When I was little, I am sure my childhood was similar to so many of yours: the school day ended at 3pm, homework was minimal, television was a treat at the end of the day, and school holidays consisted of being unceremoniously shovelled out the door at 8am ‘to play’ until we were called back in …

I tell my children about my own childhood, and in-between perfectly timed sighs that they have heard it all before and eye-rolls that seem to lodge in the back of their heads (how do they do that??),  are incredulous questions such as “You only had a HALF HOUR of tv a day ? And there were only 4 channels ? And you had no screens / phone / ipads ?? But how did you talk to your friends? What did you DO all day??’…

And I tell them what we did all day – we played. With friends, on our own, with toys, with sticks and anything else that we came across; we hunted for mini beasts, we did chalk drawings, we played dress up with dolls, we made up games that could go on all summer, we rode our bikes for miles.

Today’s childhood is different from our own nostalgic ones, and I understand that things have changed since then: technology, the cost of living, and modern family structure and  lifestyle makes it difficult to go back to the ‘good old days’.

But today’s children seem to be suffering from a rise in childhood depression, as reported on in this story in the Telegraph. Children have more stress in their lives now than ever before, a result of modern day burdens such as early exams, the pressures of social media, peer expectations, and a myriad of other issues tto which this this generation is exposed.

There seems to be a solution right under our noses : the power of play has shown to reduce stress in children and help them cope with the pressures of modern day living. And spontaneous, non structured play is the best way to exercise the brain, increase creativity, and explore one's own potential.

David Elkind, a longtime professor at Tufts University wrote the ground breaking books ‘ The Hurried Child’ and ‘The Power of Play’.  He states, "Basically, play is nature's way of dealing with stress for children as well as adults" (Elkind, 2001, p. 197). Parenting website Education.com says ‘When children can repeatedly play out the issues they are struggling to understand, they can make sense of them and gradually be able to set them aside. From the serious problems of a disturbed child to the more mundane struggles of young children everywhere, childhood play is one of the best techniques available to work through stress (Frost, Wortham, & Reifel, 2005).’

Now more than ever its vital that we bring non structured, creative,  traditional  play back into the lives of our children – helping them cope not only today but tomorrow, too.

So break out the dolls, the construction sets, the art supplies and the empty cardboard boxes and let them do what they were made to do – play.

Mid September is here and it seems people are already counting down to Christmas ! While we are super excited about Christmas here at A Girl for All Time®, we are even more excited our recent award – Winner of the 2014 Industry Choice awards at the International Doll Show in June.
 
The Winners of this prestigious award are entered for PLAYDOLL OF THE YEAR 2014 and this year Clementine, Your 1940’s Girl™ has been nominated in this category.
 
That’s where you come in.
 
You see, this is one of the few awards that is determined by the voting public, so it means an awful lot to us at A Girl for All Time® HQ.
 
We love hearing from our friends, fans and customers through our facebook page, our Fanclub page, and our website and because of you we have a great, interactive community filled with fabulous, creative people. .
We’d love your help to bring this award home in 2014
Votes can be cast by clicking the link here:

http://www.dollsmagazine.com/component/content/article/72-dolls-awards-of-excellence/735-cast-your-vote-for-the-2014-publics-choice-dolls-awards-of-excellence.html

You can see photos of each nominee and vote for your favorite doll in each category online.
Limit: One ballot per household. The deadline for voting is Oct. 6, 2014.

xxFrances

Everyone has a favourite childhood memory of a cherished toy, given to you perhaps as a special birthday gift or Christmas present. Mine was an absolutely longed for doll when I was 6 or 7 years old - I begged Father Christmas to please please (please!!) bring me a Bizzie Lizzie doll. She was absolutely gorgeous and as far as I was concerned, just about perfect. Back then, dolls were not quite as concerned with empowering little girls as they are now : my Bizzie Lizzie's entire repertoire consisted of hoovering, dusting and ironing. This was all done via a miraculous battery pack that was cleverly disguised as a cleaning supply pack ! Could not get much more non PC, I think ! But I loved her and thought she was the most wonderful doll ever.

That is what we at A Girl for All Time® are trying to create for your loved ones - lasting memories of something that they will treasure for a lifetime. Beautifully crafted, our dolls encourage intelligent play with lots of activities and stories for girls 7 and older.

Hard to believe its been another year gone by already - its Thanksgiving and its Hannukah, 2 major markers in the start of the Christmas season. Black Friday is around the corner and there is alot of preparation for holiday shopping and planning for the new year.

As a thank you to everyone for their support this year we have a special weekened in store - 10% off and free shipping on all orders when placed from Friday - end of Monday. Make sure to use the code Friday10 when you check out.

We would not be here without you and appreciate all of the support, comments and help we have gotten over the past yea.

Stay healthy and happy over this weekend and enjoy your time with family and friends.

Check back with us soon - we have lots of things going on for 2014 that I want to share with you !

Frances

Well, it has been too long since I have written to update everyone on what is happening at A Girl for All Time® headquarters.

Lots has been happening since the start of summer. We have new offices which has been fun to move into and get settled. Moving is a great opportunity to re-organize and rethink your space tho I have to admit if I never see another packing box again I think I will be quite happy!

But it was not all work this summer.  I have always loved anthopology and history, and I was able to enjoy both at the Paris Doll Museum over the holidays - it was fabulous. One of the things I liked most about the Doll Museum was the fact that the dolls were categorized by country of origination rather than by date of production. So there were fantastic dolls from all over the world, all grouped together by nationality. It  gives fantastic insight into the cultural development of different areas and different people. But what fascinated me the most was the fact that dolls have always been part of the social fabric of civilization. If you get the chance  to go to Paris, it is definitely worth a stop.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Our other exciting news is that we have been nominated by Dolls Magazine for 'Best Playdoll 2013'. Our very own Amelia has been nominated among some of the best known brands in the world for this prestigious award.  We are the only British brand to be nominated and its a huge honour for us. We would love to be able to bring this award home and share it with all of you.

Winners are chosen by the voting public, so we need your help to win ! You can vote here on the Dolls Magazine website (dollsmagazine.com)  - just click on the Diamond Awards logo and to cast your vote for Amelia. Voting closes 01 September and winners are announced in December.

You caRosen read our latest newsletter here and don't forget to vote for Amelia as Best Playdoll 2013!

Frances

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Summer is finally here, however inconsistent the sunshine. We are embracing June with both arms and eagerly awaiting the end of school and the start of the summer holidays. Roll on, warm summer days!

Harrods launch

Harrods Launch  Early in May, we had a fantastic weekend at Harrods to celebrate our arrival in the world-famous Toy Kingdom. Lots of friends, family and  A Girl for All Time® fans came by to say hello and enjoy a host of activities set up for everyone to enjoy.  With a dressing up box filled with gorgeous Victorian and Tudor hats, ruffs and cloaks to try on (and have your photo taken!), Design-A-Dress competition, and readings by our very own Sandra Goldbacher, it really was a fun-filled weekend. The best part for us of course was chatting with everyone and having the chance to meet so many of our customers.

Clementine Your 1940's Girl™

If you have been following our facebook page, you will have seen the very first picture of Clementine Your 1940's Girl™.  The response has been overwhelming so far to our newest doll and we want to thank everyone for their comments and support. Clementine has been a delight to develop and definitely worth all of the hard work this past year. Our newest addition to the AGAT design team is Caroline Harris, Emmy nominated Hollywood costumier, and designer of Clemmie's range of costumes. Caroline brings her with her a wealth of experience in costume design and extensive knowledge of 1940's fashion which translates beautifully to our beautiful range of new outfits.

Please keep checking in with us either on facebook or on our website for information on pre-ordering availability for Clementine.

The lovely people at ToyNews asked me to write an opinion piece on the strong resurgence of traditional play and dolls. So here it is. You can read it in full here.

Dolls today are enjoying a huge resurgence in the toy and gift sector and are firmly in the forefront of everyone’s minds for 2013.
NPD released statistics in September 2012 stating that sales in the girls sector were up from the previous year, with the doll category experiencing a whopping 17 per cent growth over the same period.
Girls are returning to traditional doll play in significant numbers and it looks to be even stronger for 2013 and beyond.
Why the shift back to more traditional play and such an enthusiastic return to the doll shelf?  
I think several crucial factors have coalesced to reinvigorate this sector that was once the cornerstone of the girls market.  One factor is pressure from the buying public for retailers to stock more age appropriate items for girls, which we have seen in campaigns such as ‘Let Girls Be Girls’ and ‘PinkStinks’.
Another influence comes from industry inspired movements, which have drawn consumer and retailer attention to more traditional play such as the Slow Toys Movement initiated by Asobi.  
Finally, I think recent press on the importance of doll role-play in the development of emotionally healthy children is playing a key role in reminding the public and the industry about the importance of doll play.
I think the retailers themselves have helped shine the spotlight on traditional girls’ play by creating a gender-neutral shopping experience within the toy aisle: by eliminating the ‘pink ghetto’ once so prevalent in toy shops, dolls and action figures can now be seen side by side allowing dolls back into the mainstream of girls merchandising.
Manufacturers are keen to capture the zeitgeist of today’s market with innovative releases. The smaller, independent manufacturer in particular has been quick to step in and target this growing sector. There have been more new doll concepts, designs and creative doll content – both on line and off line – released over the past 12 months than we have seen in over a decade.  
It’s an exciting time in the doll category and there has been a huge amount of interest coming from both the industry and the public. With so many innovations and new concepts coming to market, this dynamic sector may prove to be one of the fastest growing in the girls category for years to come.
It’s a thrilling time to be part of the industry and I am looking forward to seeing what 2013 and beyond will bring.

 

I do really enjoy this time of year:  the beginning of March not only signals the end of a long 2 months of industry toy fairs, but also means the days are getting longer and it is time to start thinking about the coming year.

Lots of exciting things will happen in 2013 , not only new lines introduced into current ranges but this year

we will be introducing Clementine Your 1940's Girl™. Clemmie seems to have captured the imagination of so many of you, both here in the UK and in the US. She has been a delight to work on and we have had the continued good luck to work with incredibly talented designers.

Clementine's clothes were created by the uber-talented and Emmy Award-nominated Caroline Harris, who has for the past 15 years been working on both sides of the Pond as head of costume design for such films as 'A Knights Tale', 'Repo Men', 'The Governess' and 'The Awakening'. You will get to see more of Caroline's work this year in the much anticipated Hollywood film, '42' which is out in April 2013.

We are all keeping very busy at A Girl for All Time® as we give our products their final tweaks so that we can have them ready to share by the end of the summer.

Keep checking in with us as we post sneaky peeks until we are able to release our first official images of Clementine Your 1940's Girl™ at the end of April.

In the meantime, here is one of my fave streets in New York City, taken last week when I was at the Toy Fair New York  -

Until next time -

Frances

London Toy Fair kicks off what is for us at A Girl for All Time® some of the busiest 4 weeks of the year.

There was not a dull moment at the fair, in part helped by our new friend and co-exhibitor, Terry the Triceratops, a huge, mechanical 6 meter-tall dinosaur that looked terrifyingly realistic.

We met lots of old friends and made many more new ones, which is always the highlight of the toy fair for us. There were several new dolly launches unveiled from independent small designers which is great to see - it really does seem that a doll resurgence is in the making and it is wonderful to see the community of doll makers as a whole having more and more influence on the toy purchasing decisions of parents and consumers.

We were absolutely thrilled to be awarded 'Top Ten Best Looking Stands' by Toy News Daily. Our theme was Enchanted Garden and although our space was small, it was beautifully done with layers of real ivy woven throughout the stand, and butterflies and birdcages suspended from the framework of the ceiling.

And that's not all - BBC Breakfast used our stand as the background for their interviews on opening day - you can view the video here.

We are looking forward to getting back into facebook and twitter and sharing all of your fun stories and pictures as well - remember to keep sending them in or posting on our wall !

Frances

What a wonderful industry to be involved with - toys bring a smile to my face, whether it is a toy for an older child or an infant, whether its an outdoor activity toy, a quiet puzzle, or a toy to help children with special needs.

Toys play such an important part in a child's development and while of course we cannot escape the advent of technology in our children's lives, it has been fantastic to see a resurgence of more traditional toys - and especially dolls ! - in the past two years within the industry.

We think dolls are one of the most beneficial traditional toys around - and over the decades, there have been numerous pieces of research that support this stance. It has been said that dolls - toys that resemble real people - encourage empathetic behaviour in children and teach children better communication skills, speech patterns, and listening skills.

I do remember telling my dolls all of my worries, triumphs and dreams as a child and its lovely to think that perhaps today there are children doing the same with their own dolls from A Girl for All Time®...

Frances