In my
previous post, I wrote about how little space I have in the Strawberry Shortcake houses from Hasbro and how little furniture it had.
Well I found a solution by using dollhouses from the Sylvanian Families collection (aka Calico Critters in the USA). I apologize in advance for the state of the houses. I bought them used and they show wear with stained walls and scratched floors. I could easily remedy this with wallpaper, some rugs, curtains, etc, but I haven't got a chance to beautify the houses yet. So please bear with my ugly houses for the mean time :)
The little cottage models (aka
Starter House) fit perfectly the size of the Strawberry Shortcake Mini Dolls. Here below is Rose Cottage furnished with Re-ment items mixed with furniture from Strawberry Shortcake collection as well. Don't you think it is much better now?
I especially like the pink Re-ment wardrobe. Shaped like a strawberry, with doors you can open and hangers with clothes, this item is probably my favorite in the Re-ment serie.
The furniture from the Sylvanian Families collection also fit the Strawberry Shortcake Mini Dolls but not all of them. I took a few pictures to illustrate this. Below is the same Rose Cottage with furniture from a
Living Room Set and a
Kitchen Set.
In the kitchen, you can see the oven, sink, pantry and fridge (which came from
a different kitchen set) are the right size but the teapot and cooking pot are obviously too big for little Cherry Jam! The bowls and canisters (with the red trim) are however the right size and so are the plants.
The
Living Room Set fits perfectly! Lemon Meringue and Plum Pudding can enjoy a cup of tea while sitting in pretty and comfortable chairs :)
The bathroom is also to scale. The bath tub is spacious without being gigantic. There is a hole in the bath tub though so don't fill it with water until you plug the hole! The bedroom furniture are good too but the bed that fits the Mini Dolls the best is the one for the children (bunk bed serie).
Here below is a photo showing the different size of beds in the Sylvanian Families collection.
Raspberry Torte sleeps in the
Baby's Bunk Bed and it is much too small for her.
Among all the furniture sets, I think the Living Room set was the best fit. And the print with tiny little flowers is just adorable. The coffee table resembles more a dining table due to its height.
The Dining Room Table and Chairs were unfortunately too big for the Mini Dolls. But since the Strawberry Shortcake houses usually come with dining table and chairs, it wasn't much of a big deal. Plus the children didn't really care that the table was too high. They were just happy to get more furniture ;-)
Apart from furniture, the Sylvanian Families Collection has many more items that could fit the Strawberry Shortcake Mini Dolls. For example they have a
bicycle that I though was darling! Strawberry Shortcake is a little small but you can hardly notice it. And Custard her cat fits perfectly in the front basket. The one in the photo below is for an adult but there is also a
model for children which I think could possibly suit the Mini Dolls better.
All in all, I think most of the Sylvanian Families are to scale with Strawberry Shortcake, especially items from the Children's collection. They are more expensive than the toys from Hasbro but they are also better made and there is a variety that you can't find within the Hasbro line of toys for Strawberry Shortcake.
If you want to buy Sylvanian Families, I would suggest waiting for the sales. There are a few sales throughout the year by Amazon, Toys R Us and other toys websites. There is also the possibility to buy used (or new) toys on Ebay. Sometimes houses and many furniture sets are sold in a lot. But just a word of advice : don't bid higher than you are willing to pay. Just remember there will be other auctions and the prices may be lower. So be patient and wait if you don't want to pay full price :)
