Nighttime Necessities (retired)

[QNPoohBear]

Released in 1997 for $20, retired in 2006. Candlestick later rereleased as part of Nighttime Accessories.

Help Josefina get ready for bed with her blue-an-white Puebla basin and cotton towel. Then, pretend to light the candle in the silver-colored candlestick, and open her carved memory box—inside are six tiny treasures: a piece of Mamá’s lavender soap, a swallow feather, a silver thimble, a turquoise nugget, a rattlesnake rattle, and a heart-shaped charm called a milagro. Josefina’s stories tell why each one is special!


Josefina's Nighttime Necessities are really cute. The memory box is real wood with leather hinges and a carved design. It is really tiny and just big enough to hold Josefina's treasures. Her treasures are so small, it's best to keep them in a zip lock bag or something so they don't get lost. The little thimble is TINY and looks just like a real one. The milagro charm seems to be real metal as well. The snake rattle looks kind of plasticy, but cute. The soap is real soap, or smells real, but again very very tiny. The candlestick is heavy and looks nice. The candle is rubbery and has a hole in the bottom and not as nice as Felicity and Kirsten's candles. The Puebla basin is HUGE, almost too big. It is beautiful though and real ceramic. It's breakable, so I left it in the bubble wrap.
Since this set is important to her story, I would definitely recommend it. It is nice quality and comes with a lot of items for the price.
The cons are that the items don't seem to be scale size and the little treasures are so small, they could easily get lost.

Grade: A-

[thanx2mj]

I got this set today. It's a very nice set, but many of the parts in it are easy to lose. I found them scaled properly to my Josefina. She can actually wear the thimble. The milagro seems to scale. The lavender soap smells like lavender, and leaves the little box with a faint lavender scent. The turquoise seems to be the real thing. The rattler is a nice touch. I had a real one when I was a kid, this one is plasticy, but I think its more durable than the real thing. (I broke mine as kid--don't know how, but I did.) The box is of the same construction as the rest of Josefina's furniture, medium brown with leather hinges. It has a sunrise design on it. The ceramic washing basin is very nice. The candlestick is nice, the candle, well, its soft and kind of rubbery. Finally there is a towel to this set, not too bad, but it doesn't work that well with the bedside table. This is a nice set, and it has a huge importance to Josefina's stories. I recommend getting it.

*Pictures to be added as soon as Dad gets back from the Bluegrass festival with the camera.

[American Girl Rescue]

Nighttime Necessities JDA
$20

"Help Josefina get ready for bed with her blue-and-white Puebla basin and cotton towel. Then, pretend to light the candle in the silver-colored candlestick, and open her carved memory box—inside are six tiny treasures: a piece of Mamá’s lavender soap, a swallow feather, a silver thimble, a turquoise nugget, a rattlesnake rattle, and a heart-shaped charm called a milagro. Josefina’s stories tell why each one is special!"

This is a great accessory for Josefina and a great part of her story. The cotton 'towel' is just the same fabric and texture as Felicity's tea set napkin only bigger. Josefina's towel measures 8 1/2" by 11 1/4".

Josefina's Nighttime Necessities

The candle stick measures 2 3/4" without the candle; it is made of metal and very sturdy. The candle is rubber and it measures 1" tall. Josefina can actually hold and carry her candlestick.

Candle and candlestick

The tiny memory box is real wood hinged with real leathers straps. It measures 2 3/8" length by 1 5/8" wide by 1 1/4" tall.

The intricate carvings on the top of the memory box

Memory box

The ceramic basin is very big. The circumference is 4 1/4" at the crown and 2 3/4" at the base. It is thick, sturdy and very authentic.

Puebla Basin

The edge of the basin has an intricate heart pattern on two sides

Side of basin

The tiny treasures are very small, but very to scale. The rattle snake rattle is 1 1/4" long. The thimble actually fits Josefina's finger. The turquoise and the soap I added to my set because these items were not included. The milagro is metal and the swallow feather is imitation, but with a realistic look and feel.

Tiny treasures inside that are special to Josefina

I think Josefina needs her memory box especially. What else is her bedside table for if she can't have her things that are so special to her nearby?

Grade A

[kenzie]

We just got this set and it is very cute. I was surprised at the size of the box, I thought it would be a little bigger. The pieces are tiny and if you have a little one, you may want to put the small pieces up so they don't get lost. On the other hand, the basin was huge!! It is heavy and is a nice sturdy piece. The candle and holder is nice and seems to be my daughter's favorite part of this set.

[green chile supergirl]

Grade: A+

If you only get one accessory for Josefina, make it her nighttime necessities. No other doll has an accessory that ties all of her stories together in such a sweet way. The beautiful wooden box belonged to Mamà, but Papà gave it to Josefina when her mother passed away. Each of the little treasures comes from one of her stories- and she also keeps her primroses, Mamà's favorite flower, in the box as well.


All of Josefina's treasures fit in the little box- her Mamà's favorite soap, a swallow feather, a rattlesnake's rattle, a nugget of turquoise, a milagro charm, and her little thimble (which really fits on her finger!). I also use the box to store Josefina's necklaces when she's not wearing them.


The Puebla basin, while enormous, is beautiful. It's real ceramic with delicate blue detailing on the inside, showing a village.


All of her nighttime necessities- her Puebla basin, her soft towel (I love this material! It's also used on the collars for Kit's yellow dress & her scooter outfit), her candle in its candlestick, and her memory box- fit neatly on her bedside table, ready for use.

[emchhardy]

This set was one of my "must have" items on my wish list and I'm so glad that I finally won it on EBAY. It is a charming set and very well made. The other reviews pretty much covered it but I will say that I don't recommend this set for children. The pieces for inside the box can get too easily lost along with the basin (although very thick and sturdy) maybe getting broken in the hands of a child. This set is a must though for Josefina collectors. It really ties into her stories and also looks beautiful on her bedside table.

[maggiedoll]

Nighttime Necessities
Item# JDA $20
Retired 2006

Help Josefina get ready for bed with her blue-an-white Puebla basin and cotton towel. Then, pretend to light the candle in the silver-colored candlestick, and open her carved memory box—inside are six tiny treasures: a piece of Mamá’s lavender soap, a swallow feather, a silver thimble, a turquoise nugget, a rattlesnake rattle, and a heart-shaped charm called a milagro. Josefina’s stories tell why each one is special!

[*Mod edit to remove dead image links throughout review]

This is my favorite of the nighttime sets, very nicely made and fits well into her stories.

The memory box is tiny and simply made, however it does not seem fragile. A strong fingernail is needed to close the latch. The lid is a real 3D carving of the sun coming over the mountains and a tiny little home. Since it belonged to Mama there is the possibilities for a backstory.

The box holds six TINY little treasures from Josefina's stories. Its an excellent tie in to not only the books, but to Josefina's personality. There is also room for a couple more, I keep her flowers in the box as well.

Although they are tiny, they are very realistically sized to the doll. The thimble fits on Josefina's finger and the turquoise fits into her pocket. The charm could be a bit bigger and the soap has a funny texture, like the attempt was made to try to make a soapy feel but instead has a more greasy feel. The rattle is plastically and has no rattle noise, but I'm sure Josefina would prefer a quiet rattlesnake.

The candlestick is large and a bit heavy, it is made of metal but it seems like it will last well. I love how the curve of the stick seems to fit into Josefina's hand, making a lovely display. The candlestick has a bit "timeless" quality to it, it could fit in anyone's time period from Felicity to even Molly. I quite defiantly declare it but could it perhaps work into Rebecca's stories of her Sabbath candlesticks? I can state that the candlesticks looks wonderful on Josefina's piano.

The underside of the candlestick. I'm not sure what this calls but the base is not completely solid. I don't see it as a problem. I do notice that there are hints of tarnish but thankfully it has not spread. Not to be an alarmist, but I sat the candlestick on Josefina's nightstand and a few days later I saw staining on the same spot. The nightstand is PM and I also have a Mattel version that does not have this. Could be a stained from its life before me, could be from the candlestick or maybe Josefina spilled some water without me knowing about it.

The candle is removable from the stick. Much like Felicity's it is molded to look like it has been used. It is a bit rubbery and a little flexible. It fits snug into the stick and there is little risk of falling out.

The basin is made of a heavy ceramic, perhaps porcelain or maybe even a type of stoneware. The basin is very heavy, like it was dropped on to a hard surface it would break heavy. It feels like it had been glazed. The blue is medium shade and the white is more of an ivory. Those are the only two colors on the basin.
I really don't know what the image is supposed to be, some rive passing though something. Pretty, though. It kind of reminds me of the stoneware popular in Felicity's time.
I could not understand why the basin did not have the pitcher, where did Josefina get her morning water? Even though the bowl is pretty it seemed like it needed a pitcher. The pitcher from Josefina's birthday set has colors to complement the bowl and it does kind of make sense that Josefina, the youngest daughter would get more of a mix and match set.

The towel is well a towel. It is quite large, with a textured pattern on the fabric. Nice towel but well, it's a towel.

For fun, the nighttime accessories on the bedside table with Josefina's bed and desk. The set matches the rest of her collection, but there does seem something missing, I put the mirror from her summer set and added the pitcher. However, at the end of the day, it is a very pretty set made of fine materials and it matches Josefina the character well. I think this is pivotal of her collection. A

[keeperofthepast]

I love Josefina's Nighttime Necessities. The bowl is BIG and beautiful painted with a scene. her memory box is so special it that everything inside is so closely tied to her stories.

z3 by Laura *, on Flickr