Chad Vally Design A Friend Doll review

A few weeks ago, the lovely people at Chad Valley contacted me to see if we'd like to review one of their new (in fact, it's so new it hasn't even hit the shops yet !) toys here at The Madhouse. What kind of a question is that ?! We all said yes excitedly ! They told us we would be receiving the brand new Design A Friend Doll, a dress-up doll for little girls that looks great for playing alongside your child, as well as for allowing them to play for hours on their own, which is always great news for mums and dads.

As we started merrily unpacking the doll, first impressions were very good. She's beautiful and, very importantly, looks normal - no huge boobs and tiny waist, no scary makeup and no lolita-esque sexy clothes. She comes wearing a T-shirt and trousers that look very similar to what both 6-year-old Juliette and 9-year-old Sophie wear most of the time.

As you can see, she has a lovely fresh-faced, make-up free look that is perfect for little girls to relate to, and her luscious hair is perfect for playing hairdressers with. It's long and thick enough to make plaits, ponytails and bunches and Juliette even used some of her own slides and hairbands on it.

The doll is designed for children aged 3+ but is probably best suited to children aged 5-8, which left 6-year-old Juliette feeling mightily pleased as she told big sister Sophie it would be her job to be chief tester of the day !!

They (oh OK, we !) excitedly started unwrapping all of the glossy pink striped Design A Friend Collection boxes containing all the different outfits and accessories. The packaging looks really classy and reminded me of the kind of bags and boxes Julia Roberts was laden down with in Pretty Woman after hitting the designer boutiques on Rodeo Drive ! Nothing but the best for this dolly !

Wow ! The girls are well used to playing with fashion dolls, such as Barbie, Bratz and Liv dolls, which have a wide array of funky clothing, footwear and accessories, but they were blown away by the luxurious garments that they discovered carefully wrapped up in the boxes. The attention to detail is incredible and you can put together some really elegant and beautiful outfits. The girls couldn't stopping oohing and aahing, saying how expensive and pretty they look and how she looks ready to go to a princess party (Juliette) or Kate & William's wedding (Sophie) with all her finery on !

The doll also comes with a charm bracelet and (extremely clever marketing strategy here !) you get an extra charm in each add-on accessory pack.  There are 4 dolls, 12 different outfits and 5 different accessory sets to choose from - although I'm sure this will be added to progressively.

As the Design A Doll hasn't actually been released yet - it will become available when the new catalogues come out on 30th July - I can't give you a definite price, but the doll with one outfit and charm bracelet will cost in the region of £20, and if you choose to purchase another outfit & accessory set, you'll get the whole lot for £30. Given the outstanding quality of the clothes and accessories, the added bonus of the charm bracelet (which little girls will love) and the pretty doll, I think that's very reasonable, particularly compared to other fashion dolls on the market.

I love the fact that this Design A Doll fills a real gap in the market, halfway between the large-sized baby dolls that little girls always start with, and the smaller but often overly sexualised fashion dolls that tweens move on to, so that little girls can get interested in the dressing up/beautiful clothes side without the inappropriate make-up and fashion. The add-to-your-collection aspect also reminds me of Build A Bear, as does the high quality of the accessories, so if your little girl is more into dolls than cuddly toys, you know where to look.

To conclude, did the girls like her? There's no doubt about it, the squabbling over who would get to keep her in their bedroom shows that they certainly did ! 

star rating : 5/5

RRP : £20 for doll + outfit + charm bracelet

For more information :  http://www.argos.co.uk/chadvalley&#cmpid=ADCVMN (from the end of the month)

Other reviews you may be interested in :

Build A Bear Workshop

Liv It's My Nature Hayden doll

My Mini Baby Born Ambulance Car review