Fashion Doll (Dollar Tree)

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If you go to the toy aisle in any store, chances are you’ll find dolls of some sort. From Barbie dolls to 18’’ dolls, they seem to be everywhere now, including Dollar Tree. Dollar Tree has its own line of dolls, simply called “fashion dolls.” I’ve seen them for a while, and have always wondered what kind of quality you’re getting from a $1 doll, so I decided to find out.

The best way to describe the doll is meh. She isn’t the best doll in the world, but there are worse. She came in a box that actually had a relatively cute design, considering it’s a budget doll. There were no plastic straps or hooks to hold her in, so she slid right out of the box. Out of the box, she didn’t look bad. It took a little bit of time in the store to find a doll that had a face that pleased me. Some of them had chipped lips, and some had eyes that were off center.

As for the doll itself? Her body shape looks like a slightly less extreme version of a 1900s Barbie body shape, where she has an incredibly skinny waist with a larger chest. Because of this, modern Barbie clothes won’t fit her. Older Barbie clothes might, but I don’t have any right now, so you would have to test that theory. Another thing that might stop her from fitting into other Barbie clothes is that she is significantly smaller than traditional Barbie dolls, which was probably Dollar Tree trying to save money on the already thin, cheap plastic. So if you buy this doll, she might only wear one outfit for her whole life, however long a $1 doll’s life might be.

With her outfit, it’s not surprising what you get. It’s cheap fabric with printed on sequins, though the “sequins” do have a shine to them. One thing I want to point out about this doll line is that all of the dolls at the store we went to had the same skin, eye and hair color, the only difference being their dress. I’m not sure if there are different variations of the doll, but I didn’t see any.

One thing about this doll that we found interesting (and slightly funny) is that her shoes, which I believe are the same for all the dolls, are different shades of pink. We aren’t sure if one of the shoes came from a different batch of these dolls, or what. However, that was definitely something I needed to address.

Finally, I want to talk about her hair and articulation. Her arms and legs go up and down, and her head moves side to side. As well as that, she also has articulation in her waist, so she can twist side to side. This isn’t common even in the higher priced dolls, so it was really surprising to have that feature on this doll. Her hair is, once again, exactly what you’d expect. Thin rooting. However, you can’t see her scalp at all when it’s up in the ponytail she came in.

The Verdict:

The Dollar Tree Fashion Doll is about what you’d expect from a budget doll. However, she isn’t the worst doll out there. If you want a small doll for a child and don’t want to spend a fortune this would be the way to go. It will be interesting to see how long this doll and her dress hold up. While this doll isn’t the quality of a Barbie doll, or very many other dolls for that matter. In some places, she surpassed my expectations and I can confidently say she is by far not the worst doll out there.