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Post by puglove on Feb 8, 2007 21:42:49 GMT -5
Introduced in 1998 for $50, retired in 2008. Associated with Happy Birthday, Josefina!
Set a pretty party table for Josefina’s saint’s day celebration! Start with an embroidered table runner, and add the Montoya family’s very best dishes. Your service includes two hand-painted plates and a pitcher with a poppy design much like the Mexican majolica that was prized in 1824. There are two green glass tumblers, and two knives and forks. For this special saint’s day celebration, the food was as festive as the table decorations. Tía Dolores baked a fancy loaf of bread, and Josefina’s friend Mariana brought a juicy treat—a melon that had been buried in the sand all winter to keep it fresh! The pottery redware jar holds an apricot branch, a springtime reminder to Josefina that “we are all given second chances.”
Josefina's Dishes / Table-wear:
I just adore this set!! Even prettier in person. I love the ceramic accessories and the green glass cups are to die for. My favorite part is the little ceramic painted water pitcher! It is just adorable and I love the colors. The table runner is very cute of course and just says Josefina all over it (not literally of course ) I like the flower vase with the painted white little flowers on it. The flowers inside are just your typical face flowers but I was surprised to see that it was only one stem of these. I was a little disappointed by that because I thought their should have been at leas two (if you have any idea what I am talking about) but that is a minor complaint/detail. The Cantaloupe is very real looking besides the two little snap/holes that hold it together. I guess this is good play value because you could pretend the cantaloupe is whole and then have Josefina "cut" it open. The loaf of bread is a plastic/rubber material which is what I expected but it is not hollow or anything and very cute. The silver wear is cute but I was surprised that the handles of them were actually plastic. I thought they may be ceramic or wood. This factor brought my rating of the set down for an A++++ to an A. I love this set and highly recommend getting it if they don't change most of it to plastic.
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Post by American Girl Rescue on Dec 25, 2007 11:40:33 GMT -5
Josefina’s Birthday Dishes & Party Treats Item# JBAC $54 "To celebrate Josefina's birthday, the Montoya family brings out the very best for a festive party. Unique decorations, special foods, and the finest tableware highlight this set, featuring: * Service for two that includes two hand-painted ceramic plates, two green glass tumblers, two knives and forks, and a ceramic pitcher with a poppy design much like the Mexican majolica that was prized in 1824 * An embroidered table runner * A fancy loaf of bread baked by Tía Dolores * A melon that had been buried in sand all winter to keep it fresh * A real redware pottery jar holding apricot boughs, a springtime reminder to Josefina that 'we are all given second chances'." This is a beautiful set for Josefina and if you have been wanting this, I suggest you get it soon, as the future doesn't look very bright for the life of this unique table wear. The ceramic plates are 3 3/4" diameter and absolutely authentic. The green glass tumblers are sturdy and lovely. The knives and forks are relatively big for her, but maybe that's the style. The ceramic pitcher is another beautifully authentic looking item. The pottery jar is heavy and sturdy. It looks very hand made. The apricot blossoms are pretty, but 'silk' and plastic. Could possibly use more flowers in the pottery jar. The oblong loaf of bread is very heavy, thick plasticy rubber. Not sure what it's made out of. It would look nicer if there was a plate to put it on, but maybe that wasn't what was to be expected. Looks very life-like though. The melon is also thick rubber and can 'slice' into two pieces. There are two small rubber prongs inside the melon that hold it to it's other half to keep it shut. Looks a bit strange when opened, though. The table runner is 17" long and beautifully embroidered. It really makes Josefina's birthday table look elegant. Josefina Birthday dishes and party treats (size comparison) Wonderful set. It's great that it includes her party treats as well as her dishes. Lots of pieces for the price. Grade A
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Post by Thimbleberry on Dec 25, 2007 22:24:41 GMT -5
The white silverware handles are supposed to represent bone handles. I think they're fine because they couldn't really use bone and they look accurate for the time.
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Post by adored on Apr 18, 2008 21:06:33 GMT -5
I give this set an A. Pros: very nicely detailed, especially the plates and the water jug. I like how the forks have the long, 3-tines look of rustic silverware.
Cons: the melon and bread have a very strong plastic smell to them and have the sticky plastic feel.
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green chile supergirl
American Girl Prototype
Order of the Llama Best Writing 2012
A Pueblo Girl in the City
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Post by green chile supergirl on May 30, 2009 19:02:57 GMT -5
Josefina's dishes are one of my favorite accessory sets. The plates are very pretty, though all you have to put on them is the cantaloupe with the strange outlet plug. I feel that the melon could have been much better executed. It's a nice idea that Josefina has a really old melon, but it's kind of a random thing to have on her birthday table. No green chile stew? What kind of feast is this? The "bone-handled" knives and forks have a rustic look about them, but as AGR mentioned, they really are too big for Josefina. That said, if they were smaller, they would look even more out of scale from the plates than they already do. The green glasses are beautiful. Nothing but accolades for those. I love the table runner. It looks just like something my grandmother would have. The vase/jar is so pretty with its little blossoms. The apricot blossoms are serviceable, but the stem was a bit long. I think if it had been just a half centimeter shorter, they would sit in the jar much more nicely. Instead, they kind of lean over to the side. The pitcher is colorful and pretty. I can imagine Josefina pouring herself an ice cold glass of water. I love the little dot and flower decorations. The bread is so intricate! That Tia Dolores knew what she was doing! It seems rather bizarre to have a loaf of bread sitting on the table with no plate, so I put it on the bizcochito platter, even though it's too small. I think this could have really been improved by having two slices of the bread, so that Josefina and her hypothetical party guest could have something other than a melon half to eat. Grade: A-
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Post by skukla on Dec 19, 2010 17:03:55 GMT -5
I am idiotically attached to the wee AG food stuffs, in particular this bread!
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Post by Wickfield on Mar 28, 2011 17:55:34 GMT -5
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mamared
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Post by mamared on Apr 3, 2020 21:23:23 GMT -5
This is one of my favorite sets. There are already so many sweet photos of the entire set up in this thread, so I’m just going to add some photos and details about each piece. The dishes are described in Josefina’s Birthday Story. I’m attaching photos of the whole pamphlet, but the third page includes the description of these pieces. The table runner is really lovely. It measures about 18 inches long by 5.5 inches wide, is hemmed all around, and has pretty embroidery of flora and fauna along both of the long sides. The plates and glasses are adorable. The plates measure 3.75 inches across and have a yellow painted rim with blue painted designs. I’ve purchased extras of these over the years and they have slight differences from each other but are generally very similar. (The sticker on the plate below says Made in China along with American Girl, but some have other stickers or marks.) The glasses are green glass with a swirl pattern on the outside. They’re smooth on the inside, and about 2 inches tall. The utensils have off-white plastic handles. Knives are about 4.75 inches long, and forks are a little longer than 4 inches. There’s a single branch of apricot blossoms, made of brown plastic stems and white fabric flowers. I think these are really pretty. The stem is quite long so it seems to work best if bent in half before putting it into the vase. The vase that the apricot blossoms go in is between 3 and 3.25 inches tall. I have a couple variations which differ slightly in size and decorations, but I really like them both. (The sticker below also says Made in China and American Girl.) The pitcher has also come in slightly different variations. I think the decorations on these are decals, as one of them seems to slope down a little more than the other, but I’m not positive. The pitchers are a little shorter than the vases. There aren’t any markings on the bottom of mine. (Only one pitcher comes with the set.) And then there’s the food. The bread, as others have noted, is made of a heavy rubber type material. The loaf is roughly 3.25 inches long, 2.25 inches wide, and 1.25 inches tall. Only one loaf comes with a set. I have a couple, but the coloring on one of mine has started to rub off on one side. Here are top and bottom views. And lastly, the melon. It’s also a hard rubber material, and the two halves close with kind of a plug feature. I have a few, and all but one close snugly and stay closed. I love the detailed features on the outside. And those are Josefina’s birthday dishes and party treats. Grade: A++
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Post by keeperofthepast on Jul 11, 2023 15:49:18 GMT -5
The dishes and jug are beautifully painted. The table runner is hand embroidered and just lovely. The vase is nice as are the flowers but there should be a few more branches. The bread is fine but the melon is weird with he two plugs. The pamphlet mentions empanaditas, tarts, and candied fruit which, if added, would have improved the party feel.
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