My husband and I took our girls to the American Girl Place a couple weeks ago as part of our vacation. Let me preface this post by saying I like American Girl for their books and movies, but I am not a fan of dolls and frilly outfits. And I really don’t like the color pink. I know American Girl Place is sort of a mother-daughter special event, but I really wasn’t looking forward to going. I was going because my girls wanted to go, but I didn’t think it would be that big of a deal for me. It’s rare, but I can be wrong sometimes.
My husband signed us up at a nearby hotel that had an American Girl package. Katelynn and Kirstynn were greeted at the hotel desk with beds for their dolls (that they could keep) and later that evening while we were out at dinner, a plate of cookies and cupcakes arrived in our room for the kids (and the dolls of course) accompanied by 4 bottles of milk on ice. Very nice.
The next day we walked several Chicago length blocks to the store. It was pretty crowded for a Sunday morning, but we managed to find our way around and immediately started on the lower level, looking at the new dolls and viewing each museum-like “showcase”of each doll with several of the items she would have used during her era. They were basically scenes from each of the books.
We had an 11:30 lunch reservation and let me tell you – lunch at the American Girl Place is a trip and a half. They have seats for the dolls right at the table with you. The dolls are also presented with a plate and a small teacup. It’s not a cheap meal, but the food is excellent and they pay a lot of attention to detail. One thing that really impressed me was a small box of cards on the table. Each card had a discussion question on it. You were to read them aloud and have everyone at the table give an answer. My kids really loved this and I enjoyed answering the questions as well, especially when Kate showed me this one:
It’s may be too late for anyone to get tickets for this season, but that’s not going to stop me from giving a standing ovation to the cast and technical crew of the American Girl Revue in Chicago. We stayed for the show, which was an afterthought when we initially made our reservations, but we are so thankful we did. Even my husband, who wasn’t thrilled about this outing either, commented that it was an amazing show. The premise is that a group of girls (all played by very talented teenagers) have a club where they act out scenes from the American Girl books. The acting and singing was incredibly professional and the entire musical was riveting. I cannot tell you how inspiring it was. It not only encouraged girls to be positive and move forward, but it brought imagination to life and also gave the kids a sense that they could do the same things at home during their own playtime. Very creative and fun. If you can get tickets – go!! Hurry, the last performance is September 1st.
