How to "Recycle" Dolls...or What I Do With All Those Cheap Porcelain Dolls That Goodwill Seems to Think Are Worth a Fortune

Every Goodwill (or any other thrift store for that matter) seems to have shelves full of these dolls.  You know the ones I'm talking about--the generic, mass produced, made in China porcelain dolls with cheaply stuffed bodies and usually gaudy clothing.  And for some reason, the thrift stores in my area think they are worth gold and price them accordingly!  I see the same ones sitting on the shelves, week after week, hardly selling.  I used to walk by the these dolls all the time, hardly giving them a second glance.  I mean, $6.99 for a cheap, mass-produced porcelain doll with crispy, unflattering clothing?  Seriously?

And then, one day, a doll friend told me that she intentionally buys theses dolls so she can remove their shoes, wigs, eyes, or anything else that appeals to her.  WHAT???  Now why hadn't I ever thought of that?!?  I immediately headed to the closest Goodwill and for the first time ever took a good, long, hard look at these dolls.  Almost all of them had cheaply stuffed, non-articulated bodies.  Some of their wigs were hideous.  And the outfits...good gracious...there was hardly one that appealed to me.  However, almost all had cute shoes!  And some of the wigs were nice styles and felt to be of good quality.  So I started buying these dolls...but only the ones that had the 50% off ticket of the week.

The above dolls are the ones I've picked up over the last couple of weeks.  I chose them for their hair and/or shoes.

Lots of cute shoes and boots!

So, here is what I end up doing:  If you are at all squeamish about ripping the wigs off doll heads or tearing off tiny eyelashes, then this is probably not the project for you.  However, if you want to build a little stockpile of shoes/sock/clothes/wigs/etc. for your doll collection, then read further:

First, I remove shoes and socks/tights. Sometimes the socks are really cheap and just fall apart.  These I toss straight into the garbage.  If the only thing I'm taking from the doll is her footwear, then I re-donate the barefoot doll back to the thrift store.  However, if she has a wig or eyelashes or clothing I like, I remove these as well.  If the doll has clothing I don't want, I bag it up with other unwanted doll clothing and re-donate it as well back to the thrift store.  The bald, naked dolls go (gasp!) into the trash can.  I have to bury them deep because if my 7 year old saw them, she'd probably cry.  As it is, I do feel a little bit bad for them, but not too much.  I've thought about donating the bald dolls back to Goodwill, but would they even want them?  Could they sell them?  I doubt it.  And then they'd be responsible for throwing them away, which I don't think is very responsible on my end as the consumer.  SO...into the trash they go. 

Here is what I gleaned from the seven dolls up above:

Four nice wigs, one pair of eyelashes, one pair of tights, four pairs of socks, six pairs of shoes, one pair of boots, one darling little dress and bloomers set (nicely made) to fit a smaller doll, and one, completely, adorable little purse!  Three of the dolls are getting re-donated, (as I only removed their footwear) along with a bag of clothing that I didn't like. 

I realize that there are probably some people out there who like these dolls, collect these dolls, and probably can't understand how anyone in their right mind would do to them what I do!  However, I can only speak for myself in saying that I feel good to have kept some trash out of the landfills while also building up my collection of necessary doll items on a budget.

So, how about you?  Do you think this a good idea?  Would you/do you buy dolls for this same purpose?  I'd love to know that I'm not the only one out there! (Besides my doll friend, of course, who turned me on to this bizarre practice...thanks, Donna!)