A Dollhouse Find!

[meredithhankins]

I've been lurking here for awhile and enjoying the discussions about toys and play. I work with special needs children in both early intervention and preschool and had a childhood where creative play was encouraged, so this has been very refreshing.

This Christmas, I was planning on asking my mom to get my 2.5 year old a wooden dollhouse (like those made by Plan Toys). However, when I when to a local consignment sale, I found a similar wooden dollhouse with furniture for $30.00!: The tag read; "Waldorf Dollhouse, solid wood, imported from Germany". Now, I don't know just how authentic the description is, but since a Plan Dollhouse of the "My First" variety would run around $200 with house, furniture, people, etc. this was a true bargain. Picked DD up some bendy people and we have had a fun weekend with the new house. No, I didn't wait until Christmas!

Thanks for all the info ladies-you are very fun!

[E.V. Lowi]

What a happy story! Thanks for sharing.

[zipworth]

That is a great find! Lucky!

[Miss Information]

: : :

I love finding bargains like that.

I found a brand new Ryan's Room Fairy Forest for $20 (marked down from $100 retail) and extra fairy accessories (normally costing $14.95) for 50 cents each at a discount retailer once after Christmas clearance. I was almost dizzy with excitement about that.

You did great! I usually wait until I can find great deals like that too, only this once I'm not. Dd2 is having a birthday next month, and I did go ahead and buy the Plan Toys my first dollhouse for $60. I returned some books I didn't really need (impulse buy) that cost $30, so in my mind, I spent only $30 on the dollhouse. (that's exactly how I justified it to dh.... ). And I used the super saver shipping so it cost nothing to ship. Gotta love that.

I went ahead and bought it since I got rid of almost all of their little people playsets, including the dollhouse.

AFA the accessory sets for our dollhouse, I'm going to improvise and help dd make some. Right now the fairies (and a few playmobil toddler people) will live in it until I get (or make, but that's unlikely), bendy dolls.

The way I figure it, we have just bought peace of mind for the nontoxic and natural wood. And you did better than me on that end of it.

Congrats on your steal.

BTW, there's nothing wrong with a little "Christmas in July - I mean August".

[mom2noah]

The same thing happened to me last Wednesday and I am STILL on cloud 9. I got a 3 story Battat doll house (as tall as my 16 month old DD!) that is fully furnished and comes with a family of 4, and a fully furnished seperate patio and garage and car. The thing would have cost hundreds of dollars new. I paid $50. I found it on Craigslist and had to beat out a bunch of people to get it. The lady said it was about 4-5 years old but it looks brand new. She had two little boys and they never played with it.

Congratulations on your score! Isn't it a great feeling?

[meredithhankins]

I went ahead and bought it since I got rid of almost all of their little people playsets, including the dollhouse.

Same at our house. They are on the way out the door (Actually to my work to use in therapy )! You know, I LOVED Little People as a kid. We had the castle, the dollhouse, the garage, the school, etc. Hours of play. It's just not the same anymore. DD has the farm and the house and they've maybe been played with ten times in ten months. The animals and people get carried around, but not much else. I guess all of those nice pieces that prompted creative play were choking hazards.

My mom and I noticed that DD played with a Plan dollhouse for thirty minutes at this place: http://www.thewonderplace.com/ . She (who bought said Little People) said we should get one of these and ditch the Fisher Price stuff!

BTW, there's nothing wrong with a little "Christmas in July - I mean August".

Yeah, and with DD being mildly ill and very cranky, it was a Godsend! I'm still very proud of my find. This morning before work I gazed upon it in her playspace and gave a little sigh! :

[Miss Information]

Wow, that place looks awesome.

It reminds me of a children's museum about an hour away. It's similar, but not nearly as nice as the one you went to.

But yes, my dd2 always goes to the Ryan's room home again home again dollhouse (similar to the Plan Toys My first dollhouse) at a children's toy store around here that has a little play area for the kids to try out the toys while the parents shop. She spends most all of her time playing with it.

And when asked what she wanted for her birthday, she said a dollhouse like the one she played with at the play area and the dolls to go with it. So I know it will get a lot of use.

I hope your little one feels better soon, too.

[isaberg]

Craigslist.org is fabulous for this - I found our set there for $50 - got it home, and realized that I now had every possible accessory. It would have cost something like $360 retail: . I had to give furniture away, as the kneebiter was getting way too overwhelmed with all the stuff.... :-)