Product Review: S'more Fun Camping Set

 I found that I could not resist the S'more Fun Camping Set from American Girl.

I was in Girl Scouts, and I really loved it.

Also, in the past long, cold winter with social distancing, the one thing I really wanted to do was to invite some friends over to toast marshmallows, but they lived too far away.

The set comes with a tent, a sleeping bag, a campfire, a s'more, marshmallows on a stick, a camping pie iron, and pie.

Here are pictures of the box. I don't keep boxes, but I take a picture for the blog.

Here is the tent. It can hold two dolls easily. It requires minimal assembly. The tent poles are already in there, you just have to pop them into their sockets.

The fire is pretty cool, you can put batteries in and it lights up and crackles. I don't care about the sound effects, I am too hard of hearing to tell the difference.

You needed a screw driver to put the batteries in to make it light up, so I didn't bother. I also worry about batteries corroding inside of toys.

I love the marshmallows on a stick and the s'more. The paint and size on them is very realistic. The s'more looks different on all four sides, and I love the realism.

If they ever put the s'more in a new series of the food blind bags, I would want at least two more.

And I think that this set would have been better with two s'mores and two marshmallows on sticks.

That would make it more fun to play with a pair of dolls.

A note on Anne: the doll on the right is my childhood doll Anne, A Girl of Today #6. I rarely fix her hair, but it was so hot and humid that I couldn't bear to see her hair loose, so I put it in a ponytail.

This picture shows the pie iron and the pie, which is interesting.

I consider myself a reasonable experienced Scout and camper, and I never saw a pie iron like this.

It seems like it would not be totally user friendly, especially for kids.

It's nicely made, but I would rather have more marshmallow sticks and s'mores in the set.

Or hot dogs.

Something more common and kid-friendly.

Tenney showed up to lead the campfire sing-along.

I never intended to keep Tenney as her book character. I think now that she is going to be Saige's best friend Tessa from the book, who does play the guitar. I am going to have to re-read Saige's books. 

But it fits! Tessa plays the guitar, I think she's blond in the movie, and I wanted to give Tenney a new name that starts with T as homage to her canonical character.

I love this camping set. It's not for year-round usage, at least not where I live, but it's very nicely made and it folds up to be smaller for storage. That's always a plus.

I think I will be using it for more doll shoots for sure!

As you can see, I didn't photograph the sleeping bag in this shoot, so I need to do that as well.

14 Inch Brownie Uniform

I found that Walmart.com had a variety of 14 inch doll clothes for sale.

Some of them are very obvious American Girl knock offs, which is kind of funny.

Anyway, I could not resist the 14 inch doll Brownie uniform. I looked at the Junior uniforms too, because I consider my Hearts for Hearts for be more of a Junior age level than Brownies.

However, the Brownie uniform was somehow much cuter.

Aaaand it's adorable.  The patches are embroidered on for realism, and the whole thing is just so cute.

This is a more recent Brownie uniform than the one I had as a Girl Scout. I admit it is cuter.

I would like to have a tiny version of the older Brownie uniform, just for nostalgia's sake.

Anne posed with Mosi. Normally, I don't think that the scale of American Girl dolls works well with Hearts for Hearts. The size difference in the hands is huge.

But the Girl Scout uniform adds a note of similarity that helps with the discrepancy in size.

Mosi is kind of like a mini Anne, anyway, with brown eyes and black hair with bangs. Too cute.

My doll sized Girl Scout collection is growing!

1918 Girl Scout Handbook for Dolls

Windstar of Jinjia Mixed Goods has outdone herself this time.

She made a pattern to create the original 1918 Girl Scout handbook.

According to her, at this time the requirements for girls were the same as for boys.

The book has printed pages inside that describe the different Girl Scout ranks and the merit badges that girls could earn.

The book is super detailed. It has pictures of the merit badges and more.

I was very glad that I did not have to earn the Morse code badge! It sounds very difficult.

I am SO excited to add this to my collection of doll books!

This book is not currently listed on her etsy shop.

If you wish to purchase the pattern to print and create this mini book, you can message Windstar through her shop on etsy, Jinjia Mixed Goods.

We are the Girl Scouts

I have been meaning to do a Girl Scout post for some time. Years, actually.

I have two different Junior Girl Scout uniforms that I wanted to compare. 

Then I got some Girl Scout cookies made by Pippaloo, and I really had to make this post!

Anne and Kanani are wearing the Girl Scout uniforms.

Anne is wearing the Girl Scout uniform made by American Girl, back when it was the Pleasant Company.

 I have a great fondness for this uniform. It has lots of pieces and is very authentic.

Back when the Pleasant Company started the Girl of Today line, you could write in and suggest outfits that you wanted to see offered. I wrote that I wanted a Girl Scout uniform!

I never heard back, but as you can see, they made the uniform.

I am probably not the only one who suggested it, and I am sure they had other factors in making the uniform, but it still makes me very happy.

Kanani's uniform is off brand. I believe it was made by Emily Rose doll clothes.

You can see the original post I wrote here.

An identical uniform is for sale here.

Both uniforms have good points. The insignia on Kanani's uniform is much larger, but it is embroidered.

That makes it look more  like real patches.

The insignia on Anne's uniform is printed, but I think it looks more in scale.

The tab on Kanani's shirt in particular looks loo large and a bit awkward to me.
You actually can't see the tab well in these pictures, because it is hidden by her hair.

The worst thing is that the skirt for the Emily Rose brand uniform is too tight, and there is sort of a gap in the back. I can just barely get it to snap closed on Kanani.

The cookies by Pippaloo are gorgeous. The detail is amazing.

I was also amazed at how small they are!

You can easily tell which cookie is which.

Even Tagalongs and Thin Mints are distinguishable. That's amazing when they are both round, brown cookies.

I am so happy with the doll sized Girl Scout items that I own.

This is a really special part of my collection, and there will likely be more posts on the subject in the future.

Girl Scout uniform pattern!

I just saw this new pattern for a 1914 Girl Scout uniform!



It is so fabulous and I love it!

It is available at Pixie Faire from Forget Me Not Designs, which is not a designer I had heard of before.

I will be paying close attention to them in the future, believe me!

They also have some wonderful space outfit patterns for Luciana.

This is specially cool to me, because I once got to model a uniform from this time period for a Girl Scout fashion show.

I love the Girl Scouts, I love period clothes, I love doll clothes... this hits ALL my buttons.

Girl Scouts, Growing Strong!

One of my dear friends just sent me this off-brand Girl Scout Juniors uniform.

I am so excited! I already had the official American Girl Juniors uniform. Now I can have a Girl Scout troop of two!

It looks so cute on Ellie!
The tab is held on with velcro over a white fabric tab sewn onto the shirt, so you can remove the tab and use it with another outfit.
The shoes did not come with it, they are Kit's.
I think some of the the insignia on the sash are in the wrong order (on the bottom half), but I haven't read a Girl Scout manual in a few years. Maybe it changed.
The skirt even has pockets!

I think she's prepared. For what? Anything!

My friend bought this off of Amazon, and the packaging said Emily Rose.

I think this is a great outfit, and am so pleased to own it!