Celebrating Canadian diversity in #Montreal with our MapleLea doll #MapleleaLove

Growing up I loved to play with dolls; to style their hair, accessorize their outfits and make up all sorts of creative, fun games. I can distinctly remember being as young as six years old and noticing that the dolls didn’t look quite like me. They were pretty but I didn’t have blond hair and blue eyes. Wouldn’t it be cool if there was a doll that did look like me? I struggled with accepting the fact that I look different at that age. It wasn’t until my mid teens that I owned the fact that I did not have to look like everyone else to belong. Growing up in a middle-upper class predominately white neighbourhood with little to no cultural diversity had that affect on me.

 

At Montreal’s Orange Julep or “the big orange”

Fast forward a couple of decades and now my own daughter loves to play with dolls. We love to dress them up together and spend hours making up creative stories while accessorizing them. Unlike me that age, my daughter is fiercely proud of being a third generation Canadian of Pakistani and Guyanese descent. She loves being unique and totally owns it. I couldn’t be prouder. Imagine our delight when we were going through the Maplelea Dolls website recently and found beautiful, quality made dolls from different parts of Canada that reflected the beautiful diversity of our nation and its people. 

Miss B with Alexi at the Orange Julep

I want my daughter to have a doll that inspires creative play; one that she will love, as well as one that is in line with my values and priorities for her. It helps boost and nurture her self confidence when she has a doll that looks like her. Ms. B loves that she gets to learn about her doll Alexi, that she’s from Toronto, what her heritage is and what she enjoys doing. 

I should add that while you can purchase matching outfits for both your daughter and doll from Maplelea, I didn’t realize the outfits had to be purchased individually when I ordered Ms. B’s sweater. As she LOVES to accessorize to the max, B used one of the sweaters from her stuffed animals and it fit Alexi perfectly. The original shirt Alexi comes with is a beautiful orange.

Ms. B and Alexi overlooking Montreal landmark of Mont Royal.

I love that Maplelea Girl Dolls are a high quality, Canadian alternative to the ‘diva-type’ dolls in the market. Having a pre-teen daughter is diva enough for me. It’s also really neat that the dolls were created by a Canadian mom to encourage learning about Canada’s heritage, culture, and geography.

The Maplelea line includes 7 ‘Maplelea Girl’ character dolls, each from a different part of Canada, and a variety of Maplelea Friends (‘lookalike’) dolls, doll clothes, doll furniture and matching clothing for girls. Ms. B chose Alexi who hails from Toronto because that is where she was born and where half of her extended family lives. She also loved the fact that Alexi has a wheat like complexion, similar to herself.

Each Maplelea Girl is a unique individual with her own preferences, interests and 

strengths, but all are bright, energetic, caring girls who are happy with just who they are at this time of their lives. Through the journal that accompanies the doll, I am proud that Ms. B can learn not only about her Maplelea Girl, but also about our country’s geography and heritage (in a fun way!).  

Posing in front of Montreal’s historical Saint Joseph’s Oratory.

Several Maplelea accessories are made in Canada, including the toboggan, much of the girl-size clothing, and Saila’s amauti & Pang hat (which are made by craftspeople in Nunavut). 

Posing in front of Montreal’s Science Centre.

Maplelea products are only available online at www.maplelea.com

I love that my daughter has a doll that she loves to play with, that looks like her and that shares her experience of being a unique, culturally diverse Canadian girl.

At Montreal’s iconic Old Port with Alexi

DISCLOSURE: This post is part of the YummyMummyClub.ca and the Maplelea #MapleleaLove sponsored program. I received compensation as a thank you for my participation. This post reflects my personal opinion about the information provided by the sponsors.