Review: Lottie Dolls

Today I’m reviewing a play doll I’ve come across recently and thought worth sharing (because they are adorable and the attention to detail is fabulous!)

What are Lottie Dolls?

Lottie are adorable play dolls developed with a positive take on childhood in mind.   She does not wear makeup, jewellery or high heels. She loves to dress up in pretty clothes but is equally happy to be active, outdoors and getting muddy.

The creators of the doll worked with influential British academics to create a doll body that is realistic and based on the actual proportions of a nine year old child.   It’s great to see a positive doll like this come on the market for the 3 – 9 year old age group.

Inspired by strong characters like Jo from Little Women, George from The Famous Five and Hermione Granger from Harry Potter, Lottie dolls encourage girls to enjoy their childhood, in all its facets.  The message behind the Lottie Dolls is be bold, be brave, be you. 

There are currently 12 dolls in the range and I’m showcasing 2 in this review.

English Country Garden Lottie Doll

Pirate Queen Lottie Doll

Key Features

• Launched in August 2012
• Niche age group: 3-9
• 18cm tall, portable and easy for little hands to carry around
• Childlike body – doesn’t wear makeup, jewellery or high heels
• Stands on feet (with shoes)
• Finely detailed clothes
• Easy to dress and undress
• Hair is soft and doesn’t tangle and knot like other doll hair
• Bendable knees with ball socket hips and arms
• Presented in a giftable, illustrated and collectible doll box bag, with minimal plastic packaging.
• Won 19 international awards, including 5 Oppenheim Portfolio Platinum Awards.
• Recommended Age: 3 Years +
• Dolls RRP $24.95
• Accessory sets and outfits RRP $14.95

Accessories

I was impressed by the Lottie Doll accessories (sold separately). They are fantastic additions to play and I was thrilled with the quality of the items.

English Garden Lottie Doll

The English Garden Lottie Doll accessory pack is a picnic basket with rug, 2 plates, 2 cups and 2 cupcakes.

Pirate Queen Lottie Doll

The Pirate Queen Lottie Doll accessory pack comes with a treasure chest, coins, flag, map. (The sword, hat & books come with the doll)

Box

There is an attention to detail quality with these dolls that goes right down to the collectible play box with minimal plastic packaging.

Size

Lottie Dolls are 18 cm in height.  They are a lovely size for small hands to hold and carry around. To give an idea of where they sit in terms of height compared to other popular dolls, they are somewhere between a Skipper Doll and a Kelly Doll.

Hair

The Lottie Doll hair is of high quality and it feels lovely and soft.  There is less rooted hair per cm compared to some other dolls of this head size, however the hair is beautifully glossy; so shiny! — which means it sits straight and it doesn’t seem to tangle easily. 

I absolutely love the fringe on the Lottie dolls. If you look closely, you can see that it’s feathered and not exactly straight which gives it that carefree quality.

Face

Sweet-sweet face with big eyes reflective of classic Japanese anime.

Clothes

The attention to detail in the clothes is just WOW.   For example, on the English Country Garden Lottie Doll, there is a bow at the back, on the socks and the front pocket. Adorable! The clothes are easy to put on which is another plus. Another thing that stood out to me with the clothes is the interesting colour combinations and mixed variety of textiles (like chord) – wonderful!

The only negative I found with the clothes is the velcro details (particuiarly on the English Country Garden Dress) don’t appear to be very strong. The flowers/strawberries on the front of the dress are actually removable (which is fun) but I found them not to attach very strongly to the dress.  The back velcro holds fine, but I would have liked it to be made from a little stronger velcro.

Love, love, love this outfit! I took the green sash off Grace, the Pirate Queen Doll, to show the cute little buttons on the cord shorts. The textures are fantastic! I didn’t have the same issues with the small amount of velcro on this outfit.

Posing

One of my favourite things about these dolls is they can stand on shoed feet without assistance so kids can pose them in play.

Movement & Flexibility

This is something I look at carefully in dolls.  In my experience with buying dolls for my kids to play with, too much flexibility and the dolls don’t tend to be durable for play and then not enough flexibility and they aren’t as fun to play with.  The Lottie dolls have a good balance of flexibility.

• Head moves side to side (not up and down)
• Arms are fixed and move up and down (no jointed elbows)
• Bends at waist (to sit down)
• Legs splits easily front to back
• Legs open side to side
• Bendable knees (a click bend)

Just look at those boots!! Gorgeous!

What do my kids think?

Here’s a few snaps of what my girls got up to playing with the Lottie dolls.  They are captivated by them and the dolls have been a catalyst to many happy hours of play. I noticed how the dolls fit to beautifully in the children’s hands; they held and played with them like the dolls were special treasures.

Pros & Cons

Below are the pros and cons I noted down about Lottie Dolls

Pros

• Adorable looking
• Age appropriate 
• Great quality
• Durable
• Body shape represents the niche age the doll is designed for
• Positive message about childhood
• Great size for play and travel
• Cute quality accessories
• Glossy and soft hair that doesn’t tangle easily – excellent quality
• Stands up without assistance 
• Good flexibility
• Easy to dress

Cons

• Velcro on clothes not overly strong
• Less hair / cm than some other dolls (but this doesn’t affect the look / play quality of the doll)
• Some branding/style noticeably not Australian (eg. English Country Garden, Branksea Festival) –  not an issue in itself but possibly not as relatable with the stories of the dolls.
• Lottie dolls are available to purchase in Australia however, not widely. Many Toys R Us sell them (instore and online), you can get them online from Amazon. Find a full list of all retailers here.

Range

There are currently 12 dolls in the range. They are available from Toys R Us (just search for Lottie Doll on the website), Amazon, and from selected stores.

What I’d love to see

I’d love for Lottie to include a boy range too!

The Lottie dolls are a wonderful addition to the play doll range with the focus on encouraging kids to enjoy childhood in all its facets.  The attention to detail and high quality of the dolls is what makes them stand out to me.  Lottie dolls have that collectible quality and yet the neat size, quality accessories and good design makes them a fun play companion. Last word: Adorable!

More detail can be found on the website www.lottie.com

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Disclaimer: The Lottie Dolls were sent to me for an honest review. I was not paid and all views are my own.