LOL Dolls - to buy or not?

[DockOTheBay]

SIL has told me that niece (8) likes LOL dolls, when I asked what she would like for Christmas.

I have never really looked at these, but they seem to be masses and masses of plastic which gets immediately binned and then a surprise doll in the middle. Is that about the size of it?

I'm really not keen to buy one of these, the dolls looks very weird and sexualised and the amount of waste seems huge. But that's what she has asked for.

Am I missing something with these dolls? Should I just buy one anyway, or go back and ask for another suggestion?

Both my granddaughters love them and for the play hours they have had out of them, they have been good value. They hold their value at resale as well. I also think that there's a classist undertone to the objections against them. Most stocking fillers (which our family don't do) and adult gift sets are unnecessary and a waste of resources, but you don't see posters saying not to get them.
Buy your DN what she will play with, anything else is a waste.
If you teach your children to look after things and don't overbuy then the bits don't get lost.

I'd buy what she wants.

Admittedly, they are sort of tat, but my nieces love them and the eldest still has her collection on display, even though she has outgrown them. The unboxing is part of the excitement. You can get big LOL dolls too, which are more like Barbies, if you don’t think they’ll be into the smaller ones.

I got some LOL themed hair accessory blind bags in Poundland today for £2, which will make good stocking fillers.

Check if she wants the bigger ones, my four year old GD does, but the six year old wouldn't play with them.

If your only objection is the amount of plastic then I’d love at either the omgs or tweens series.
If she especially wants the smaller dolls you can get a series called present surprise which comes in cardboard packaging and the surprises inside are wrapped in paper. They’re a really cute series and much less sexualised than some of the others.

@Ponoka7

Check if she wants the bigger ones, my four year old GD does, but the six year old wouldn't play with them.

Oh dear, good point. Her mum did say she isn't in to barbies any more so maybe she wouldn't like the barbie sized LOL dolls either.

Incidentally we don't buy stocking filler type gifts or adult gift sets like body shop smellies etc, either. Our kids have stockings but not a lot of plastic in them.

@Snuzzle

If your only objection is the amount of plastic then I’d love at either the omgs or tweens series. If she especially wants the smaller dolls you can get a series called present surprise which comes in cardboard packaging and the surprises inside are wrapped in paper. They’re a really cute series and much less sexualised than some of the others.

Thank you thats really helpful. The plastic waste is my main objection, yes.

*look at

@DockOTheBay they do play with the large plastic balls they come in. They form part of the toy as you can stand them in them once they are dressed and my DD stores hers in the plastic balls.

You can also buy furniture sets which come with some nice accessories and the packaging for them is cardboard too. B&M had the last series for £11 last week so only the same price as a regular doll

Matalan has the PJ's dressing gowns and other LOL doll clothing. I'd go for that if you don't want to get the actual dolls.
Don't their feet come off so you change the foot and shoe at the same time. That was a bit weird first time I saw them. Dd never liked them she had barbies probably just as bad

Buy her this
If you don’t want to buy something with lots of packaging I would go for a dressing gown of blanket. I try and keep plastic at a minimum which is why I won’t buy the lol surprise stuff. The Barbie sized dolls have slightly less packaging, some come in a cardboard box with a smaller amount of plastic but they are over priced for a fancy barbie.

They do some in cardboard boxes, present style ones. Also the bigger dolls tweens are not too bad looking and are not covered in lots of plastic wrappers.
I think they've improved as some ranges look better than others.

I would buy them.
Some parents on here seem so worthy. If you are worried about the environment give up your car, don't deprive your kids.

@SirSamuelVimes

Banned in my house. I'm not buying my daughter a doll that looks like a porn star / sex doll.

🤣. Behave.

Hated the packaging layers but sucked it up...then found out what can change when some types are put into cold water and that was the deal breaker.

I would buy the pets, assuming that this feature is not relevant to those.

Have heard the huge handbag style sets are also just 6 or 7 of the balls inside, so were disappointing if someone set their heart on them.