I have taken dolls out in public for more than 20 years. For myself, a big part of having a doll in public is taking pictures of them at those locations. I am then able to share my photos with others online and I feel like there is a reason to have them at recreational sites when I photograph them. I would feel more uncomfortable carrying a doll in public without my camera. My other favorite way to connect with my dolls is to sew for them and make things for them. I also take pictures at home. My favorite easy bonding activity is to hug my dolls/hold them. I love to smell their heads and feel their hair!

Here’s an extra idea: repainting small accessory’s if you have doubles or just to bring new life into them!

My Mom and I go for rides and listen to the audiobooks of the historical dolls with the characters in the car with us 🍓

A suggestion I have is to find your local (general) doll show and bring an AG! Who knows who else will be there who’s also an AG collector? I’m meeting up with a local collector at my next one!! ❤ Thank you so much for the Shoutout! Nadia and I do write letters to accompany our item swap! It actually started because she missed your Columbus meetup and I wanted to send her the bracelets I made for the event! ❤️🫶🏻 I love all of these suggestions and I can’t wait to implement them asap ☺️

Loved this video, you have great ideas. Jumping off from your daydreaming suggestion - you could imagine and plan your dream dollhouse. I know the dimensions I’d like, first floor layout, and how many bedrooms etc. 😊

I am working on making a photo album of all my dolls in their outfits. I also wrote a story about my Willa’s skating outfit which will eventually be a book. I

This is an absolutely fantastic video, thank you for being inclusive and having ideas for everyone’s abilities! When I was bedbound for 6 months last year I had a shelf moved right at the end of my bed so that I could see my favourite dolls even though I physically couldn’t interact with them. You could also place one on your bedside table and gently run your fingers through their hair if you are able. I really love the suggestion of thinking about different scenarios or who would be your top 10 dolls etc, you could even make your dolls into card game characters like Pokémon (who has the most stamina, intelligence etc.). You can use your phone to record your voice and ideas if writing or typing is too difficult. My other tip is to join other communities (I’ve had good success with Reddit for other doll brands), I don’t even collect build a bears or AG but hang out in their communities as they inspire me hugely! Even watching AG doll adjacent content can help you engage with your collection.

If your dolls have a mini doll that comes with their mini book, you can read together

OMG, the comment from the person with chronic illness is like me. There's days I want to play but I just don't have the energy so I watch y'all on here 🍓🍓

What a FANTASTIC video! Thank you SO much. I'm also chronically unwell and spend a lot of time alone, in pain. My dolls are a great escape for this. I love the idea of writing their stories. I'm also a creative so when I feel ok, I love to sew outfits for them. Another thing I love to do is pose them and practice my drawing skills. If anyone reading is looking for a doll penpal...please say hi. I have not a soul who enjoys/shares my hobby. This was wonderfully inspiring to watch ❤❤❤😊

This was such a great idea for a video! Loved it--watched while cooking dinner! I've been looking for ways to reconnect with my dolls. I've been reading through all the 6-books sets and I'm now up to Molly, my childhood doll, whose books I haven't read since I was nine. I forgot some of the smaller details since I've seen her movie many times since initially reading her books, and it's fun to rediscover everything that's different. I love the idea of doll pen pals and think it would be even more fun to pretend that the actual dolls were writing letters to each other! The 35th anniversary puzzle was quite difficult so I ended up selling it (never actually finished it), but I recommend the virtual AG puzzles on the American Girl Doll News blog! My favorite part of the video is when you talked about "engaging in mental exercises" because I do this like 24/7! It's good to hear that someone else does this! You described it very well. I often do it while driving or with a boring task like washing dishes or just while eating my lunch at work. I also make up characters in my head and imagine what dolls they would pick out at the store or pretend they are talking about their collection with someone, things like that. I definitely could use some IRL doll friends...🤪

I make up stories about my dolls and their relationships and tell my mom about it 😂 i should start writing them down 🍓

Not a ag collector but I am a doll collector and this is a great video. I’d love for this list to be made into a pdf or something that you could use and look at at later times.

One of my favorite pastimes is writing my dolls "bios", including things like their favorite color, favorite movie, hobbies, how they're related to my other dolls, what their coffee order is, etc. Thanks for all the other good ideas!

Thank you for sharing this video! I needed this. Also, thank you for showing Tonks! Totally unrelated but I’d love a Harry Potter universe book or limited series on Tonks’ story. Loved her character in the books :)

she does have more voicing talent than she’s letting on, don’t let her fool you

How I connected with my doll was just hugging her. When I first opened her, she was as beautiful as I imagined, but that spark of joy was just missing. I had recently gone through a breakup I couldn't tell anyone about (conservative family) and I had been needing a hug, and hugging the doll was able to give me the space I needed to feel my emotions and wallow in them for a few minutes. And now I love my doll very much. She sits on my lap when I do homework.

I also found my dolls a comfort when I lost my mother 10 years ago. Although I missed her so much I would say mommy see what I got hopefully she knew that I got a new doll.

All of these, great ideas! My favorite things to do are mostly with Historicals. I like to research their time periods, especially their costumes or clothing! I also like to pretend they are the ancestors of my modern dolls and pair them up, sometimes using their last names. I have plans to take some black and white photos of Historical dolls and put them in photo albums for their modern doll family members! This will include faux cabinate card photos!😁 Since I sew, I have plans to include some Historical Mourning clothing, too. Another thing I like to do is switch some of the Historical outfits around on different historical dolls. By doing this, I found that many of Kirsten's clothing pieces can work for Addy and visa versa. I like some of Rebecca's drop wait dresses for Claudie, which work great, especially since poor Claudie barely has any clothes in her collection! Thank you, Kristie, for tweeking our imaginations!😊

I'm about half way through so I don't know if it's something you mentioned, but I DO have a bunch of those magazines.. not the subscription ones, but there was a series that like the catalogues, would come out periodically with crafting ideas in. I have all of them except one (man, I'd love to get that one!) and I've been meaning to scan them to share with other folks. Because they're stapled they're kinda tedious to scan (like I gotta sit there and flip the pages, etc), so I've not done it yet, but heck, I'm off for the summer, so I should do that, and the whole community can benefit from that!

You know I love taking my historicals to locations that match their times. My daughter and I have done movie nights with our dolls. We attend a doll tea party at a local museum. She also had her 8 yr birthday party at a local tea house and the girls were encouraged to bring their own dolls or stuffed animals to tea. I also like keep in my notebook app info on my dolls. When I got her, her mold, how much she was, and what "adventures" I've taken her on.

Great video! I was so excited to watch this because I had a rough few days and wanted some doll relaxation. When it popped up I had two dolls sitting in my lap just to brush their hair and zone out! By the time the video was over I realized I wanted them to be friends in my storyline. They bonded :-) My goal - and this is long term, zero pressure, just for me - is to create, if not complete books, at least illustrate a cover and have a basic story outline for my girls in the same pattern as the AG books. A Meet Book, a Birthday, Holiday, etc. and create the outfit for each book. Sewing doll clothes is what re-introduced me into this world as an adult. Having a format like that focuses my thoughts. I've made one Meet outfit so far for my girl whose personality comes through strongest to me and that was exciting. I resisted buying any accessories but I've picked up a few things - a mini lantern, a mini doll from the dollar store, a doll- sized cat (OK four cats) - but new props really help discover their personality the same way clothes can - some look "right" and some you think, oh she'd never wear that. Or hang out with a cat 😂 For some reason taking dolls outside is great fun. Photography is not my thing but even a basic photo in the sunlight is better than my dark house and brings them to life :-) I feel like - for me - they're meant to be out in the world and not on a shelf. Taking a doll on a trip is great fun too.

Thanks so much for these ideas! I have been into other hobbies lately, so I haven’t felt as close to my dolls. I’m definitely going to check out the podcasts because I am about halfway through the Dolls of Our Lives podcast and have read their book, so I’m super happy to learn about other ones! 🎉😊

Love this. So many ways to connect.Personally, I love the 52 week photo challenge. I have often thought I would take a year off but I always sign up again. Other photo challenges (like Halloween and Christmas) are fun ways to get creative. I like to sew and knit/crochet. I tried once to downsize but I couldn't get past the 'who can I get rid of' stage......had a literal panic attack.....lol. Well, I'm currently creating a rock wall for a photo idea. I better get to it. Thanks Kristie. Take care.

Hey Kristie, I have ADHD so I can’t typically watch a long video in one go, but I do really enjoy them as friendly background noise while I do chores or tasks that take ages for me. I also wanted to say before it slips my mind, that as someone who is chronically ill myself I found your use of language both kind and helpful in the intro ☺️ I’ll probably leave another comment when I watch the second half of the video later 😅 so, talk soon!!

I love all of these cute ideas! I recently took my 1990 Samantha doll to the L.A. American Girl Cafe and it was so much fun. I highly recommend this for other collectors! :)

My CYO mini me is now participating in the Fred Harvey era (hotels and train stops) of the 1920’s and 1930’s. I have a suitcase from Michael’s that has my collection of Fred Harvey postcards and other souvenirs with Claudie’s suitcase, several outfits, and Kit’s lunch box and purse. It is partly my FH collection and partly my doll’s suitcase! I also now have an HO scale model train set/layout as a part of our train travel to Fred Harvey sites in the southwest!

Hi Kristie! You have some great ideas. I liked the one about reading to your dolls. I actually read to my cat because she likes to hear my voice. My dolls are usually standing around listening too. 😊💕

Similar to your family tree idea, I ponder on friendship trees within my collection! I incorporate my collection/collection goals in my ideas- Kanani and Kailey are best friends in my collection because they love to thrift, specifically 70s stuff. Kaya (who is modern in my collection) and Jess are friends bc my Kaya is into photography and my Jess is a painter, so Jess likes to paint some of Kaya’s photos. It really helps me love all of my girls!

adding to the long form videos are nice to have (at least in the mix) for when i need to clean too! kind of like an audio book

Great ideas! I need to try some of these!

I got a little verklempt watching this 😂 idk maybe I'm just extra hormal rn or something lol. But I'm just so touched at how not only inclusive, but empathetic this video is and you are. Thank you again for creating this great content and being who you are.

I loved so many of these ideas. My collection is all revolving around a time period (or it is for now... who knows if it will shift), and I am writing stories for these dolls. More I'm writing a historical Harry Potter fanfic and my dolls are the characters from that fanfic. It's slow going since I want to make a historically accurate collection for the characters. I love restoring dolls and all of my dolls so far have been bought second hand. I'm also a ball and jointed doll collector (though I'm stalled on that hobby since those dolls are very expensive), but I love making custom dolls and finding out AG dolls can be customized has changed the game.

WHOA‼️😁 Thankyou Kristie 4 this video.i was particularly interested in trying the doll collector pen pal , AG podcast,audio Book's and AG coloring Book's. Also I got alooòoot from this video,again thankyou 😁. I belong to 2 FB group's, haven't been very active in either of them lately so can't actually give the name's. But 1 is a FB AG Vintage group.The other is actually the 1st.group I joined so all I can remember is my name is in title Lisa's AG Group ,yeah‼️ 🤣don't know how that is unless at some point I decided to start a FB AG group 🙄 lol. I use to be a Big library girlie ,when I lived in NYC.But only been in a library maybe twice in many yrs.😮,need to go to 1😂. Yup,I was 1 that had a sh*t load of AG Catalogues, and gave them away.If I knew they would sell each 1 for sooooòo much 💸 💸 💸 😢 woulda,shoulda😂kept them.However since I've started collecting AG Doll's A G A I N 🤣🤣 I am on AG's listing 4 AG Catalogues once again yippee 🤗. I make jewelry 4 my doll's when I have free time 😮.Anyway that Kristie, t/c of ur self. Warmly, 💗 Lisa

You had so much to offer I had to listen to this video in bits. It offered so many ideas for me. Thank you so much I am so greatfull for what you do. I have decided to go through my daughters books and magazines and re-make many of those outfits in the pictures. I was really not into vintage except when my daughters got the original dolls in the 80's. I now for myself want to go back to the dolls and their companion dolls, look at the book and the pictures and see if I can reproduce some of them. My granddaughters might appreciate them too but they are mostly into the current mode of dress and are sort of growing out of them except for a very few of the special dolls here and there but not all. They did not want the Disney dolls and that surprised me as they have tickets now that they live back in Florida. Times and things change! Thank you.

Suggestion on the writing about your dolls story, make family trees for the your dolls, invent their past!!!

these are REALLY great ideas!!!!⭐️⭐️💞💞🎉🎉

I would like an AG Penpal 🍓

just had to check a book out for the first time at my library, they were super nice when i looked very lost 🤣

My collecting goal is every boy doll so far I have 3-7 74 75 and 76

Build your dolls a house, or even just a room. Learn how to make furniture. Build a town. Scour thrift shops for non-doll items that can be turned into doll items for their house. There are some great DIY videos out there on making AG accessories and furniture out of foam board. Okay, I'm being selfish, I guess, just because I love looking at other people's doll house photos. 😁

More tonks content please!!!! Such a pretty kitty!!!

When you said your wife watched a movie with her doll, and you thought it was weird, I started laughing. One night I watched a true story about a Chickasaw Nations woman who was an actress and storyteller. Her name was Te Ata. Till that time I had never removed Kaya from her box. That night I did, and we watched the movie together. 😝

Fantasy cast your favorite book/movie/musical/TV show with AG dolls! It could be dolls you own, any dolls AG has produced or even design them all on the CYO generator. Or have them act out that AG theatre script!

I like the ideas of changing there clothes for different seasons and holidays also I like to do different hairstyles that ag doesn’t gave us I have one hairstyle I’m going to do on one of them

I tried to comment last night and it seems like it didn’t go through so! To add onto making clothes for your dolls, I learned to crochet this year and I think doll clothes are a great beginner crochet project because they don’t take a huge amount of time or yarn. Also I would love some local doll friends so if anyone is in western North Carolina, hit me up!

Christiania from sunflowers ag is the best Pen pal!

Oh if anyone lives in Central Florida and wants to meet up I would love to!

I am dressing my dolls in a variety of national outfits for the Olympics.

I love this! New viewer, also, anyone who wants an autistic doll collector pen pal hit me up

Hi there! Love this video full of ideas to reconnect with our dolls. So needed