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A doll at the beach comes home with sand in her hair and salt in her clothes, and neither has to be a problem. This guide covers choosing a doll that can take the day, dressing her in swimwear rather than an outfit, rinsing sand off before it dries, keeping vinyl off hot sand and out of parked cars, why a doll hat does two jobs, and packing a bag for the wet things.

A doll goes out of favour long before a child is finished with dolls, and it is usually fixable. This guide covers cleaning her up before anything else, why one new outfit does more than a new doll, giving her an event to attend, letting the child do the choosing, moving her back into view, and knowing when the interest has genuinely finished.

Doll clothes accumulate long after the doll has stopped being played with. This guide covers sorting into three piles in one sitting, keeping one keepsake rather than twenty, what actually sells second-hand and what does not, washing and photographing before listing, passing pieces on within the family, and the pieces worth simply throwing away.

A move is the most common way a comfort doll goes missing, and the fix is deciding early that she never goes in a box. This guide covers keeping her with the child rather than in the truck, packing one clearly marked bag of her things, keeping sleepwear out on the first night, using the doll to walk the new room, unpacking her corner before anything else, and expecting a few unsettled nights either way.