American Girl dolls are becoming increasingly popular in the UK despite the cost of the doll and shipping from the US, but what are the alternatives?

This week at the Toy Fair I met Amelia, Your Victorian Girl™, the latest doll from A Girl for All Time® .

We were thrilled to receive details of a new range of gorgeous dolls by Heart & Soul which is aimed at younger children than Kidz 'n' Cats.

The waiting is over and finally we have seen the new dolls in this year's Kidz 'n' Cats range.....

Pamela Tucker and her daughters were the lucky winner in our recent competition

And the winner of our competition is.....

We are really looking forward to seeing the new range of 2012 dolls

Here are a selection of comments from customers that we have received over the last few months.

Matilda has arrived and customers who preordered are now receiving them. Read on to find out what people are saying...

Yesterday, I met with Frances Cain, the founder of A Girl for All Time, a range of wonderful historical play dolls, books and costumes aimed at girls from 8 to 12 years of age.

We will be giving away a doll on July 31st 2011. Read on for how to enter.....

Victoria Beckham is said to be expecting a baby girl, so I wonder which doll she would choose for her?

We now have nine beautiful 18" play dolls by Madame Alexander available at Bambolina.

A baby doll for children to play with to simulate breast feeding is causing a sensation in the US.

On 3 May 2007 Madeleine McCann, age 3, was abducted when on hoiiday with her family in Praia da Luz, Portugal and has still not been found.

If you would like to receive an exclusive offer code in advance of your child's birthday.....

Last week I learned that dolls can help those people suffering from Senile Dementia. This explanation is probably a little simplistic, but how I understand it is that prior to developing Dementia adults are able to make decisions for themselves and very often for other people too.

We recently discovered that there is a German company producing baby dolls called Bambolina and we do not wish to be associated with them.

We found lots of lovely new dolls, clothes, furniture and accessories when Jo and I visited the Nuremberg Toy Fair last week.

Thank you to everyone who entered our Scribble and Stitch competition.

Lin recently founded Scribble and Stitch in order to bring to life some of those wonderful children's drawings which inevitably end up in a pile somewhere. This is an opportunity for your child to win one of her delightful sculptures.

We have so many new products from Moulin Roty, Kathe Kruse and Corolle with more to come from Petitcollin and Kidz'n' Cats.

Rosie had another lovely dolly moment we thought we would share with you. We had just made some fresh pink play dough and this spurred Rosie on to make some cakes for her dolls and have a dolls tea party in the garden.

I have loved Sasha dolls since my 7th birthday when my Mother and God Mother gave me a beautiful blonde Sasha doll which I adored immediately.

Plan International is now over 70 years old and is one of the largest children’s development agencies in the world. Plan has a presence in 48 developing countries across Asia, Africa and the Americas where it’s mission is to promote children’s rights and lift millions of children out of poverty.

Rudolf Steiner’s educational philosophy, sometimes known as Waldorf education, believes that children should be provided with an education that allows them to develop in all areas of what it is to be a human being ie. will, thought and feeling, body, soul and spirit. Steiner believes that too often children are educated in order to achieve superficial academic goals and as a result they are not fully prepared for life as an adult.

Those of you who have visited the US will probably know all about the American Girl phenomenon, and will have been able to visit one of their incredible stores, with their vast range of dolls, dolls clothes, furniture and accessories. Girls can visit the stores with their dolls and have their hair styled the same, have a photo shoot done, watch a show in the theatre, visit the restaurant and have a place laid for their doll, and much, much more.

This is Cecilia and she is 10 years old. Cecilia has been collecting Gotz dolls for a few years now and has an awful lot of fun with them.