AG doll and MG clothes and accessories worked for us.

As long as you don't have any friends with slightly older daughters who will come over and tell your DD, "that's not a REAL American Girl Doll." That's what happened at our house.

Anonymous wrote:I'd say to go with the real AG doll. She'll realize soon enough which are AG and which are not.

+1. Or, if you do get her the other doll, say it's one "like" the one she wants and don't try to pass it off as AG. Doing the doll's hair will eventually become a thing, and I think most girls would notice the difference there if nothing else. My 4 year old has one AG doll and is getting another plus accessories for both dolls this Christmas; they're expensive but seem to hold up well and be a decent value for the money. Also, since they're quite popular among young girls your daughter would probably get several years worth of play from the purchase. My nieces and my cousin's daughter played with theirs until around 3rd or 4th grade.

This is OP again. I asked my daughter tonight what type of doll she wanted. I was thinking of hair color and she replied Samantha. Wow, I guess she knows more about American Girl than I thought. I had to Google Samantha.

My girls loved their American Girl Dolls at that age. They were really into the books as well. They are 23 and 19 now and still talk about the Christmas when they got those dolls.

My daughter (5.5) is more than fine with the Target dolls. She doesn't know the difference! I just bought her two at Target.com for $19.99 each. She can play with them until the hair looks like crap, then I can toss it without guilt!

OP here. Thanks for the input. I didn't know it was inexpensive to get the hair done, but also am cringing at the cost of the AG dolls. We don't have a Costco membership and I'm more concerned that she will quickly lose interest. We have seen it happen in the past with other toys. Lots to think about.

Get the AG doll. The hair on the Target dolls is awful. I've even tried the fabric softener rinse and can't get them untangled.

As PP mentioned, Costco has the Samantha set with I think two dresses so it's a good deal.

Target accessories are great. For clothes, I like to get them on Etsy or Ebay. It's the same or cheaper price than what you'd pay for in the stores and the quality has been great. Plus you can get character costumers (Disney princesses) from those sellers.