Dollhouse - Wooden vs. Playmobil vs ???

[Heather R]

Hi all,

I'm trying to choose a dollhouse for DD (3), and can't decide between a wooden set, or the Playmobil house... DH likes the playmobil because he thinks it will hold her interest longer, as we can "add" to it, buy new pieces, etc. It is pretty cool, but I just feel like it's maybe a bit "much"... Too fancy, too big, etc. But are the wooden sets too "boring"? We don't have a lot of wooden toys (other than blocks) so I'm worried she'll ignore it if it doesn't "catch her eye"... But I want her to use her imagination when she plays... Ugh, this is harder than I thought it would be! If you think a wooden set is better, can you give me a link to the one you have/like? I'm looking to spend around $150 including some furniture (we would buy the playmobil second-hand). And I'm in Canada, so it needs to be somewhere that'll ship here. Thanks!

Heather

[canadiyank]

I had a wooden doll-house growing up and loved it. I also had Playmobil sets (not the dollhouse, tho). I have started getting some Playmobil for the kids and they play with it constantly. I still have my stuff from growing up, so I'll probably bring those boxes from my folks' pretty soon. They do have a smaller doll-house that closes up and is portable if you feel better about that. It's what my girls have...was about $30.

:)

[expatmom]

My kids are big Playmobil fans, although they have abandoned all the people to a plastic box & play only with the animals. :giggle

[cindergretta]

I hate Playmobil. :shifty

We have two wooden doll houses and I just love them. I prefer wood. :yes But plastic anything seems to annoy me these days.... :scratch

[Lila]

Oh, we have a real wooden doll's house in our home! I used to love it when I was little. (If I'm going to be perfectly honest, I still have a play with it occasionally! But so does my big sis and she's twenty!) I think it's so much more special, and the doll's furniture is so amazing. We just bought a little violin for ours, it has all the strings, and a little bow. Plus, I think you're right, a proper doll's house did inspire me to use my imagination a lot more.

[Katydid]

This is the one I have from my childhood: http://www.lundby.com/eng/lundby.asp?avd=lundby_smaland&avd2=lundby_smaland_huset&sida=lundby_smaland_huset_2

I played with it so much! :heart

[something glorious]

katie, i :heart that dollhouse. but how the heck do i get one? the site doesn't list ANY retailers in the US :doh

[milkmommy]

I'm going to (try) and get this one for DD birthday in late October
http://www.shopdirect.com/KidKraft/63060.html
Deanna

[cindergretta]

This is the one I have from my childhood: http://www.lundby.com/eng/lundby.asp?avd=lundby_smaland&avd2=lundby_smaland_huset&sida=lundby_smaland_huset_2

I played with it so much! :heart


Is it available at Ikea?

[AmyDoll]

I got Sam the Plan Toys Dollhouse for his bday - I'm busy buying the furniture for it! He loves the wooden dollhouse at the coffee shop we go to but it doesn't have people! So his one request is, "can i have a dollhouse that has dolls, too?" :giggle

[railyuh]

ooh, I would get a wooden one! There are so many places you can get pieces of dollhouse furniture (even stuff from art stores that you can paint yourself) and some of it is so neat. As they get older you can get more intricate pieces. My sister and mom and I all collected dollhouse pieces and I have no idea what happened to all of mine, it makes me sad. I think you can find tons of stuff to add to a dollhouse that will make it way more fun and interactive than a playmobil set. Just think, if your girl is interested in sewing later one she could learn to make blankets and things to decorate the house. It would be fun to get to "re-decorate" every once in a while. I think a wooden one would be so classy and grow with her, and then it will be a very nice keepsake later on.

Here are some places that sell different ones:
http://www.oompa.com/baby-toys/category/HOUSES/Buildings-&-Houses.html
http://www.novanatural.com/s.nl/sc.2/category.92/.f
This one is really neat and can be endlessly remade into different houses:
http://www.atoygarden.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&Product_ID=640

This isn't quite a dollhouse, but it's pretty neat--expensive though:
http://www.magiccabin.com/magiccabin/product.do?section_id=0&bc=1004&pgc=112&cmvalue=MCD|0|Normal%20Search%20Result|P1
http://www.magiccabin.com/productCollections.asp?section_id=2&join_key=266&sc=1004&body_sc=1004&gc=333363&cm_pgc=333363&clnm=Doll%20%20Play%20Departments&cnm=Dollhouses&pcm_type=&pcm_pos=&pcm_val=

Those are my four favorite places for wooden toys!

[something glorious]

This is the one I have from my childhood: http://www.lundby.com/eng/lundby.asp?avd=lundby_smaland&avd2=lundby_smaland_huset&sida=lundby_smaland_huset_2

I played with it so much! :heart


Is it available at Ikea?


:no nah

ikea has some nice wooden stuff...mostly pressed wood though :shrug but nothing as large or nice as a dollhouse. phooey.

[Katydid]

katie, i :heart that dollhouse. but how the heck do i get one? the site doesn't list ANY retailers in the US :doh


Yeah, after I posted that, I looked into it a bit more.... It looks like you can only get them for inflated prices on ebay. :shrug It's weird because there was a toy store where I was growing up that carried them... that's where I got mine from. I wonder why they don't sell in the US anymore? :think

[AmyDoll]

O Ok - My BIL lives in Sweden. How many do you think I can get through customs? :giggle

[Heather R]

Ok, after a little more research (and a trip to every toystore in our city!) we have decided to go with the Plan Toys furniture and dolls, and DH will build a house. We will get her a family, the nursery set (so she has a baby!) and the kids bedroom set for her birthday (Oct 4), and she can begin playing with them before the house is actually built (build rooms out of her blocks? Who knows...). The house will be her Christmas present. And the inlaws said they'd get her a couple rooms of furniture, for her birthday and Christmas.

I really like the Plan houses, but DH thinks they're too "simple" for the cost (he called them "stick houses" :shrug ). So he will build a more typical wooden dollhouse to the same scale as the Plan dolls. Whatever... I'm sure he'll have fun building it, and dd will love playing with it!

Thanks for all your input and the links!
Heather

[railyuh]

I was thinking more about this and I remembered a really neat bookshelf I saw at target online a long time ago, so I looked it up again. I think your DH could probably add some staircases and holes between floors and that sort of thing to make this a neat dollhouse :)

http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/ref=br_1_4/602-1403085-0311847?ie=UTF8&frombrowse=1&asin=B000ES272W