Since our family attended the screening of the Disney movie Tangled in November, our daughter has been mesmerized by the Rapunzel Braiding Friends Hair Braider doll by Mattel every time she saw the commercial air on television. Little did she know that Mattel sent one for her in plenty of time for her 4th birthday in January. Out of the many gifts she received that day, this doll was the very first toy she asked to be opened. When I did open it for her, I was so pleasantly surprised to find out that this toy was designed to be battery-free!
I must say that this toy has many parts and it was not easy to remove from the packaging. It is the price we pay for having everything to remain looking so perfect while in the box. I just wanted to warn you in case your child is usually less than patient.
Overall, this toys is well-designed to be user-friendly for a child. Without any assistance, the braider creates braids in the doll's hair that is looser near the top and tighter towards the bottom. Rapunzel comes with hair that is pre-bundled into two sets of 3 strands, which are held together by mini elastics. Each strand is looped through a plastic piece that plugs into the flowers held by the rabbit, raccoon, and squirrel, who are built into the hair braider doll stand.
Once the strands have been plugged in, your child can turn the crank to magically make the woodland animals intertwine the strands into a braid. If you desire a more even braid, then you will have to work the braid upward with your fingers to make the pattern tighter towards the top of Rapunzel's head.
Both my daughter and I were very pleased with the Rapunzel Braiding Friends Hair Braider doll
. Her dress is exquisite and her long hair is beautiful. The doll comes with a hairbrush to help keep Rapunzel's hair "untangled", 3 plastic hair clips, and extra mini elastics. Another thing I have to point out is that Rapunzel's shoes were not easy to get on her feet, so there is very little worry of them falling off and becoming lost.If your little girl is highly anticipating the release of the film Tangled on Blu-ray/DVD at the end of March, this doll would be a wonderful gift to accompany that movie. You can find her at the Mattel Shop, Amazon.com
, Toys "R" Us, and other major toy retailers.Thank you to Mattel for sending us a complimentary product sample to base this review upon.
