Jen learns a valuable lesson

I’ve mentioned here before about how the girls love their American Girl dolls.

Of course, if a couple of girls have some American Girl dolls, you can imagine what follows. Clothes, accessories, dolls for the dolls, furniture, and even transportation. If we had the space and the inclination, we could easily set aside a room in our house and call it the American Girl room.

It has reached the point that I’ve started recycling the American Girl catalogs as soon as they arrive in the mail, as the girls really don’t need any inspiration for what doll items are ostensibly missing in their lives.

The American Girl Company powers-that-be, in their vast wisdom and marketing savvy, figured out a few years ago that movies would be an excellent addition to their ever-growing empire of dolls and books and whatnot. They produced a movie based on the Samantha books and it debuted on TV at the beginning of the holiday season, thereby causing thousands of girls across the country to have a renewed interest in their dolls RIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS. I’m sure there was absolutely NO thought put into the timing.

We didn’t watch the movie, as it was on TV and there were ads. Instead, I waited a few weeks and ordered the DVD, which the girls have watched approximately 517 times.

The movie was such a hit that Felicity followed the next year with exactly the same timing and exactly the same post-movie shopping frenzy. Then Molly was in 2006. We got the DVD’s for both, natch.

Last year, we waited to hear which American Girl doll/character would be made into the next movie. To our surprise, there was no movie released on TV at the beginning of the holiday season. Oh no, the American Girl people are much smarter than that. Instead, Kit Kittredge will be in theaters across the country next month.

And, as you can imagine, the marketing machine is in full gear.

Earlier this week, we got something in the mail from the American Girl Company. Seeing that it was about the movie, and since I am planning to take the girls to see it, I handed it to Graceful and Elegant without thoroughly vetting it first.

Uh oh.

Not only was this mailing about the movie, it was about the doll and all the wonderful things you can buy for your doll. I’m not just talking about the $100 doll and her $100 best friend. Nor am I referring to the $30 outfits or Kit’s $22 typewriter. Oh no, it gets much more insane than that. It is possible to buy your precious daughter a tree house for her doll — just like the one in the movie.

Now before you say, “Oh, how fun!” I suggest you go take a look at that link. Go on, I’ll wait here for you.

Cute, isn’t it? Yes, your daughter could have SO MUCH FUN playing with it. Did you happen to notice the price? $250. Yes, you read that correctly. 250 large ones. All because you love your daughter so very much and want her to be happy. For less than that, I could buy some lumber and build my children a real tree house. Oh wait, I already have.

I can’t decide if the American Girl Company people are smoking the crack pipe if they think people will buy that tree house or if they really are geniuses, because they know people will in fact fork over that kind of money for their daughters and granddaughters.

I’m sure it’s a wonderful tree house. I know I would have loved it when I was Graceful and Elegant’s age. I know for a fact that my girls would love to have that tree house, as they have discussed it with me and within my hearing numerous times since I foolishly handed them that mailing. They have come up with various strategies, including withdrawing money from their personal savings accounts, as well as telling a certain pair of grandparents straight up about the doll house (and then batting their eyelashes adorably, I suppose). They may be in elementary school, but they’re not stupid and they’re quickly learning which grandparents they could sucker into this if allowed.

Now here’s where I’m going to confess my lunacy. For about an hour there, I contemplated having Santa give the girls that tree house this coming Christmas. I reasoned that Santa usually spends about $100-125 per child, so this would be a little more money, but not a huge amount and it wouldn’t break Santa’s budget.

Luckily, I mentioned this to Pete, who immediately talked me off the ledge. In addition to forking over a ridiculous amount of money for a TOY, he reminded me of the sheer size of this toy. It’s 3′ tall and 3′ wide. That’s a lot of space to add to the already large amount of space that our American Girl crappola takes up. I agreed that he was right and we agreed that this would not be a wise purchase.

Yesterday, I kept thinking about that damn tree house and how much I would have loved it as a child and how much my girls would enjoy it. Buying it was out, I mused, but could I make one? Hell yes, I am that crafty. I have several large boxes in the basement; I’ll bet one of them would be just the right size.

So, instead of working hard yesterday while my husband and daughters were off on an amusement park jaunt, I spent a couple of hours channeling my inner Martha Stewart.

Pete recently installed a new sink and counter in our bathroom and that box was still lurking near our recycling bin. It turns out it was the right size:

What you see here is the box, plus some other pieces of cardboard that I used to create a sloped roof — instant attic, which I can assure you that Kit’s tree house doesn’t have.

As I was taping everything together, it occurred to me that I could easily cut a window to allow more light into the tree house, so I did. The window has working shutters.

While I was doing that, I remembered that I had plenty of paint in a variety of colors, so why not slap on a couple of coats to add some color? So I did. In fact, I used several colors.

While I was painting, I glanced over at the original American Girl brochure that started this whole mess. I couldn’t help but notice some of the fun accessories included with that tree house, including some sort of little beaded chandelier. Why not make one of those, I thought? So I did. It doesn’t actually light up, but that’s simply because I have no practical knowledge of electricity, other than it could kill me.

As I was beading, I thought, why not make some cute paper lanterns? So I did.

As I was working on the lanterns, I thought, why not add some leaves and branches to really make this look like a tree house? I thought about that a little more and then remembered that I had some fake flowers stashed in closet. Why not use those? So I did.

At that point, I decided that I had done enough and it was time to stop working. I moved the dollhouse in the living room, for the girls to discover when they came home. Of course, every time I walked by, I started second-guessing myself. I should have done a better job. The girls aren’t going to like it. It’s a poor substitute for the fancy schmancy doll tree house.

I need not have worried:

Do you like the forest we created around the tree house?

So, I learned a lesson yesterday — a reminder that expensive toys are not necessary. Imagination is what wins every time.