Loving Family Sweet Sounds Dollhouse

by Mattel

Product Features

• includes baby, kitty, furniture, accessories and lots of built-in extras.
• Measures approximately 26" x 12" x 34" when closed.
• Requires 3 "C" alkaline batteries (not included).

Product Details

• Item Weight: 14 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 21 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• ASIN: B000099Z3R
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #175,190 in Toys & Games (See Top 100 in Toys & Games)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (86 customer reviews)

Product Description

Hear the voices of the people living in the Fisher-Price Loving Family Sweet Sounds dollhouse. This beautifully decorated Victorian home comes to life with a talking mom, dad and little girl in the kitchen, nursery and playroom. More than 200 starter phrases prompt children to use their imaginations to role-play magical moments of their own, from special occasions to everyday events.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

183 of 189 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Large dollhouse with lots of room to play, October 28, 2003

By A Customer

= Durability:4.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:4.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Loving Family Sweet Sounds Dollhouse (Toy)

I just ordered this dollhouse for my almost 3 year old for Christmas. I bought this dollhouse because I wanted a house larger than the FP classic house. We have the classic house from 3 years ago and the rooms are almost too small for furniture. This dollhouse is definitely larger. It is also easier to fold up and open. My daughter had trouble with the other one because you had to fold up the stairs and the second floor before you close it. This one just folds shut. The stickers were very easy to apply and I liked the addition of the bonus stickers for decorating. The dolls look cute and have real hair (our old ones had painted hair). I haven't tested the speaking aspect of the dollhouse since I am waiting until Christmas to put the batteries in. My only dissapointment is that there are some pieces of furniture permanently attached (in the middle of rooms no less). This is necessary for the sound I suppose, but I think it may limit placement of additional furniture and play. All in all, this is a much nicer dollhouse than the classic dollhouse and is worth the $.

55 of 56 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Ultimate Dollhouse, October 25, 2003

By 

Tanya Jennison "nursemidwife86" (West Winfield, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:3.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Loving Family Sweet Sounds Dollhouse (Toy)

This dollhouse has everything and more for your little one's imagination to explore! It's large when opened up, but easily folds for storage. Built sturdily. Wonderful sticker accessories that you can add yourself for personalization. It came with the mom, dad, daughter, baby, cat, baby accessories, chair, radio, and more! And here's the best part...the family, cat, and radio will all interact with one another when placed easily in certain areas of the house! Loving and wholesome interactions, too. I highly recommend this to any dollhouse enthusiast!

92 of 99 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars MOST IMPORTANT FEEDBACK YOU'LL READ ABOUT THIS DOLLHOUSE, February 8, 2006

By 

D. Schaller (Sunnyvale, California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Durability:1.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:1.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:1.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Loving Family Sweet Sounds Dollhouse (Toy)

We purchased this dollhouse for our three year old daugther last July when she turned three. Fortunately, at the time, I went a bit crazy with ordering the furniture and bought almost all of the furniture sets that were made to activate the Sweet Sounds dollhouse. I just recently discovered, however, that you cannot buy the Loving Family furniture that was made for the dollhouse in the department/toy stores. Instead, you have to buy it for three to five times the original price from an individual on eBay (i.e., $54 and up for one set which originally cost $12).

If you do decide to buy this dollhouse, the furniture that you actually need to activate some of the 200 phrases must contain an item called a "BONUS FEATURE". The BONUS FEATURE are furniture sets that come with a certain furniture item (i.e., wrapped gifts and balloons, parrot, blue television, tea set, blue teddy bear) that has a PINK or BLUE ribbon attached. Those items will activate the dollhouse sounds. Yes, you can still buy doll furniture from Fisher Price for the Twin Times Fisher Price Dollhouse that are on the same size scale as the Sweet Sounds dollhouse, but that furniture will not activate the dollhouse's supposed 200 phrases.

Personally, I think it is an atrocity that Fisher Price continues to sell this dollhouse with the marketing claim that it has over 200 phrases. A majority of those so-called phrases are activated by the extra dollhouse furniture that you USED to be able to purchase. Hence, the claim that Fisher Price (aka Mattel) makes that the dollhouse has over 200 phrases is misleading and false advertising because the dollhouse only comes with a few pieces to activate the dollhouse sounds (i.e., adult female, adult male, child female, cat, and tape recorder). That's it!

Someone else put together a list of all the sets you used to be able to purchase so you can see what I'm talking about here (although the representative picture of the displayed furniture on the left is not always the same item as the boxed picture on the right -- the boxed picture on the right shows the correct furniture to activate the dollhouse). Please see: http://mydreamdollhouse.com/FPdollhouse_sweet_sounds.html

Obviously, Fisher Price and/or Mattel believe that as parents we are stupid and that we don't pay attention to details. They have incorrectly assumed that we will not recognize that although they sell the Sweet Sounds dollhouse (probably because they have a lot left to deplete in their inventory), they don't sell the corresponding furniture to activate the house. Why then spend the extra $20 pay for the electronic dollhouse sounds when you can purchase the Fisher Price Twin Times dollhouse for much less?

Although I already own almost all of the Sweet Sounds dollhouse furniture sets, I have now developed a great disdain for the unscrupulous business dealings of the manufacturer who no longer supply the corresponding furniture for this Sweet Sounds dollhouse.

Lastly, today I contacted a supervisor within Mattel's customer service (1-800-432-5437). Although she was very nice, I could hardly believe that their computer datebase does not reflect that the corresponding activating furniture has been discontinued. She was totally unaware that people across the globe cannot purchase it anywhere but on eBay at a ridiculous prices. I did not realize when I spoke to her that there was this message board with so many complaints in this regard, however, I pointed out to her that I have been unable to find the furniture sets (with the "BONUS FEATURE") in any in the stores and that everyone on eBay is bidding them up three to five times the original price (I think that was fairly convincing to her). Dare I say that the omittance of the word "DISCONTINUED" in Mattel's database was completely purposeful because they don't want their customer service representatives telling the consumers that you we can no longer get the activating furniture because they want you to buy up the inventory of remaining dollhouses! I'm sorry, Fisher Price, but not all parents are quite as dumb as you think they are.

For a mother with two toddler girls ages 2 and 3, I am going to boycott Fisher-Price altogether because I think this is unscrupulously deceptive marketing on their part. I cannot return all of the unopened furniture sets and the Sweet Sounds dollhouse, but I certainly will continue to raise an awareness via the Internet.

Final word: If you don't care whether or not the dollhouse makes sounds and talks, then go ahead and spend the extra money, although the feature is otherwise useless. In truth, you're wasting your money because you can buy another dollhouse that doesn't have electronic sounds for considerably less money.

Signed,

MAD AS HECK AT MATTEL IN SUNNYVALE, CALIFORNIA