American Girl doll community flocks to final benefit sale

Shoppers peruse aisles, bags in tow, at the Madison Children's Museum's American Girl sale Saturday morning. Hundreds of dolls, books, accessory packs and other items were available at discounted prices. According to museum president and CEO Deb Gilpin, volunteers work through the winter to prep the dolls for the sale, fixing crooked earrings and other imperfections. This is the last year for the annual benefit sale that has generated millions of dollars for the museum and about 20 children's charities.

It was 8:45 a.m. Saturday when hundreds of tiny eyes watched the first of the day’s hordes descend upon the tables.

This weekend marks the Madison Children’s Museum’s final American Girl Benefit Sale, ending a 36-year tradition in which American Girl has donated its overstock and returned inventory to the Madison Children’s Museum. The sale, which continues Sunday, brought thousands of shoppers to the Alliant Energy Center’s Exhibition Hall. The museum has hosted the sale annually, with a total $25 million raised for the museum and about 20 children’s charities in Dane County through American Girl’s Fund for Children.

Thousands of doll lovers filled the Alliant Energy Center this weekend for one last American Girl sale through the Madison Children's Museum. The museum has organized the sale for over three decades, amassing millions of dollars for the museum itself and local charities.

In addition to raising tens of millions of dollars for the museum and children’s charities, the sale has put dolls that otherwise may have ended up in landfills in the hands of collectors, said Deb Gilpin, museum president and CEO.

Gilpin, who has been involved in 11 sales, cited multiple factors in the sale’s end. American Girl is no longer able to guarantee the level of product for years to come due to changes in its business, and the museum is facing a smaller volunteer pool and a lot of big plans in the future.

Madison Children's Museum's volunteers pause to look at some doll dresses at a booth at Saturday's American Girl Benefit Sale. The final sale …

“We have some big years coming up, big things we’re doing, and really the investment we make in producing the sale is not going to provide enough that we should keep doing it,” said Gilpin. “We work really closely with American Girl, so the decision for us not to run it again really was made in concert with them, and I just want to honor that relationship. They’ve always been very good to us, and they’ll continue to be. It’ll just change.”

Throngs of people congregated for the sale Saturday, stretching the limits of their tote bags and wallets with dolls, clothes and accessories. The earliest shoppers, admitted to the sale at 8:45 a.m., paid $100 for their tickets, with shoppers entering at 1:45 p.m. paying a tenth of that. Tickets for Sunday are $20 for 8:45 a.m. entry and $5 beginning at 10 a.m.

According to Gilpin, about 5,000 tickets were purchased in advance, and many more were sold at the event Saturday. In a typical year, Gilpin said, the number of shoppers has been between 4,000 and 7,000.

Among the earlier groups Saturday were two girls in Taylor Swift Eras Tour-style T-shirts featuring different American Girl dolls. Best friends Kristina Ingold and Stephanie Reeves, both 28, traveled from East Peoria, Illinois, for the sale.

Best friends Kristina Ingold, right, and Stephanie Reeves, left, sport matching American Girl shirts. Reeves was hoping to get her hands on a …

For the two best friends, American Girl dolls are nostalgia: Both cited many happy memories centered around their vinyl and polyester companions. Over the past year and a half, Ingold says, she’s amassed a collection of more than 20 dolls, while Reeves boasts about 12.

“It’s a little bit of getting to revisit childhood,” said Ingold.

“I just think about back to all the times that, like, we used to play with them and how much fun we had,” Reeves added.

An extra element to their love of the dolls is the historic piece: Each doll offers a snapshot of an era of American history through the eyes of a little girl, educating youngsters in a way that’s more relatable than a typical history book.

“It’s really cool to kind of see, like, here’s what kids your age went through during these big historical times,” said Ingold.

“I genuinely think American Girl was a brilliant idea because of the historical aspect,” said Reeves. “It’s a way to, like, teach kids without them actively knowing they’re learning.”

Like Ingold and Reeves, adults harkening back to their childhoods accounted for a solid number of sales Saturday.

While some people believe dolls should be relegated to toy boxes, make no mistake: Regardless of age, gender or other factors, anyone can be an American Girl.

Gialina Messiana, who flew in from California for the sale and is part of the American Girl community on Instagram, donned her Molly McIntire …

Gialina Messiana took that message literally. Clad in ribbon-tied braids, circle-lense glasses, and Mary Janes, Messiana channeled Molly McIntire, one of the Pleasant Company’s first historic American Girl dolls, on Saturday. Molly’s story takes place in 1944, centering on World War II.

Messiana, who flew in from California for the sale, is part of the American Girl community on Instagram, where doll lovers can connect over shared interests. Her Molly outfit spawned from a “dress like your American Girl doll day” in the Instagram community, and she’s enjoyed wearing it in a real-life setting.

“I love the sense of community, you know, and that you don’t have to essentially grow up,” she said. “It’s mostly adults here, and I think most of them are buying for themselves.”

Watching the revelry of shoppers, the shrieks of joy when a collector finds that coveted doll, or the sagging shoulders of a satisfied customer weighed down by their purchases, Gilpin says it’s going to be a bit of a tough goodbye when the museum shuts the sale down for the last time Sunday night.

“We have benefitted from this sale for so long, and all the community has, so really dozens of organizations have gotten funding, more funding than any other source for children, through this sale,” said Gilpin. “It’s very bittersweet for us.”

What: Final American Girl Benefit Sale

When: Sunday

Where: Alliant Energy Center, 1919 Alliant Energy Way

Times and tickets: Early entry at 8:45 a.m., $20; 10 a.m. and later, $5.

Website: madisonchildrensmuseum.org/support/american-girl-benefit-sale

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