A doll’s…house

/ J. F. Riordan

I have an heirloom dollhouse that I have been saving for my two great nieces. I sent it with my niece and her husband when they stopped to visit us on their cross-country move from Seattle to Philadelphia. At the time, one of her daughters was about three, and she was newly pregnant with the second, so we agreed that they would save the dollhouse for a time when the girls were old enough to appreciate it.

This is the year.

It’s a big dollhouse, made of wood, with wallpapered rooms and big muntined windows. I think it dates to the early 1950s. I was not the first little girl to play with it. It had belonged to my father’s cousin, and then to her daughter.

I thought it would be nice to include a set of the right sized dolls. I had no idea how difficult this would turn out to be.

I tried the hand-made website; and the auction website; I visited the very few actual toy stores. Nothing quite right. They had dolls, but they were either hideously plastic or one step up from corn husks. Nothing that simply had a nice face and reasonably-shaped body.

So, reluctantly, I turned to the Seattle guys. They do have dollhouse dolls. But you know how the algorithms are. Even if you reject something it keeps showing up in your feed. There is no Boolean method of saying “But not that”. And there is a series of dolls that, at first glance, seemed nice. The dolls come in different ethnicities and ages. But the longer you look at them, the weirder they become.

Do you see what I mean?

I showed them to my friend at lunch to see if she noticed. Maybe it was just me. But, no. She started laughing. “What is with their crotches?”

Exactly. And once you see it, you cannot unsee it. And it doesn’t really make any sense, either. I mean…never mind.

My friend texted me later with a suggestion of some animal family dolls she came across. One great niece will get a kangaroo family, and one will get a giraffe family. They will have to co-inhabit.

Close enough.

20 thoughts on “A doll’s…house”

  1. You made the best choice. These dolls could influence a horror story. What a wonderful idea to pass it along to the girls. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

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    • I am laughing out loud. And you are correct. Once you have seen it, you can’t unsee it. Thank you for making my Monday before Christmas much lighter. Peace.
      PF

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  5. Hi….wondering if you tried Etsy. There seems to be someone making just about everything on there altho I think the animal families sound delightful.

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  6. Search for miniatures. There used to be doll house stores, probably some re still around. Awhile back I sewed a bit for these dolls. You could buy dolls or kits; dolls had porcelain heads, arms, legs, cloth bodies.

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  7. Not to mention the arms! Animal friends are the best. Your great nieces imagination will explore the many ways for kangaroos and giraffes can co-exist. What fun! And, happy childhood Christmas gifts. Nice

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  8. Their legs move, so you can sit them down, and the “axle” is within the crotch. Their knees also bend (so they could sit in a chair), and I’ll bet the arms move at the shoulders, too. Merry Christmas!

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  9. For you it’s doll crotches yoy can’t unsee. For me, ever since my spouse asked why a company would use a stylised penis for it’s logo, I can’t unsee that. Thank you Amazon.

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  10. I love this post. I collect dolls. There are beautiful antique dollhouse sized dolls that may be found with some difficulty (and a big price) but this post reminded me that, while I had a dollhouse, the only “dolls” I had with it were molded plastic and not what I would consider dolls. Let’s see photos of your dollhouse!

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    • The nice ones are very pricey and not appropriate for such little girls. I no longer have possession of the dollhouse, but hoping I’ll see a photo at Christmas. If so, I’ll share.

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  11. 🤣🤣🤣You’d think someone would have invented crotchless dolls! Perhaps Mr. Sykes could take up wood carving?🤷🏼‍♀️ No? Actually, I think the animal families will be delightful. The adventures they will have! And all kidding aside, the dollhouse sounds beautiful. I had one as a child, but not quite as elegant as this. I’m sure your great nieces will love it.

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