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The great thing about our daughter is how much she loves to really play with her American Girl dolls.  She doesn’t just dress them and put them on the shelf, she actually plays with them and gives them adventures all of their own.  So its always great when her friends come over and help to add to the fun.  So why not set up a proper little American Girl doll party?  We came across some party ideas on http://www.plan-an-elegant-tea-party.com/an-american-girls-tea-party.html

Have fun!

We are very pleased to introduce you to a great website that we discovered that your girls will love!  The American Girl Fan website is written wonderfully by Liz.  Liz is a 14 year-old home-schooled girl who obviously LOVES American Girl Dolls as we do.  Liz blogs about all things American Girl.  Her most recent posts include a review of her trip to the American Girl Store in Chicago, her story of American Girl products that she is saving for, and some great photos of her American Girl Dolls, including the one above (which we borrowed) showing her dolls Mia and Julie on a picnic. 

Liz is doing a great job in creating a blog for American Girl Fans - if you have one in your house we suggest you check it out.

The latest, greatest American Girl Nintendo DS game is out, and it is based on our favorite Kit doll called American Girl - Kit Mystery Challenge.  It is fun, spy game based on our intrpid reporter searching for news stories during the Great Depression.  Kit’s home gets boarders agian but each boarder seems to have  aproblem for Kit to fix.  Kit travels round the screen interviewing and picking up clues to solve the mysteries.  This is a fun game for all Nintendo gamers to try.

Here at Emily Rose we get lots of questions about cleaning your American Girl Doll.  The vinyl arms and legs of your doll require special care and you don’t want to scar her for life.  So what do you do if you get pen on your American Girl Doll?  Or even worse magic marker?  What do you do if the greasy fingers holding that french fries reach for her best friend without first reaching foe her napkin?  Maria at Just Magic Dolls wrote a great article all about basic cleaning of your American Girl.  Or should we call the article Vinyl Cleaning 101

So next time you are looking for ways to clean your American Girl Doll, or perhaps you are trying to restore that fabulous original you found at the neighbourhood yard sale, visit Maria and she can help.  By the way, Just Magic Dolls has tons of other great information as well.  You can see reviews of all of the other 18 inch soft body dolls that are available, read articles on how to care for the American Girl Doll hair, and more.  Have fun!

Hot on the heels of announcing a marquee store in Boston, American Girl has said that they will also be opening a store in the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota.  It is scheduled to open around the same time as the Boston store in the November time frame.  This will make it seven AG stores around the country: joining Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Dallas and Atlanta.  Like its counterparts, the new store will offer the full range of AG products and accessories and, most importantly, the “experiential” activities of the AG stores: hair salon, bistro, party rooms, etc.

Although the Mall of America has been feeling its age lately, the AG store will be part of an extensive development program to modernize and revitalize the Mall.  This development is part of a plan to make the Mall more family oriented and this addition will, I’m sure, prove extremely beneficial.  For those that know the Mall, it will be located near Nickelodeon Universe in the retail space formerly occupied by Stampede Steakhouse and will occupy two levels. 

Stand by for the openings of Boston and Mall of America later this year and reviews of the stores as they open.

I hear that American Girl has just announced that the next American Girl store is to be in lovely Boston.  I’ve always liked Boston as a city and love to stroll around Quincy market and Faneuil Hall on a Summers afternoon.  The store will be in the Natick Collection.  Although I’m not sure exactly where that is, the mall is purported to be the largest in New England.  American Girl call the store an experiential retail store I guess because they are trying (with success) to make the visit on where customers get more than just products.  They get the whole AG experience surrounding them, including Mom/daughter events and other interactive activities.  This store will have a doll salon and bistro just like the others and I think will be as big as the marquee stores in New York and Chicago.  Its due to be up and running in November this year so we’ll be sure to post a review once it opens.

The new American Girl movie Kit Kittredge is only 2 days away from general release and I can tell you that the excitement is building in our house.  Our daughter isn’t normally one who has ever been too interested in the American Girl movies but this one seems to have caught her fancy.  She did watch the others but felt a little let down.  Samantha was set in Victorian times, Felicity showed the two side of the Revolutionary war and Molly has a family coping with the Second World War in middle America.  All were interesting stories from very different times and all related to growing up and family issues.  Although they were all well made there seem to be something lacking in appeal - at least to our daughter.  But Kit Kettredge - An American Girl has more appeal.  It will still deal with the family trials and tribulations, this time in the Great Depression, but it has a Hollywood feel to it.  Whether that is a good thing or not it certainly has our daughter’s attention.  We’ll review it on opening day.

Have you ever tried to wash your American Girl Doll’s hair - its tough.  Here is a link for YouTube that has a couple of friends doing it just right.  Some tips are to ensure the hair is tangle free before you start and use a sensitive shampo, like Johnston & Johnston.  Try not to make a mess or get water everywhere - and make sure you clean up after you.  Good luck

As the build-up to Kit Kittredge: An American Girl continues, I came across a great contest site.  The prizes are awesome - 1st prize is a shop “til you drop” at the American Girl store with a $500 American Express® Gift Card and the second prize is the Kit Kittredge doll and her dog, Grace! 

To enter you simply need to take a quiz - the only required thing you have to do is log-in to the website and register an account.  If you don’t mind doing that then it sounds like a great contest to me.  The contest is open to US residents only and ends at midnight on the 29th June.

Here’s the website: http://www.lilsugar.com/1689930

This is great way to have some fun and possibly get lots of stuff for your American Girl.

Here is a great item I came across today. Although Emily Rose also has basic hangers, here a nicely decorated set of 3 you could buy to spruce up your American Girl wardrobe.