American Girl tops ChiIL Mama's Great Gifts List. American Girl has an impressive commitment to literacy and philanthropy. They publish an exciting array of books that get girls interested in reading and engaged with history. And of course the dolls and accessories are adorable, well made, and so much fun to collect.
Look Ma! No lines!
We were given an amazing opportunity with Mastercard's Priceless Chicago perks. The last weekend of October, we got to meet and interview author Valerie Tripp, shop at American Girl Place Chicago an hour before the store opened to the public, and have a fabulous brunch at the American Girl Cafe! It was a priceless experience to share with my 9 year old daughter.
Author, Valerie Tripp, was personable and wonderful.
Mastercard is offering another special early access/brunch for purchase by the public in December. We'll have all the details as soon as they're available. This one will be exclusively for Citibank Mastercard holders, so get your plastic ready, or apply today. Highly recommended!
It was truly a treat to meet Valerie Tripp, one of the original American Girl book authors and personal, long time friend of company founder, Pleasant. Valerie is a prolific writer whose American Girl books about Felicity, Kit, Josefina, Molly, and Samantha are well loved and read around the world.
Samantha, Sage, Caroline & Kanani share brunch at the famous & fabulous American Girl Cafe
Something Old/Something New:
We enjoyed a fabulous brunch in the American Girl Cafe with many press and blogger friends, their daughters and lucky members of the Mastercard holding public. Before we went, my daughter Sage had trouble narrowing down just which American Girl dolls would get to come along on our adventure.
That morning she was elated to open her brand new historical character doll, Caroline, so of course she decided to bring her. We had saved Caroline for the day of our Mastercard Priceless Chicago brunch and let the excitement and anticipation build.
Then, of course, Sage also wanted to bring her Samantha doll and books for Valerie to sign. So, we had one of the oldest, original Pleasant Company American Girl Dolls and the very newest of the collection on board. Finally, Sage wanted Kanani--the Hawaiian girl of the year from 2011 along for a trip to the salon. Her long, lovely hair does tend to tangle when the doll is well loved and played with often. So she joined our special shopping day, too!
Kanani's wearing a vintage American Girl Olympic Suit with a medal (from gymnast McKenna's 2012 collection) from our recent meeting with real Olympic Medalist, Aly Raisman, also at American Girl Place, Chicago, a few weeks before. We also have McKenna, they gymnast doll of the year 2012, but Kanani resembles Sage more closely, so she chose to dress her as a gymnast instead.
Click here for our photo filled feature on our recent meeting with real life Olympic Gold Medalist, Aly Raisman
Before:
Although her messy buns were cute and matched Sagezilla's own gymnast buns, the doll was in need of some pro hair styling help! We'd never been to the Doll Salon before and left quite impressed. For $20, Kanani left with a super cool lattice style, two long fishbone braids, and patriotic ribbons to match her Olympic suit!
After:
Check back with ChiIL Mama like we vote in Chi, IL...early and often. We will be publishing our original video interview with Valerie Tripp along with some footage of her brunch talk in the very near future. We'll also have a big American Girl book give away up this month, an American Girl Cafe Birthday Party feature, and more.
If you've got a young, American girl in your life, this opportunity truly is a priceless day out together!
*Thanks again to Mastercard for brunch with Valerie Tripp, a $50 gift card to use during our fun day, and early access to the store. Thanks to American Girl/Mattel for providing us with books, dolls & magazines to review and great giveaways for our readers over the years. All opinions are our own.
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