Piercing American Girl Doll's ears on my $0 Budget

I am sorry I have been absent for over a week. I started a new fitness session and it is kicking my butt; I have no energy to do anything. Actually, it hurts right now to lift my arms up to type :) Next time when your loving sister-in-law asks you to join bootcamp with her, just know you will be tired, grumpy and sore for the full 8 weeks :) But I do love, so I am thankful for the invite.

Over a year ago we packed up our car and drove to New York City with the kids for a family holiday. Three of us had never been to New York before (my husband had been) and we were very excited. It was a month or so before my daughter's birthday so my husband and I decided to surprise her with a trip to American Girl; we made reservations at the Cafe for dinner and then while we were their bought her her first American Girl doll. She carried that doll around New York for 4 days with pride and excitement.

Well after we returned home from our holidays, she asked if she could get her own ears pierced. This was something we had held off doing until she could make the decision on her own and was mature enough to care for it. After much discussion and 30 minutes of crying/screaming at the salon, she got it done. I will add, after the women did both ears at the same time she said "That didn't hurt at all." I am glad my husband video taped some of her pre-ear piercing fun. Now this meant her American Girl no longer looked exactly like her.

Ever since she has been hoping we could go to an American Girl store to have Emily's ear's pierced. We have not made it to one and I refuse to mail the doll away. So, we decided to try to do it ourselves. I thought "Come on, how hard could it be?" Boy does my husband hate when I say those words. But this time it wasn't difficult.

We pulled together the tools we thought would be necessary.

• Hammer
• Pliers 
• Thick sewing needle
• Old pair of earrings

Method

Identify where you want the earrings to be situated on the dolls ears. You will just be putting the earring into the ear and no back will be used. The earring post just goes into the dolls head.

Place the doll on a hard flat surface and using a hammer, gently tap the thick sewing needle to make the hole.

I do not recommend using a tack because it will make the hole too large and the earrings will just fall out.

What a horrible shot :)  It really reminded me of when I was younger and kids would try to pierce their own ears.

If necessary, use pliers to pull the needle out of the ear.

Insert earrings and you are done!

Here is Catrina with Emily (American Girl #1).

Well, after her first doll was done, she was determined for dad to pierce her other American Girls ears too.

If you were to get their ear's pierced at the store, they would charge us $14 per doll. So we saved $28 and now we don't have to carry the dolls with us on our next vacation. A Win win in my books.

What have you been up to on your spend free months?  Anyone else feel like they are not able to move as a result of their dumb New Year's resolution to get back in shape?

I hope to have more $0 ideas soon.
Stephanie