Thursday, January 8, 2015

*Opening* Grace's Pastry Cart


I have mixed feelings about this Pastry Cart. It's a pretty piece, but in my opinion it is not worth $150.

The plastic food, bags, boxes and display accessories are similar to My Life As.... when they produced the Bake Set. It was in pale blue and pastel pink. I have seen OG make as good of quality as this food and accessory set.
 

The cart itself is a unique item ONLY due to the scroll work of the coated metal filigree.

The Lucite bread box is cute, but again a crafter can re-create something similar using Lucite storage cubes, boxes and holders often found in the beauty aisle.


There is basically two of everything: Two tarts, baguettes, macarons, cupcakes and eclair type desserts. 



The money pouch can be made EASILY if you know how to sew a straight stitch. It just needs two pockets. Printable money can be found on kid crafting and school websites. 


The business cards can be printed and a sales register can be made out of a small notebook. I have made several mini notebooks using index cards and scrapbook paper for the cover.



The cake pedestal comes apart to reveal two separate stands. This allows for the option of using them individually or as a tiered set. The plastic clear dome only works with the larger pedestal.


I have seen clear domes at crafts stores and you can use the plastic containers from gumball machines. 


I'm not impressed with the boxes and bags, only because I have made them in the past using scrapbook paper. Both box and bag templates are available on Pinterest and kid crafting sites.

 

The baguettes can be stored inside sleeves or on their own on a plate. Again polymer clay or sculpey clay can be used to make bread, I have done this many times.

All in all it is a "pretty piece", but honestly in my opinion it's not worth $150 + shipping (in my case). I'm a collector, but also a crafter. I am indecisive whether I will return this Pastry Cart. I'm going to live with it for another day or two. I think I could make one for a fraction of the cost. It wouldn't have the fancy scroll work and those Victorian style wheels, but a stationery cart with some pretty baked goods - yes. I have the My Life As...Bake Set and a few other plastic pieces similar to these that I could use.

I will let you know if I return it or not. Right now I'm a little disappointed. The cost may be more acceptable if it were $85 and even that's a lot.

You can watch the cart in action and see the details on this review VIDEO 


How funny....my second email from Grace is showing her Pastry Cart.

17 comments:

  1. AG should be commened or someone in their marketing team should. Grace's cart is excellent for consumers who do not want to spend$500 on the bakery, or financially there are people who just do not have that to spend on AG products. This allows a lot more people to experience a great amount of playtime with Grace the doll and her accessories. Plus, some people just have a limited amount of space hence making the cart perfect! The cart has a lot of play value with pastries, a bell, faux money and a beautiful cart to add other AG or additonal doll food items. I can see many more people buying this and Grace's collection due to the cart idea and the smaller pieces like the baking set over more high priced items that will be harder to save up for. Thanks for showcasing it! It will be 1st on my growing list.

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  2. I thinks the look of the cart and food and packaging is very appealing, but the use of plastic versus metal plus the price means we will not be buying this. I looked at the cart again when I visited AGP yesterday. If I didn't already have the My Life As snack stand, or my homemade snack stand, I may have considered buying it. Now the baking accessories with the mixer stand... that might provide some great play value.

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    1. Yes Linda, I see what you mean. I too was a little disappointed with the plastic vs metal, but then I thought that metal wouldve driven up the price. Gone are the days where PC wouldve used metal and found a way to wave the cost through producing more quality items that people wouldve loved to buy due to the quality alone and not the branding. Unfortunately, girls now will never know how good it was to collect under the PC umbrella in the late 80s-90s and early 2000 where the products were realistic and not mostly made of "cheap" plastic to the naked eye.

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    2. Even after saying all that, I am going to still add it to my collection and continue to give AG my what must be annoying feedback on how they need to have better quality products. I just love collecting and hope that AG can keep up with demand from collectors of all ages.

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    3. Plus, bc this is a doll blog I would be wrong not to mention that I do like the faux marble incorporated in the carts design. That is what attracted me to this being a good play item for design purposes for my collection. I do realize that my audience is made up of collectors as well as young girls who love dolls so I want to be fair to the younger audience when I say that this is a good investment if you need to save up for the bakery or just want to play and display Grace. This is just my opinion, thats all for now...promise.

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  3. Thanks for your review on this Rhonda. I just can't see spending $150 on something that is primarily all plastic and the accessories for the most part are very disappointing in their quality. I think I will figure out how to make my own.

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  4. Thanks for the review. When my tween daughter asked for this, I said, "Make you're own doll-sized cart and use the $150 to make a life-sized version. Then you can start a real bake stand and support your own doll habit." We did make one inspired by Grace's, but it is not as fancy. You can see it at dollsonadime.com

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  5. I splurged on the OG diner which is worth every penny of the $100 I spent on it and has SO much more similar quality stuff to this cart! You're correct that a crafter will be able to reproduce this and my guess is we will see someone like the Queen's Treasures offer some comparable play piece soon. In the meantime, I've been trying to figure out how to make a cart with Legos... ;)

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  6. i just noticed...the cart is on the cover of book 3, Grace makes it Great, and a new outfit, not being sold (yet) picture on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1609589513/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

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  7. Grace is a beautiful doll but I just wasn't interested in getting her. My daughter and I went to the AGP in St. Louis and most of her collection wasn't appealing to me. I'm not a baker, though even if I adore dessert pieces. Honestly, I was a little disappointed in the quality of the food when I touched it and looked at it up close. Now when I say that, I mean quality vs price vs competitor's options. Over the past year I've purchased many of Our Generation's stuff. I have to say they are an excellent alternative to some of American Girl's items. The only items I feel have amazing quality in terms of food/accessories ect is the BeForever line. I was stunned when I saw the price for the bakery. It's huge, Yes! But, in my opinion it's not worth $500. It looks cheap to me. I'm not sure why that is, though. I'm thinking very hard about getting the OG diner because you get so much stuff for such a great price. That's one of the things I like so much about OG, is they offer similar items at unbeatable prices and some of it is very realistic. One of my favorite items is the deluxe kitchen set. It comes with so much food, it's unreal. I recently bought their new tea set and the detail blew me away. The tea box really opens to store the tea envelopes, the jam jar looks real (for a toy) and the macaroons are separate not in one big glop. I won't stop buying American Girl but I may start venturing out to the secondary market for most items. Even if I save, it seems like they are getting too unaffordable. I know you'll come to the right decision in a few days. It makes me sad that you were so excited about getting Grace's items but now you're having second thoughts about something so cute. You're right, $150 is a lot for what it is. After seeing your city carriage, there's no doubt, if you wanted to, you could make something even better. :)

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  8. As of this morning the Bakery is on backorder. My girls wanted the Campus Cart, and now would like the bakery and bakery cart. I think the bakery cart is so much cuter than the campus cart, but for the same money I can get the Campus cart with more food, etc. So undecided. My other pet peeve is that they only put one chair with cafe and ice cream parlor. My girl's dolls usually go to places as friends. Then my doll is the hostess, sales clerk, etc.. Wonder if they will connect up with one of the chefs on Food Network? At one time they had a kids cooking completion hosted by Rachel Ray and Guy, that would be nice. Thanks for the review, did you also see that an AG reviewer is returning it since their cart broke.

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    1. I agree. I saw an ice cream table with two chairs at an antique store...it seems odd to have one chair. The wicker table is too large for Tyson's for sure, so I may have to find a lonely parlor chair in pink,white or black. If your girls like to make their own food, they can fill up a bakery quickly.

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  9. Thanks for this great review! I was thinking about the cart but totally agree with your coments... It doest seem worth the money.. We dont have any OG set but ill look at some on my next visit to the US..

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  10. I dont get AG emails anymore!! I have signed up on the site several times using different emails but its been a real long time since i got any email from them :-( does it happens to anyone else?

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    1. I had a terrible time getting signed up, I am finally getting some stuff, but not much. It took me three times. Never mind the fact that they can always send me my order confirmation, but anything else, I didn't get.

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  11. I purchased the cart. It is beautiful and a show piece. I also purchased Our Generation Retro Finer aging awesome and so with the Money. I feel the cart should cost no more then 50.00 do over priced by 100.00. I desired something to go with Grace so out of that desire I made the purchase. I ferl American Girl is very greedy. I wish TJ Maxx would give them a run for their Money making Girl and Doll matching outfits. Target Our Generation is so incredible.

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  12. I want this but struggling with the cost. I could get Carolines wood table/chairs for less. I highly doubt this goes on sale. Its sell8ng well. I hear many complaints on the cheapness of this cart but no one has been returning it cause its unique. Have you made decision of keeping or returning?

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