Real Littles backpacks: will they work for American Girls?

August 18th was a bittersweet day during my childhood; it was my parents' anniversary, but it was also the day that Mama and us kids went back to school.  There's a long story behind the reason why my parents married during back-to-school season, but let's just say that back-to-school season was never a fun time for us.  Anyway, when I was going to school August 18th was D-Day (this year will be different, of course), and to commemorate this sad event I've been buying backpacks for my American Girls...or I've been trying to.  The ones on Etsy are cheap and well-made, but I've still only managed to get a single backpack for Kyle (a John Deere backpack, no less).  Enter Moose Toys, with these.

Real Littles are a spin-off of Shopkins.  They consist of these tiny packages of real branded items... 

...and inside the little packages are Shopkins (Ella Eggo and Kristie Krispie in this case). 

I'm a casual fan of Shopkins, and I'm especially fond of these Real Littles as they make fabulous props for ball-jointed dolls and for my Tonner girls.  Most of the items are too big for Barbie and too small for American Girl dolls, but then I saw these Real Littles backpacks at the Mart of Walls.  Not only do these appear to be functioning backpacks, but they also have blind bag items inside, school-themed stuff like stickers and notebooks and tape.  TAPE???  Can't wait to open these up and see how Moose managed that one!  But first, the size.  Unfortunately they're a little small to be in perfect scale for the American Girls, if Kyle's backpack is indeed in scale.

But they're not TOO small to be used, as Z shows.

The straps don't fit across the doll's back like Kyle's straps do, so if I do use these as backpacks for my girls I'll have to just sling both straps over one arm.

No, the fit's not perfect, but I think this will work just fine.  American Girls, Hot Looks, and Wellie Wishers can all probably use these as props.  Come to think of it, I think these backpacks fit my Hot Looks dolls even better than they do the American Girls.

 

 Good thing these backpacks come in multiple different styles!  I've counted seven so far.  Alrighty, let's open these up and see what all I've got in there, as one can't go back to school without school supplies.  The blue and purple backpack has these items inside.

 

There's the tape, right off the bat, complete with the Shopkins aesthetic.

I think it is honest-to-God tape, done up in this sparkly green pattern that regular old school tape never seems to come in...

...but I don't want to waste it so I won't unfurl it.  There's also a sheet of stickers in there...

...and colored pencils!  Ooo, those look like they might actually write...except that the tip on the red one is broken.

Par for the course!  Sharpened pencils never stay sharp when they're stored in a loaded backpack.  The other items consist of a blank composition book (the pages are unlined)...

...this little notepad, which has pages that can pull off if I so choose...

...and a folder.  

I saved the folder for last because it has real little pockets inside.

Perfect for Z to store notes for tests...and to hide that math test she flunked, like I did more than once!  Actually...take that back, these colors are more suited for Silver Bird, with her blue and purple ensemble.

There's a silver glitter backpack at the store that will match Z's shoes nicely, but she says matching's not a big deal for her.  So let's see what her backpack contains. 

Cool, some of this stuff looks like the items I had in elementary school!  I think my favorite item is this.

Rather poor idea for a school lunch, LOL.  Seriously, the mother of a kid at my school packed a Popsicle for her son's lunch one time, and needless to say it melted and made a huge mess.  But luckily for Z this isn't a Popsicle.  It's a highlighter, and it really works!

Also in the ice pop theme is this set of stackable erasers.

No joke, these come apart and then pop back together again.

Z's classmates are gonna think she's an ice cream enthusiast!  There's also a ruler and a pencil with real lead and a real eraser...

...and something I never needed in school, a set of envelopes.

The envelopes have rainbows on them, and when you open each of them up there's a leaf of paper inside with another rainbow.

That's pretty nifty!  Little bonuses like that aren't too common among toys anymore.  Oh yes, there's also more heart-shaped note paper.

It should be noted that the bottom compartments open up, but there are no surprises in there.  Minor disappointment, but the compartment can still hold smaller items like the tape or the heart note pads.

With that, I do b'lieve that takes care of Z and Silver Bird!  I promise that Z's backpack sparkles more in real life; I have a new phone with a reliable camera now, but I'm still learning how to use it.  Just the same, I think Silver Bird and Z are pretty tickled with their new bags.

I do wish I had Z's camera in tow, since she used it for a school project in her book.  I wish I had a trumpet for Lindsey too, since her book states that she plays the trumpet.  I s'pose finding one wouldn't be too hard, but for now I can just make do with these cute backpacks and with whatever else I can scrounge up from the Mart of Walls.  Since these backpacks already have their own supplies inside I won't have to do much scrounging.  Not that it matters much anyway, since I had to bring my dolls home and have to keep them there now, and no one will see them but me.  I'll have the kids on hand for more home montages now, so that's what matters. 

Stay well,

RagingMoon1987