I am astounded to see the re branding and huge jump in the cost of the Bitty Baby Line. As a parent I am horrified at the cost increase. I have not heard a justification for the increase and that doesn't sit well with me.
The above is the $180 Deluxe Set offered by American Girl. There are 11 new bitty babies I can see on the website.
As a doll lover and collector I would love to see dolls accessible to every girl and increasing the cost of Bitty Baby doesn't make access to these dolls easy. I am however still a huge fan of bitty baby and thanking my lucky stars that I lucked in to mine for $2.
The 18 inch dolls have realistic hair and a much larger range of products designed to enhance play. I am not seeing that in the Bitty Line. So would I pay $80 for a baby when I could bay $110 and get a doll that she will play with much longer???? My money is on the 18 inch doll. When the Bitty Baby's were priced less we bought both. Now I can not say imagine to many of us would buy both at the same time.
That being said I am excited to see some of the new arrivals for fall. Such as the new doll shown above. I think she is stunning!
I think this is well designed for maximum play potential.
I would love to know what you all think. As parents how does this affect your purchasing abilities? As doll collectors do you see any value in the new releases? As doll lovers what is on your must have list? As girls what is on your wish list?
As with all my posts I would love to hear from you so please leave me a comment here or email me at karenmowen@gmail.com
I agree with you on pretty much everything. Increasing the cost of Bitty Baby by more than 50% of the original price is not a good move. I personally never cared for the looks of Bitty Baby, so we wouldn't have bought one anyway. BUT I'm beginning to wonder if the Twins will be "redesigned" and repriced next ... And then the Girls. I understand that everything has gone up in price (including their materials costs), but that's too much of a price jump, IMO.
ReplyDeleteI still love AG (especially the Twins and Girls), but I can't say that I'm a fan of the "money, money, money" mindset that appears to be coming from the company lately.
Oh, and I'd definitely buy another doll over the salon chair, neat as it is! :)