Middie Monday is a feature that is published on the first Monday of each month! A guaranteed monthly post on Blythe’s little sister – Middie! If you have any suggestions for a future Middie Monday post, please send me an email or use my Suggestions form!

It’s December, which also means that one of my favourite holidays is coming up soon! Now what does that have to do with Middies? Not much, but I was musing a bit about what Blythe-related (and Middie-related!) gifts I’d be putting on my wishlist if I was still doing that. For my Middies though, I do think they need something for the holiday season. Given their meager outfit choices between two of them (poor things), I’m thinking I need to work on the following:

• Outerwear (coats) and accessories (hats, scarves)
• Dresses (just more of them, a greater selection)
• Separates (tops and bottoms – this is literally at the bottom of my list because something about sewing doll-sized pants makes me apprehensive of sewing…)
• Shoes (to be bought)

Basically, my Middies need a little of everything. And if they felt hot or cold, they’d be shivering in their little plastic shoes right now. Not boots though, because I only have one pair of boots that really fit them (I’m a bad Middie owner…).

Do you own Middies? Do they suffer in comparison to their bigger Blythe sisters on the wardrobe or shoe front? What do your Middies want (or need)?

Welcome to the 2015 Blythe Holiday Shopping Guide! This is part 3 of a 3 part mini-series to help those who are trying to figure out what to buy for themselves, or what to buy for the Blythe-lover in their life. Part 1 was the $25 and less part, while part 2 was the $100 and less price range of the shopping guide!

Blythe – a somewhat unnecessary, can be expensive, and very much a luxury hobby. For the third part of the Holiday Shopping Guide, let’s explore the gift options that are greater than $100! For pretty much all of these suggestions, you’ll likely want to involve the gift receiver as you wouldn’t want to buy something expensive that isn’t to their taste (or something they want, or fits their needs).

1. A new doll. There are many different new stock Blythe releases out there for the Neo and Middie sizes, pretty much all of them will cost you more than $100. And if the Blythe lover in your life is anything like me, they have a list of what new releases they really love and want. It may take some creativity on your part, but be sure to check out their Facebook, Instagram, and Flickr to see if they liked or commented on any images of new Blythe releases that they really love. If it’s a newer new release, be sure to check out this list of legitimate online Blythe retailers to see if the doll is available for sale.

2. An old doll. And by ‘old’, I mean a 1972 Kenner Blythe doll. If you’re looking at a doll in pristine condition, be aware that you may be paying a pretty penny for her! It is a good time to buy a Kenner Blythe though, as prices have been fairly low for even the minty dolls. You should be able to find a fairly minty looking Kenner Blythe with no body cracks and minimal issues with the hair for about $500-750. Obviously if the hair colour or cut is more rare, the doll will be more expensive, but I have recently seen several fairly minty Kenner Blythes sell for very reasonable low prices.

3. An alpaca or mohair reroot. These are reroots done in natural fibres that are kitten soft and can come in some beautiful natural or dyed colours. These labourious and oh-so-time-consuming works of art can cost you quite a bit – expect to pay a minimum of $200 for an natural fibre reroot, more depending on the type of fibre, length of fibre, and colour(s). But they’re so pretty!

4. Without getting into the politics and controversy of the incredibly expensive doll clothing sets, what about some form of display cabinet? Yes, there are many shelf units out there that are less than $100, but think about the sheer size of your loved one’s collection, followed by the necessity of glass covered doors so that the collection is visible but also protected from mischievous cats and the dolls don’t need to be dusted on a very regular basis. Something nice and sturdy with glass doors would be lovely, and likely to cost well over $100, depending on where you shop.

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I hope that the 2015 Blythe Holiday Shopping Guide has been helpful to you in determining some potential gifts for the Blythe enthusiast in your life! For the discerning Blythe hobbyist, it’s probably best to get them involved in helping to choose their gifts – that way you can be sure that they get something that they love! There’s a huge price range that Blythe-related gifts can fall in, so don’t be afraid that all Blythe gifts will wind up being expensive!

Month #3 was the month that I fell flat on. I got to photo 70 of 365 before I just kind of stumbled with taking photos. It was also the same day that I started my new job (sort of, officially/unofficially), which was back on November 9th and no photos were taken since.

The month of November began with a Halloween Blythe meet on the 1st, followed by knitting, collecting birthday swag, turning another year older, and beginning orientation for my new job as a casual Registered Nurse. Since the 9th/last day I took a photo of Eden for 365, I’ve started working and have been really busy! Hopefully it settles a bit soon and I get into more of a routine so I can spend some time on my hobbies too.

365 challenges are hard. They are so simple in concept – take a photo once a day. Until you actually try to do it, then it’s a little bit more difficult. I didn’t get as far as I did with my first attempt at a 365 challenge with Eden (114 of 365), but that’s okay. I have different priorities now and the holiday season is upon us. It’s been a good run, and I would like to try again at a 365 (perhaps with a different doll?) in the future once things settle a bit for me with work.

Quite a few of the Takara-released Blythe dolls have had special stock eye chips- all beginning with Miss Anniversary, the first anniversary doll that also had all special eye colours. Since there, it has been special stock eye colours that appear on and off and there have been some beautiful stock eye chips. Some of them have been more creative than others (e.g. Ultimate Tour Momolita’s silver skulls or Ahcahcum Zukin’s green clovers) while others have just been really pretty.

Some of my favourite special colours that my dolls came with stock are Bennett’s browns (Margaret Meets Ladybug) and Mollie’s light blues (Simply Sparkly Spark). There’s just something a little extra special about a Blythe who comes with a pair of eye chips that isn’t the standard pink, blue, orange, or green. Even a slightly different shade of green or blue (or pink or orange…) is a welcome change.

What’s your favourite special stock eye chip colour?

Shopping Saturday is a feature on BlytheLife.com to help you either shop or promote your shop’s sales. If you want to have your sale included in Shopping Saturday, submissions must be made by 12pm Pacific on the Friday before and all coupon codes must be valid for the entire weekend that they are featured.

For more information, you can check out the Shopping Saturday page or send questions to michelle@blythelife.com.

•  AnneArchy has a 25% off coupon code for Blythe knitting patterns: smallbizsaturday