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| Cécile's ordering page, captured from the American Girl website |
After reading recent blogs and other reports about American Girl's plan to discontinue some of the 18-inch dolls in the historic doll collection, I thought about ordering Cécile Ray, whose ordering page is shown above. For a few weeks, I remained on the fence about making this thought a reality.
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| Letter from American Girl |
Even after receiving a personal letter from American Girl announcing their plan to discontinue Marie-Grace, Cécile, Ruthie, and Ivy, which notes, "quantities are limited," ordering remained a thought . It was not until I read Brini's post, A Present for Scarlet, where she writes about Scarlet's gift of a mini Cécile, that I searched and found a free shipping coupon and ordered my doll on June 10, 2014.
I went back to the coupon site this past Saturday to note that the coupon worked for me. The site wanted to know how much I saved, so I decided to cart Cécile, book and accessories to see how much shipping would have been without the coupon. I could not cart this bundle. I kept trying until I finally saw the red letters "Sold Out," as seen on the screen capture of Cécile's ordering page in the first image.
So thank you Brini for writing about Scarlet's mini Cécile, which influenced me to "just do it" and order my 18-inch Cécile. I am happy I ordered my doll before quantities were exhausted.
At the time of this writing, Ruthie has also sold out but limited quantities of Ivy (Asian American) and Marie-Grace (Caucasian) remain.
Epilogue:
After ordering, Cécile arrived quickly but remained in her shipping carton until the day this post was drafted. I could sense that my other two 18-inch American girls, Addy and Kaya, wanted to finally meet their new friend. Addy's rag doll, Ida Bean, who is permanently attached to Addy's Christmas dress, was eager to meet Cécile, too.
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| Addy to Kaya: I wonder who's in the box? Are you thinking it's who I'm thinking? |
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| Kaya to Addy: I don't know Addy, but I think I heard someone beg, 'Please let me out.'" |
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| Cécile in shipping box |
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| Almost out... |
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| Free at last! Cécile (center doll) poses with new friends Addy (left) and Kara (right). Gloves and a necklace (lying in front) were also included with Cécile in addition to her book, Meet Cécile. |
American Girl Discontinues Two Dolls of Color
American Girl Discontinuing Its Only Asian American Doll
American Girl Defends Decision...
dbg
I'm not familiar with AG dolls, but do you mechanically control their eyes or were you taking the photos with her laying on the ground and that's why her eyes were closed?
ReplyDeleteCongrats on getting her!
Hi Muff,
DeleteThe 18-inch dolls have open/close or sleep eyes (open when upright/closed when lying). The shipper was lying flat when the in-the-box photos were taken.
Thanks for the congrats!
dbg
I didn't like Cecile that much at first..I was not crazy about her meet dress.BUT I loved her accessories and her story! One of my fav movies is Eve's Bayou soo Cecile joined us because she depicts our history as AA in Louisiana.I love the beautiful plantation homes,dresses and this time period.
DeleteHi Doll Party,
DeleteI appreciate Cécile's story. Although she represents a girl from Louisiana in the 1850s, she is from a family of means. I wanted her here as a contrast to Addy's runaway slave story status.
dbg
It's such a shame that Cécile and Marie-Grace were discontinued, I loved that they were positioned in between what we usually think of as major US historic points.
ReplyDeleteYou've probably already noticed this, but just in case I thought I'd mentioned that the Cécile and Marie-Grace paper dolls are deeply discounted on AG's sale page (I'm not a huge fan of paper dolls, but for $5 I couldn't resist!).
Hi jSarie,
DeleteIt is a shame that these four dolls are being discontinued.
Thanks for letting me know about the paper dolls. I purchased a book for myself when they were released in 2011. I found out today that some of the dresses have been discounted, so I ordered Cécile's parlor dress, a mini Cécile, and another paper doll book. Today's purchases will be given to my niece for her upcoming birthday. She already has the 18-inch Cécile.
dbg
She looks so happy there! I'm, glad you took the plunge. I bought quite a few of the $5 paper doll books. I couldn't resist either. Unfortunately, I have not been able to play with them yet, but I did take them out of the box to see how they were made.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Vanessa.
DeleteIn hindsight, I should have purchased more of those paper doll books for my niece. The items I ordered for her arrived today.
dbg
Your very welcome! I'm glad you got her in time. I must say when I came back from my mini vacation my son made sure Scarlet and Cecile were still sitting pretty, lol. I think I want a bigger AG now that I see how cute all three look together.
ReplyDeleteThanks, again, Brini. I am glad Scarlet and Cecile were still sitting pretty upon your return. I hope you're able to add one of the larger AGs to Dotsville soon!
Deletedbg