Doll-A-Day 2023 # 1: Strong Beautiful You by Demdaco

   Here it is the first day of a new year, a new year of Doll-A-Day. I've been meaning to get back to Doll-A-Day for the last couple of years. I only meant to take a year off. In that year I was going to spend some time getting posts ready when I had time, and then when the next year arrived, all I would have to do would be pop on one of the already prepared posts. That way I wasn't spending so much time working on the blog constantly. Of course, when you know you have time, you put things off. It's like how we live right here in the town where the home of President Harding is, and we lived here for years before we ever visited it, and only then because we took Ken's sister!  Or how I lived across the street from Greenwich Park for three months, and never visited the observatory or the meridian. (And in spite of planning to do that on our recent trip, I still didn't!) So, the new year came, and I wasn't prepared. (I have lots of posts written, but not photographed.) And if I miss the first day of the year, then it's not a doll every day, is it? So I put it off, and then did the same thing last year. If the truth be told, I'm really not much better prepared this year, but I'm doing it anyway!

  For today's doll, we're looking at one I spotted recently while Christmas shopping at Barnes and Noble. She's a Strong Beautiful You doll made by Demdaco.

She's 14 inches tall.

  She's a simple soft doll, but her box and tag proclaim her to be much more.

That's fine, and it's a good idea, but I fail to see how she represents any of these ideas. Just by being her? The side of her box makes some good suggestions.

I suppose if the parents read the box and tag to the kid? How is the kid getting these things from a plain soft doll? I fail to see how she represents these things. I mean, I like the idea, but how is any of this made obvious by this doll? Mind you, I like the doll. She's cute, and looks cuddly and cozy. She isn't made out of as sturdy a fabric as the Maileg Ginger Brother I reviewed a while back. She is made of a soft, probably somewhat stretchy fabric, (cotton and polyester), and she has sewn on clothes and details like her velour hair, and embroidered facial features.

 I think parents who would buy a toy making these claims, would be raising their little girl to have these ideals anyway. Maybe that's where those come in. The Demdaco website is still selling these dolls, and their description reads:

 Baby's new best friend: the...Strong Wonderful You collection. This plush doll will help teach your little one they're special, and they're differences are something to be treasured.

Nice, but grammatically incorrect.  ('Their' differences, not 'they're'.) And why is it The Strong Wonderful You collection, when the box says Strong Beautiful You? Is it a separate series? The accompanying picture of the doll looks exactly the same except for the colouring. Same long thin legs and same outfit.

  There are other dolls in this line. There is a brown haired girl with embroidered on glasses and a light brown complexion, a black haired girl with a light brown complexion, a blonde girl with a light tan complexion, an African American girl with dark brown complexion, and an African American boy with a dark brown complexion. His outfit is a lot more simple than the girls', but I love his hair! And, oh my lord! There's a blonde boy in glasses! Glasses! I love boy dolls, and dolls in glasses. Too bad B&N didn't have that one.

  The dolls are marketed by  DD Traders Inc., Leawood, Kansas, but are made in China. Since the website describes them as something your 'baby' will love, I'm going to say their age recommendation is pretty young. I can't see anything on them that a baby could choke on, unless they had some teeth and decided to chew that thin tulle around the doll's ankles. They are also machine washable, which is good for a baby toy. (Hang to dry.)

  At the moment these cute, soft, cuddly dolls are clearanced to $10 at a local Barnes and Noble. On the Barnes and Noble website they have this red haired girl, and the blonde girl, for $22.39, marked down from $31.99. The Demdaco website has them marked down to $27. On Amazon they are $33.79, and on another site I found them for $34.99.  I'm cheap, so I went back after Christmas, hoping B&N had marked them down to $5, but no such luck.

  If these dolls and others of their ilk are sold these days, and are successful, why can't Raggedy Ann and Andy be? I guess their yarn hair isn't baby safe, and they aren't machine washable, but they could be. And the yarn hair could be switched for hair like this doll has, made to resemble the originals. Just a thought, after yesterday's post. 

    See you tomorrow for another doll. I have some good ones coming up!