A few years ago my mom arrived at my house with a very special box I hadn’t seen in a long time. It looks like an old Victorian chest- woven taupe fabric edged with leather and gold buckles. Inside was a sweet memory- my Samantha doll, and all her accessories I used to love playing with years ago.

I received my Samantha doll the first year, and for many years after, my grandmother would add to her collection. She had a school desk, a watercolor set, and a beautiful party dress. I even had a dress to match one of hers. Every piece was special, and I loved reading the books that accompanied Samantha and told about her life growing up in the Victorian era.

A year or so ago, my daughters discovered my doll, which I am still a little possessive over, haha! They loved playing with her and all her special things- and I knew I wanted to get them a doll of their own from the American Girl store.

So, this year for their birthdays, we did just that! Liv and Lucy’s birthdays are 1 day apart, so it was the perfect opportunity to head to the Dallas store and celebrate! My niece Hayden Kate’s birthday is a few days before my girls’, so it worked out perfectly to celebrate all 3.

I let the girls pick out a special outfit at Target to wear, and of course they found the glitter unicorn headbands 😂. They ended up looking pretty cute! Quick photo with Dad before heading to the girls-only party.

I made advance reservations at the American Girl Bistro (I almost waited too late- call as much in advance as you can!) for brunch, and we headed to the store first thing that morning. I was so thankful that my mom, sister, and her daughter could come join the party.

We chose to forego the party option since it was just family that day, and I brought my own candles and lighter so we could sing to the girls, which worked out great. I’m still glad we made that decision, because our server ended up bringing them a birthday cupcake at the end of the meal anyway (we gave her a great tip! ;). However, there was a larger party going on near us, which happened to be for the daughter of a friend (kismet!)- and it looked like the girls were having a blast.

The menu has a set price for kids and adults, so that made budgeting easy- you can view the menu here. The food was plentiful- and good- not great- but the atmosphere was fun and staff was kind and helpful.

I had read that the Bistro has small highchairs for the dolls, and was sad that we would need to eat before shopping, so the girls wouldn’t have a doll to sit with. But we were very excited when we arrived and they had quite a few dolls to borrow for the meal. So, each of our girls got to pick a doll to sit with them. They LOVED this, and the servers even set plates and cups for the dolls, which was fun.

Once brunch was over, it was time to go downstairs and pick out a doll. I was just as excited as my girls were! I do wish that we had done a little more research before we went to the store, and perhaps picked out a doll online before we went. Having a plan on which doll each would get would have taken some of the stress out of buying 3 new dolls for our strong-willed 3, 4, and 5 year olds! But, it wasn’t too bad.

The sales people who are on the floor are very helpful, and in some of our chaos, explained to me that there are Bitty Babies, who look like actual babies, Wellie Wishers, who are 14” dolls- slightly smaller than the “norm”, American Girl dolls, who are the character dolls based in a particular time period (like my Samantha doll), and Truly Me dolls, who have a variety of different features and are made so that kids can have one that look like themselves (or not!).

The girls ended up getting the Truly Me dolls for the girls- and it was fun to find the ones with the same hair color, eye color, freckles or no freckles, etc. We also picked up a few accessory sets and extra outfits.

One of the things I think will be fun now that the girls have their own dolls is that you can bring them back to the store for a variety of services- hair styling, ear piercing- they even do real ear piercing on girls. Plus, we have an easy gift option for the next birthday/Christmas- because the accessories are endless! I love the variety and diversity that American Girl has in their products.

All in all, it was a great experience and I am sure we will be back- maybe for an Afternoon Tea and hair braiding!