I just googled toys and games for a nine year old girl. A top picks list came up. I would do a more creative game or toy rather than a doll.
My two daughters were never really into dolls. They loved to snuggle with stuffed animals and always enjoyed craft type toys or games.
And ,since you are not 100 per cent sure about the ethnicity, that is another reason to skip the doll idea.

Well, I do feel compelled to buy her a doll because she only has three things on her list - Easy Bake, books and a doll. We have already purchased the Easy Bake and extra mixes, books, a hoodie, pajamas, Disney princess lip balm and toiletries and a Barbie makeup artist sketch set.

I always wish those wish lists were a little more specific. Last year, one of ours said "Nintendo game".

For a 9 year old, I would do Barbie, and not worry about the ethnicity.

Dee

The organization through whom the gifts are distributed mighty be able to find out the child's ethnicity/race and her preference for doll type. I've called the people running the program through which we've donated, to find out when I'm not sure. Usually they either knew the client, looked up the letter/request by number, or found out for me somehow.

This post was edited by cat_mom on Tue, Nov 27, 12 at 11:35

Deee, your kindness and generosity made my morning. I agree that it would be nice to know the ethnicity of the little girl you're buying a doll for. Personally, I'd vote for a baby doll. From what I recall about my own DD and her friends at that age, they called baby dolls "dolls"; Barbies were always referred to as "a Barbie". My point being, if she wanted a Barbie she might have asked specifically for a Barbie. But that's just my own one opinion.
If you're pretty sure that she's African-American, my vote is for a black baby doll. I imagine that it would be very appreciated.
BTW, I imagine that the parent or guardian of this little girl will probably be picking up the gifts ~unwrapped~ from whatever charity you're donating to. If they or the volunteers see a problem with the doll, I'm sure they can easily substitute another donated doll.
Best wishes!
Lynn

If she is 9 and said doll then I wouldn't get her a Barbie. She is old enough to know the difference and a Barbie is not what most kids would call a doll. I think if she wanted Barbies, she would have said Barbies. I would go with the fake American girl doll from Target. I have an almost 8 y/o and while she isn't much into dolls, she does play with the ones we have (American girl dolls and accessories) when she has friends over. And she plays with them at friends' houses too. I know what you mean about wanting to buy specifically what they put on their list. Chances are these might be the only gifts she gets and it would be nice to get the things she wanted, especially since she didn't ask for anything expensive. For the Easy Bake, I would make sure to buy her some extra packets of the mixes b/c she might not otherwise get any and then the toy will go to waste after she uses the ones that come with it. As far as ethnicity for the doll, it's hard to say what would be appropriate. If she is African American, I'm sure she would still play with the doll if it is a white doll (one of our American girl bitty babies is dark skinned and my girls still played with it).

We always pick from the tree at our church. Last year, one of the kids we picked only had two things on his list - a bike and a coat. How could I not get both? I knew there was no way he'd otherwise get a bike as they are expensive and since that was the only "toy" he wanted, that is what we got. I like to encourage being outside anyway rather than get video games. And the poor thing obviously needed a coat so got that for him too. I also ended up getting him a few smaller things too so he still got a few toys.

We have a GD who is nine & she likes to comb her doll's hair, braid it, etc. Maybe a Correlle doll with good hair to comb would be good. I agree that a dark skinned one might be best. They have lots of American Girl "knock offs" that would work. PBKids has a nice one, but they are kind of $$. If you can, maybe an extra doll outfit would be fun, too.

How lovely you are doing this.

The others could be right about your child not wanting a Barbie; however the organization we buy through has the adults fill out the wish cards, therefore they are often vague. It's been a while since I had a 9 year old girl, but I was going by my 9 year old DGS's friends who are out of the baby doll stage.

The Target doll might be the best.

Deee, isn't it fun to adopt a family? The thing I like about 'women of worth' is the detailed information they provide. Also, they insist that the entire family signs up, not just the kids. We bought our 'Dad' a warm jacket and black work shoes required for working in a kitchen type industry last year. We buy for the whole family and wrap the gifts ourselves.

We get sizes and specifics. The forms organizations use matter. I'd consider giving them feedback on how to improve forms for next year if you find them lacking information.

This year, we are shopping for two families. Aimee adopted one too.

Lizzie's right. Make sure the doll has long hair that she can brush. If the doll doesn't come with a brush or comb, you can buy either a baby brush or a toy brush.

There's a LOT of cute dolls out there. If you don't find out her race, just buy one with dark hair. It would be pretty no matter.

This is kind of cute, but when I was a little girl I was given money to go buy a doll. It was a good deal of money too. I'm caucasion and I found THE perfect doll to play with and be my friend. She was a black doll. I remember my mother trying to talk me out of it and I kept asking her "Why?" I won. The moral of the story is little girls really don't care, as long as the doll is pretty and has hair!

For a 9 year old, I agree that she would probably like an AG-type doll so that she can brush the hair and change the clothes. My daughter is that age, and she is still very into dolls, with no end in sight. We are not African-American, but she loves African-American and Native American dolls very much, so I don't think you could go wrong with ethnicity. A doll is such a classic toy! I love the three things that you said she asked for, I am so glad you are doing this for her.

Oh I remember my easy bake oven! How neat you are getting her one!

This is sad. We always do an "angel" child (off what they call the angel tree) for Christmas and the tag I got for mine is a 6 year old girl - wanting pants and tops. Each child has 3 tags, 1 is clothing, 1 is toys and 1 is pjs/shoes. Anyway, it listed her clothing sizes and I will enjoy buying outfits for a little girl. The sad thing is, I read further down the tag and it said, "homeless". My husband and I felt so sad that a little 6 year old girl would be homeless. I talked to one of the ladies over the angel tree (this is done through my church), and she said there were other children in the family. Just broke my heart!

To the OP - since she asked for a doll, I would get a doll. I like the idea of a doll with long hair also. Although I used to give all my dolls a haircut (and my sister's too LOL). I loved dolls from a very young age up to almost a teenager (barbies at that point)!

tina

I haven't shopped the toy aisles in quite a while and am not familiar with dolls similar to the AG dolls, but I do love that idea a lot! They're perfect dolls for this age group IMO. My own DD has three of the original AG dolls that she loved back then and still cherishes today. Their accompanying books are wonderful, BTW, filled with interesting adventures, interwoven with many historical facts. I think she owns every book published. We're saving them all for her own future daughters someday.
Lynn

I agree with the AG-type doll. My DD is 11 and is "over" AG now, but when she was 9 she was totally into it -- and never really played much with any other dolls, even Barbies. I don't want to begin to think about how much we have spent on her AG phase of life, which passed much too quickly! We don't have the Target "AG" dolls but I did buy some of the accessories and they were very decent quality.

As far as what race/ethnicity for the doll, that's a tricky one. My DD is Korean (adopted) and even though she has had Asian dolls, she always preferred the blonde haired, blue eyed dolls!

Definitely get her a knockoff AG doll. My 10 year old daughter has an AG doll that looks like her, blond hair, blue eyes. However, she picked out and bought with her birthday money an 18 inch doll (knock off AG) from K-Mart that has brown skin, and brushable black hair. She looks a little hispanic.
How nice of you to do this for this child. It's what the holidays are all about!

As the mom of a 9 year old girl I can tell you that my daughter loves her American Girl doll and so do all of her friends.

However, suddenly she is into "Monster High" dolls, just like all the other 9 year old girls in her class. So if you wanted to get smaller dolls, Monster High is the "in" thing for 9 year olds. You would not really have to worry about ethnicity with these dolls since they are all pretty monsters and vampires. Weird concept, but the girls all seem to love them.

If she said "doll" on her list then definitely get her one. Dolls are great for imaginative play. It is so nice that you are doing this! At 9, I would also suggest trying a Monster High doll. Include a gift receipt you are not sure. My daughter is "white" with brown hair, hazel eyes, and olive skin, and loves both the blond and ' black' Barbies the same. You really can't go wrong I think, but if you can find out for sure, it might be nice to get an African- American doll for her "Clawdeen wolf" in Monster High I think :-)