25% Off at BarbieCollector.com!

Happy Birthday, Barbie!

54 years of making memories! In celebration  BarbieCollector.com is offer 25% off site wide today only. Discount will be automatically applied at checkout. (Membership fees and Club exclusives excluded.) In light of the sale, I decided to go ahead and pre-order the 2013 Dorothy doll to tag along with the Wicked Witch of the West I previously pre-ordered. I wasn't sure but with the sale I decided to go ahead and get her. She's a cutie and I don't have any Dorothy dolls. I considered a couple other dolls but I'll be taking a trip in April and should be hitting both the Disney Store and the American Girl Place up in Chicago so I'm trying to save my pennies for that. :)

DisneyStore.com Sales

Recieved this in my email tonight! Offer begins 12/9/12 at 9:00pm PT, expires 11:59pm 12/10/12, so you better hop on this one! :) To further encourage you, here's some of the doll deals going on right now:

Mini Plush Dolls - $6 each. LOVE these little dolls! They are SO cute. Includes all of the Mini Bean Bag Plushes. I got the Pooh Bear and red Mini Mouse for the babies in the family for Christmas, and my neice (8 months) LOVES the Snow White I got her!
12" Accessory Packs - $8 each
Classic 12" Dolls - $10 each
Large Plush Dolls - $12 each
Cinderella Mini Doll set - $12
DAC Dolls - $15 each. Includes Merida!
Queen Elinor, Triplets set, and Classic Merida - $15 each
17" Singing Princesses - $20 each
Mary Poppins Broadway - $29
Cinderella Doll Set - $29.50 (down from $49.50!)
Cinderella Doll & Carriage - $39.50
Cinderella Doll Gift Set - $49.50 (down from $79.50)
12" Disney Doll Collection - $79.50 (down from $99.50)

American Girl's Cyber Monday

Went shopping at AG.com for CM! This is what I ended up with...

1. Frosty Party outfit. I wanted a holiday outfit for Jess that went along with the formal feel of Nicki's Midnight Holly dress, but not quite so frilly so not to conflict *too* much with Jess' personality. When I saw this on sale (down to $18 from $36) I had to snag it. I also loved that it ended up that Nick was in gold and Jess was in silver! "Silver and gold, silver and gold, on every Christmas tree..." Ahem, anyway.

Adorable! Love it love it love it. The outfit included a sweater, skirt, headband, and shoes. There was also a charm. The sweater and skirt have pretty details that add a frosted feel to the outfit - guess that's where it got it's name! The little headband takes a little bit of fuss to fit right, but that may be part due to Jess' glasses, and once I got it settled it stick.

Dolly shoes!

The Breakfast in Bed set. I had actually looked at this just a week or two before CM but ultimately decided I didn't want to pay the $28 price tag for it. But for $13 on sale? Yes please! My only regret is only buying one. SIGH. At midnight, trying to race to send in my order so nothing sold out on me, I forgot one little detail: the set is for ONE! I knew that! Didn't realize until after work that day that, heh, I wanted to set them up to have breakfast together and should have bought two. When I went to place a second order it sold out on me. Drat!

The set includes: serving tray, plate topped with waffles, strawberries and bowl of whipped cream (one piece), a glass of milk, a smoothie, cloth napkin, syrup bottle, and a note tucked inside an envelope. Originally the set also came with a metal fork, but I suppose they ran out of forks. Oh well, I have lots of doll sized forks that will do.

Here's Jess showing the scale of the set.

The smoothie is so cute. Really, the set caught my eye originally because of the smoothie and milk glass!

Blogger uploaded my photo sideways! Blah. Oh well. The note reads, "Violets are blue, roses are red, something for you - breakfast in bed!"

The last doll item I got - Kit's Produce and Preserves! I had noticed in the last catalog this set was noted as low quantities and thought it may appear on CM. I was right! The set was put on sale for $17 (from $34) and I was happy to purchase it.

Jess is modeling everything since Kit is in a box right now with half my other girls! The set includes: Two bunches of peaches and tomatoes, an apron, 2 canning jars, a metal strainer, a mixing bowl and a blue metal pot.

I'll start with the apron, since you can see it fairly well in this shot. It's really cute. I like the print and the little ruffle at the bottom. Kit will probably get a lot of wear out of this apron!

The strainer is made of metal and absolutely fabulous! I love it and is great for cooking for modern girls too. The bowl is so cute, I even ordered a second one as a replacement part. Never know when you'll need two bowls, right? We bake a lot in this house. Only makes sense to make sure my girls can bake too. Sometimes you need a couple bowls at once, you know?

Here are the bunched tomatoes and peaches inside the strainer and bowl. They sized them perfectly to sit in without it looking completely like, well, a plastic blob in a bowl. The tomatoes are shiny and the peaches have more of a matte finish. They are clumped, not single pieces, but really, as single pieces they'd be tiny and wouldn't stand a chance with kids. They'd roll all over the place, end up under the fridge, in the couch, behind a dresser... though it'd be nice to at least start with a couple single pieces. At least the peaches! Dolls eat peaches! Well, children eat peaches at least... Oh well. They're good sturdy pieces of plastic, at least.

The pot and canning jars. I love love love the pot! It's just like a real one - only missing a lid! What's up with that? But, it's so charming and perfect I will forgive that they overlooked the lid. Plus it's metal.

The jars I'm less impressed with. They're plastic, which I understand since they're for kids to play with, but the plastic is cloudy. If I hadn't pulled them right of the box I'd feel like they were used and smudgy. But they're just cloudy. And they don't open. And you don't can food in slices like that. This is pretty much my only disappointment with the set, is these jars. I wish the food inside looked more realistic, I wish the plastic were more clear, and I wish you could open the jars. Maybe they could clump the food so you could pull it out and have empty jars to start with and *then* make the dolls fill them - or even have four jars, two full and two empty (since you still have those bunched fruits to can!). 

Overall I wouldn't want to pay $34 for this set. I may have done $26, knowing it was on its way out. The $17 I paid for it, I am perfectly happy with. I do like the set - it's adorable, lots of play value for kids, will provide cute photos. I'm just saying I'm glad I bought it on sale and would have been disappointed to pay the $34 retail price tag for it. Although I will probably be keeping an eye open for different jars, may or may not find anything suitable.

I also got Samantha's mystery that was on sale for $3. No special reason, I just like to pick up the books I don't have whenever I see them on sale or in a thrift store. I'm not very far into it but I've liked the other mystery's I've read so I suspect I'll enjoy this one, too. :)

So that covers it for my AG Cyber Monday! They have some really great sales. I don't go in expecting any of my top list items on sale and just sell what they have and was not disappointed this year! Plus the three doll items I got seem to be sold out and gone for good. Next time I place an order I'll probably call and see if I can snag a few replacement parts though - Breakfast in Bed plate, smoothie, milk, and maybe another clump of peaches from the produce set. Or another bowl. They're just so freaking cute and the replacement was only $2!

Disney Store's Black Friday Deals!

A lot of them are normal sales, but time to start holiday shopping!

- DACs $20
- DAC Cinderella & accessories $39.50
- Cinderella Gift Set $59.50
- Mini Cinderella Doll Set $15
- Princess Collection $79.99
- 17" Singing Dolls $20 each
- Classic 12" dolls $10
- Fashion packs $8
- Large plush dolls $10
- Mary Poppins Broadway $29

And here's the big one --- Designer Villains $59.50! Not good for future lines but great deal for this line.

And on an American Girl note - Kit's Cookstove has sold out! Both the cookstove and the Produce & Preserves set had "Quantities Limited" in the description in the latest magazine, so this isn't very surprising. I would definitely suggest jumping to the Produce & Preserves set if you want it! Personally I don't want it enough to pay the retail price, but I may pop for it if it ends up a Cyber Monday deal.

Happy shopping!

DisneyStore.com Free Shipping!

Just dropping a quick note to let everyone know, there's free shipping sitewide with the code FREESHIP at checkout! Offer expires October 11th at 11:59 PM.

Cinderella Dolls on Sale

Disney Store has lots of Cinderella dolls and other toys on sale! A lot of them are 25% off along with many other Cinderella items, others are on sale with other dolls in their line.

16" Disney Animators Collection Doll - reg. $24.50, on sale for $18.37. DAC dolls are adorable! I absolutely love my Rapunzel and definitely recommend this line! They're definitely worth full price but on sale is even better. :)

17" Singing Princess - reg. $29.50, on sale for $20. I saw the 2011 dolls in person and they were all so lovely! I'm sure the 2012 versions are just as nice.

12" Mini Plush - reg. $9.50, on sale for $7.12 - I have the Belle in this line and gave the Snow White to my niece. My niece LOVES Snow White! I really like the smaller plush dolls because they're great for little little kids. My niece is about 5 months and can hold Snow White herself, and she's safe to be chewed on and rolled around with. As for myself, I think Belle is just darling and a cute little addition to my collection.

21/22" Plush Dolls (Cinderella, Prince Charming, Wedding Cinderella) - reg. $19.50, on sale for $14.62 

5" Mini Doll Set - reg. $19.50, on sale for $14.62. These little doll sets are so cute! I love when they come out with sets like this.

12" Doll Gift Set - reg. $79.50, on sale for $59.62 - includes Cinderella, Prince Charming, Fairy Godmother, and her stepmother and stepsisters - Lady Tremaine, Anastasia and Drizella! Also includes two extra outfits for Cinderella and a dress form. AWESOME set! Great price too, about $20 off.

Tea Party Play Set - reg. $24.50, on sale for $18.37. A cute little tea set with a teapot that opens into a carriage for fun play with Cinderella, Prince Charming and Fairy Godmother figurines.

Doll and "Happily Ever After" Carriage Set - reg. $59.50, on sale for $44.62. Includes carriage, horse, and 12" Cinderella wedding doll. Looks like a cute little set, however the reviews on DisneyStore.com sound like the carriage has issues, but if you really want to try it out on sale is the way to go.

Castle Magical Play Set - reg. $89.50, on sale for $67.12. Castle has magical sounds and lights and includes figurines of wedding Cinderella, Prince Charming, Fairy Godmother, and little mouse friends.

Disney Store Dolls on Sale...

DisneyStore.com has some dolls on sale, including:

10" Tink $7.99 (was $12.50); Select plush dolls $8 (were $19.50)

All 17" Singing Princesses $20 (were $29.50)

All Classic Dolls and Fashion Packs (excluding Merida) $10 (was $14.50)

Don't forget that there is FREE shipping on orders of $75 or more with the code SHIPTODAY! :)

Win Matilda, a Girl of All Time!

Dolls Magazine is hosting a giveaway for one Matilda doll, with the novel Matilda's Secrets and activity book Matilda's Keepsakes and Secrets! Enter by October 2, 2012. Enter Here!

And in case you need some more motivation to enter...

25% Off Cecile & Marie-Grace's Collection at American Girl

Automatically taken at check out - both online and in store.
I find unless you're spending a lot of money, if you're buying online the discount basically just covers shipping - but if you're not near an AG store (such as myself), that can be helpful anyway!

I'm thinking about getting little anniversary Cecile now... she's such a cutie! I did a mock order and it would cost me just under the original $22 - so again, basically free shipping.

I did a mock order of my "dream list" for this collection, and the savings would knock about $60 off of it. (My list includes Cecile, mini Cecile, one outfit, the chemise & crinoline, gold boots, and the accessories for both girls.) Shipping would be $20 so that knocks it down to $40. Still nice, but nothing I find worthy of freaking out over - except that AG never discounts actual dolls!

The offer goes through the 13th of November. (: