My family just returned from a family vacation on Oahu in Hawaii. While we were there we knew we had to make time to visit the American Girl store at Ala Moana Shopping Center in Waikiki.
My daughter absolutely loves her American Girl dolls. She loves dressing them, doing their hair and bringing them with her when she visits friends. We do not have an American Girl store in our city so we knew we had to visit the American Girl store while on vacation. My daughter brought her My American Girl doll, Alicia, on our trip especially to visit the store.
We arrived at the beautiful American Girl store and were greeted by Jenn, the store manager.
Jenn showed us around the store. She shared so much great information about everything American Girl. We got to see the latest American Girl Doll outfits and accessories.
{The 2015 Girl of the Year: Grace Thomas}
Soon Jenn led us to the 2015 Girl of Year, Grace Thomas.
Here are a few things you need to know about Grace:
- She is 9 years old
- She lives in Boston
- She has a French Bulldog named Bonbon
- She loves baking
- She is an entrepreneur at heart
- She travels to Paris and learns how to bake French pastries and more
- Once she returns home she starts a bakery business with her two best friends
Grace Thomas is so beautiful and talented. We loved her so much that we had to take her home with us!
Grace comes with a cute sparkly graphic t-shirt and pink skirt, pink underwear, boots and a charm bracelet that her mom gave her. She also comes with a paperback book. Her long shinny brown hair has cute side-swept bangs and a small braid.
You can purchase several extra products that go along with Grace including a city outfit, a baking outfit and an amazing pastry cart.
There are currently two Grace Thomas books available. The first book, Grace, is included with the doll. You can also purchase this book on it’s own. The second book, Grace Stir’s it up! is about Grace and her friends as they start their business. It also focusses on Grace learning how to manage both a business and train her new puppy.
{For Goodness, Bake!}
This year, American Girl has created a fundraising program called For Goodness, Bake! Throughout the year American Girl is encouraging girls to host bake sales and to donate proceeds to No Kid Hungry.
Once you register at Bake.NoKidHungry.org you will receive your free bake sale tool kit. After you collect $35 in online donations in the first three weeks after you sign up you will receive a t-shirt, balloons and coupons from the For Goodness, Bake! sponsors.
For Goodness, Bake! is a great way to encourage young girls to host bake sales in their communities to help end childhood hunger in America.
My daughter absolutely loves Grace Thomas. She has barely left her sight since we brought her home with us.
The 2015 American Girl of the year is a gorgeous doll. This doll and accessories are extremely well made, you can tell they are quality products. I highly recommend American Girl dolls.
{Where to Buy}
The American Girl store in Ala Moana Center in Honolulu is a temporary store. You can purchase Grace Thomas and other American Girl products at American Girl stores across the USA.
In Canada, you can purchase the 2015 American Girl of the year at select Chapters/Indigo stores. You can also purchase her online on the American Girl website.
My girl would go nuts in this store!
I’m sure most little girls would be thrilled to be able to visit any American Girl store. Me I’d be thrilled to be in Honolulu 🙂
My little girl is all grown up now and left the nest,your daughter is beautiful and her Doll is real cute
wow, what a dream come true. i have my american girl doll from when i was a girl. they only had a catalog back then lol
What an amazing day for her! I loved my American Girl Dolls when I was younger too. I wish they’d make a boy doll. (Not just the boy baby doll.)
My daughter loved American Girl dolls when she was younger. It was always fun to go and buy outfits for her. My daughter is now 17 and still has her doll.
Ah, that’s nice to hear. I hope that mine will always keep hers too.
Your daughter looked like she had a good time. I didn’t know they had a whole store for American Dolls.
Looks like an amazing time, I hope you had tons of fun!
American Girl is a great store! I love all the accessories they sell for the dolls!
I think American Girls are so cool! The dolls are quite beautiful!
Oh my goodness, what HEAVEN. My girls wouldn’t know what to do first. This really has to be the coolest store ever. Thanks for sharing.
I love that American Girl keeps coming out with new dolls!! I love that each one has different interest to appeal to more girls!
I always wanted an Addie doll, growing up. My daughter’s too young for this quite yet.
What an amazing experience for little one (and mom). I am sure my daughter would have a blast.
Yes! It was such a great experience. I’m still smiling when I think about it. We are AG fans for life!
Looks like a fantastic adventure. My daughter has Grace Thomas and she absolutely adores her.
Isn’t Grace the best? They did a great job with the GOTY this year!
My girls are dying to take Grace Thomas home. She is so cute!
She is gorgeous! I’m sure they would love her!
What an adorable little girl you have! This is seriously every little girl’s dream – would have loved it when I was her age!
Thanks Meagan! We felt so special when at the store. I think it was the highlight of her trip!
What a fabulous experience for your daughter, she must have had a blast! I’ve heard of American Girl dolls in passing mostly, but the parents that spoke about it always have this excited look about them, like they did something amazing by getting this doll for their children, which is cool!
Just looking at their store through your pics though, I can entirely see why everyone is so excited over these dolls! I also love that, at nine years old, Grace has traveled to Paris to learn how to bake French pastries,and then opens a biz with her two best friends.
Are there any American *Women* dolls that I can admire and look up to now?? At 35, I’ve still never been to Paris, but its on my travel to do list, heh.
Yes Aeryn Lynne, the shopping experience was amazing! There is so much to look at in the store, so many cool accessories and dolls. I also love that Grace travels to such a wonderful city at only 9 years old. My daughter has a bit of a travel bug so I think she was very impressed by Grace’s travel experience.
I wish they made an American *woman* doll. That would be too fun!
What a great adventure! My DD has a MapleLeaf Girl (Canada’s version) that she loves to pieces. It is a great size and so much fun to dress and do her hair.Going to the store would be a real treat!
It was such a treat Jenn. We had such a good time. The AG products are so beautiful and the staff was so kind and helpful.
My daughter is getting close to the age where she will be getting into the American Doll era. I can’t wait. I have always loved the American Dolls. I love the stories behind them. And they are always so inspiring for young girls.
The stories behind the dolls are so great Amber. I hope my daughter is into American Girl for a LONG time!
My daughter has the itty bitty twins. And recently this Spring Break we too added Geace Thomas. We visited the American Girl Store in chapters in Vancouver. We had never been. We have never been to any of the stores before. I was with someone who had and she said the selection at the one in Vancouver is great. Of course they don’t have the twins there but you can purchase any American girl there as well as doll of the year. They have lots of outfit selections and accessories. I was pleasantly surprised. I did recently read that the location on Robson is closing but they said they will be moving the American Girl stuff to the chapters location on Granville street. We will def have to make a trip to the mainland in the summer as well as for some xmas shopping. The staff were so nice. Oh and we had the ears pierced. They do ear piercing and they have a salon. Made my girls whole year !!! I actually want one 🙂
Isn’t Grace so beautiful? I love that she travels and bakes too. I also really enjoyed the Robson Chapters store. I’m happy they are moving the AG store to the Granville store. We’ll have to check it out next time we are in Vancouver.
I don’t have kids, but I’ve always loved American girl dolls. I love how each doll has a story that goes with it.
I have a son, so I’ve never gotten to do anything like this. =( I love my son to death, but there are only so many explosions and action figures a girl can take!
LOL. I’m lucky to have a girl and a boy. Best of both worlds! Maybe you’ll have a girl to buy for one day 😉
That must have been the highlight of her young life. What a fun day for her.
You have no idea how excited she was Robin. She absolutely loves her new doll. It’s the sweetest thing.