommended to purchase an official American Girl Doll hairbrush​ as it’s best for working with their delicate hair. You need a small spray bottle filled with water. An old toothbrush is also helpful to have, as are some hair clips. It’s also smart to have a towel on hand to help keep the doll dry.

  1. Spray the doll’s hair down with the water. Be EXTREMELY careful not to get in eyes as any wetness in the eyes will ruin them.
  2. Divide hair into sections using clips
  3. Always brush doll’s hair from bottom UP and only brush it when damp
  4. Do not be alarmed if there is a good bit of hair in the brush, we were told they’ve never seen a bald doll 😉
  5. Use the toothbrush to brush the bangs. When using toothbrush brush from top to bottom.
  6. The end of the toothbrush works as a curling tool. This will ONLY work on dolls that originally have curly hair. Us the end of the toothbrush and tightly wrap wet hair down the handle. Make sure the hair does not overlap and that it lays flat on the toothbrush. Hello curls!

Some dolls have easier hair to work with than others. Salon packages can be purchased at American Girl Doll stores to ensure a professional look!

Both dolls looked SO CUTE when they were all finished!

Part of their policy at AG Stores is to keep the dolls until a receipt is shown that the style was paid for.

So our dolls hung out a bit while we shopped around!

The store, employees and experiences were all INCREDIBLE.

I am hard to impress when it comes to costumer service b/c I’m SO used to Disney which sets the bar CRAZY high.

But yall. This experience was completely on par with Disney. SO. IMPRESSED.

Everyone was so, so sweet and kind and personable and friendly. The store is adorable and the layout and details and thought put into everything just made it extra-special.

I was asked by TWO employees if I wanted a picture taken of me and the girls…y’all know that took me to the next level of being impressed 😉

I also found the copycat of my Samantha…and check out the doll holders IN THE BATHROOM.

I am team American Girl. Like TAKE MY MONEY.

I love that it’s so wholesome and sweet and keeps girls young and innocent. We saw a few older girls there and it made my heart so happy and I would just LOVE for my girls to be into dolls into their teens. Right?

I actually posted recently in my IG Stories about how Kye still sets up and plays with a TON of toys in his room.

I know of a lot of kids his age who don’t play with toys anymore and I just love that he still does…and a bunch of yall DMed me saying that it’s actually been proven it’s HEALTHY for kids to play with toys and that like developmentally they should be playing with them until 13+.

Def a new goal of mine…find toys my kids love that will keep them PLAYING!

I’m a very in the moment YOLO kinda mama. Like I’m alllll about some experiences and memory making and can totally fall into that trap of excitement and in the moment spending.

I could have VERY easily been talked into something for the dolls. EVERYTHING was SO stinking CUTE.

But my girls didn’t ask for anything. They didn’t really stop too much at the merchandise and were more into the experience as a whole.

Which was a big benefit for me b/c that brand name AG stuff? WHEW expensive.

All of the stuff we do own has been from my buddy Amazon 😉 And I plan to keep it that way!

However, Britt did say she wanted Samantha to have some glasses to match hers (keep in mind yall…Britt does not NEED glasses…) and they were only $10 (which was actually twice the price of the glasses Britt was wearing haha).

Tess also chose an inexpensive accessory – some cute friendship bracelets for Rosie and Samantha to wear. And we were DONE!

We picked back up our dolls and headed over to the Bistro for our lunch reservation.

Again – SO IMPRESSED.

The entire experience from start to finish was WONDERFUL and the girls all felt so special and just loved every minute of it.

So many cute details. They have these little high chairs for the dolls and even give them little cups and plates that we got to keep.

The napkins also have these super cute little hair ties that we got to keep too!

I love the wholesome family focus. A cute story was on the back of the menu and they had great conversation starters too!

The prices for the food weren’t too bad either. Again, I’m used to Disney pricing where it’s like $30 for a kids meal so $16.50 was GREAT haha

You pay a fixed price for the meal and you choose an appetizer and an entire.

Kids 5 and under are $7.50 and have their own menu to choose from.

All the food was EXCELLENT. I had read great reviews and I agree with them all! So many cute details even with the food 🙂

The hair salon people were sweet in giving the girls stickers and one of the stickers said “It’s My Birthday” on it.

I didn’t even think about it. A sticker is a sticker.

But then our waitress came over to the table with ice cream and a cupcake and a lit candle singing Happy Birthday to Tess!

We rolled with it 😉

We took our time and enjoyed our meal and then headed home!

This whole trip was just SO FUN.

Both Tess and Britt cried real tears when I tucked them in that night. They both just loved it all and want to plan another girl’s trip ASAP.

I’m so glad they loved it as I did too! It makes me so super pumped for great girls moments to come together.

I cannot recommend a trip to the American Girl store more. I truly think it’s a PERFECT trip for a mother and daughter and while we were there I couldn’t help but feel guilt that I didn’t think to include Mrs Charlotte in this trip.

It’s that kind of magical girly thing that you WANT your mom or mother in law to be part of. I texted her from the store and said we gotta plan another trip sometime!

I also found out that the AG Store does GIRL ear piercing and you can let your daughter AND doll get pierced together.

Whenever Britt is ready for hers I am ALL about making that trip for that moment for SURE!

Emily Parker
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