Taylor Swift Weighs-In on Appropriate Halloween Costumes for Tweens

Tween singing superstar Taylor Swift says her mantra for Halloween is NOT to be sexy, but to be scary. Ms. Swift gave an interviewto MTV sharing, "I felt all the girls in our school kind of used Halloween as an excuse to take all their clothes off and parade around." She added, "They would tan weeks in advance so that they could bare it all on Halloween. I'm like, 'That's not the point.' You're supposed to be scary." Last year, Ms. Swift dressed up as Chewbacca along with her best friend explaining, "Abigail and I have always been sort of anti-teeny-tiny, little costumes."

It is refreshing to see tween celebrity favorites voice common-sense and independence on such topics and to treat their positions as tween role models responsibly. Ms. Swift is to be commended on her stance of not bowing to peer pressure and demonstrating how going one's own way doesn't detract from the festivities.

There have been several news stories recently about the sexualization of tween girls on Halloween, and it can often be difficult to find age-appropriate costumes. Thankfully, girls this age are creative and resourceful, and many opt to craft their own unique looks for Halloween. As a parent of three tween girls, I am thrilled to have another example of a high profile tween celebrity reinforcing a spirit of independent thinking and resistance to peer pressure.

Readers, please share: what is your tween dressing up as this Halloween?

Photo from Kevin Mazur/Wire Image

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Back by Popular Demand: Taylor Swift on Halloween

Tween singing superstar Taylor Swift says her mantra for Halloween is NOT to be sexy, but to be scary. Ms. Swift gave an interview to MTV sharing, "I felt all the girls in our school kind of used Halloween as an excuse to take all their clothes off and parade around." She added, "They would tan weeks in advance so that they could bare it all on Halloween. I'm like, 'That's not the point.' You're supposed to be scary." Last year, Ms. Swift dressed up as Chewbacca along with her best friend explaining, "Abigail and I have always been sort of anti-teeny-tiny, little costumes."

It is refreshing to see tween celebrity favorites voice common-sense and independence on such topics and to treat their positions as tween role models responsibly. Ms. Swift is to be commended on her stance of not bowing to peer pressure and demonstrating how going one's own way doesn't detract from the festivities.

There have been several news stories recently about the sexualization of tween girls on Halloween, and it can often be difficult to find age-appropriate costumes. Thankfully, girls this age are creative and resourceful, and many opt to craft their own unique looks for Halloween. As a parent of three tween girls, I am thrilled to have another example of a high profile tween celebrity reinforcing a spirit of independent thinking and resistance to peer pressure.

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First Tweens and the White House on Halloween

Halloween at the White House this year welcomed hundreds of tween-age kids from the Tubman and Bancroft Elementary Schools in the District as well as military families. Students ages 6 to 14 trick or treated at the White House that was re-done in orange and purple for the evening.

The President, First Lady, and First Grandmother handed out bags of organic sugar cookies (made with honey from the White House bees), and guests were treated to face painting, pumpkin carving demonstrations, and a dress-up booth.

First Tween Sasha Obama dressed up as a turkey this year, and Malia Obama's choice was a Sour Patch Kid. Neither girls were present for the White House event this year; both were trick or treating in the Capitol Hill neighborhood.

Does your tween have extra Halloween candy? If so, she might consider donating some to a good cause: Treats 4 Our Troops is collecting donations of excess Halloween candy to send to our brave men and women serving overseas. This local non-profit collects the candy and handles all the packaging logistics. Contact information is on their website, and there are drop-off points throughout the Washington metro area.

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Halloween at the White House 2009

Wow! Could your house handle 2000+ trick-or-treaters? Halloween at the White House this year was attended by 2600 children. The President and First Lady invited children of White House staff, members of the military, and local schools to attend the festivities. The "Presidential Pumpkin" weighed in at 1000 pounds (can you imagine carving that?!). Guests received cookies made with honey from the White House bees (check out the story on these cookies from one of our fave blogs, Obama Foodorama, Presidential M&Ms, and a dried fruit medley (in keeping with Mrs. Obama's health focus). The White House had a "skeleton" band and costumed acrobats in giant bubbles mingling with the tricker-or-treators.



No word on what the First Tweens chose as their Halloween costumes; according to the First Lady, that knowledge requires "top secret clearance." The First Lady wore cat ears, feline make-up and a leopard-print twin-set. The President was reportedly dressed as the "First Dad."

Photos from the White House blog, AP and Getty

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Perfect Halloween Tote for Tweens

Tweens are definitely still into trick-or-treating - this year, give them a tote with purpose: the FEED Trick or Treat for UNICEF bag. Available only at HSN, the tote costs $13.20 - and for each bag sold, HSN donates $3.50 to UNICEF.

Do you know about the FEED Foundation? Founded by Presidential niece Lauren Bush in 2007, FEED's mission is to raise awareness and funds to ensure nutritious school meals for all children as a first step to improving the global food system. To date, they have provided over 50 million school meals to children in the developing world through the United Nations World Food Progam school feeding operations through the sale of their tote bags.


We love their bags for the cause they support and for the idea of putting fashion to work for the greater good. Tween designers-in-training will love the article on how Lauren Bush created FEED and its first ready-to-wear line, Lauren Pierce.

Between the Trick or Treat for UNICEF boxes and this tote, Halloween can be a do-good holiday too.

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Back by Popular Demand: 'Tis the Season: Candy Corn Mania

We originally ran this post last year, but we've had many requests to bring it back.

We love candy corn! Here's a smattering of what we found to celebrate this Halloween icon:

SEE: Possibly the World's Largest candy corn is at Disneyland's California Adventures Sunshine Plaza where the Mouse transformed the "California" sign as giant candy corn.




WEAR: How cute is this Candy Corn fairy costume for a tween? ($40 from Chasing-Fireflies.com; accessories not included)


MAKE: There are a million ways to use candy corn in baking; these cupcakes were cute and original (photo from iheartcuppycakes1 on Flickr)



GIVE: A sweet way gift for your tween that won't anger her orthodontist: a plush Cornelius Candy Corn from artist Dan Goodsell ($6.99 from myplasticheart.com)



CRAFT: Here's a free(!) pattern to download for your crafty tween to knit her own candy corn hat! Pattern courtesy of Material Whirled.



DRINK: A fun Halloween party beverage from Jones Soda Company: Candy Corn Soda. Be warned: this is SUPER sweet (good thing it comes in such small cans). These used to be available at Target, but no longer; try your local World Market instead. ($1.50 for 4 8-oz cans)


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National Candy Corn Day is October 31st

We love candy corn, and Halloween is, of course, National Candy Day. We stumbled upon this fun cookie recipe for Candy Corn Cookies - it is super easy and a great after-school project or Halloween-day project for tweens:

You'll need:
- one batch of sugar cookie dough (your favorite recipe or mix)
- orange paste food color (if you use the liquid drops, add a tad more flour to the dough)
- 2 squares (2 oz.) of semisweet chocolate melted.

1. Line a loaf pan with waxed paper, extending paper over sides of pan.
2. On work surface, place 3/4 cup dough. Knead about 4 slashes of orange food paste into dough until color is well incorporated. Press this orange dough evenly in bottom of loaf pan.
3. Divide remaining dough in half. Gently press one half of remaining dough (un-colored) into pan on top of orange dough. 
4. On work surface, knead chocolate into remaining dough until the dough is well mixed and looks like chocolate throughout. Press this chocolate cookie dough over the plain dough in pan, pressing gently to edge of pan. 
5. Refrigerate 1 1/2 to 2 hours or until firm.
6. Heat oven to 375°F. Remove dough from pan. Cut crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Cut each slice into 5 wedges. On ungreased cookie sheet, place wedges 1 inch apart.
7. Bake 7 to 9 minutes or until cookies are set and edges are very light golden brown. Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheet. Cool completely. Store in tightly covered container.

Photo and recipe adapted from Betty Crocker.

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Easiest, Last-Minute Treat for Halloween Parties!

How many classroom parties are you attending tomorrow? Here is the PERFECT last minute Halloween treat: marshmallow pops. How cute are these?!?! A DC-based cookie guru, the Decorated Cookie, is the genius behind these treats.



All you need are: marshmallows, skewers, and a cookie pen (I see these at our local Safeway and Giant; no need to make a special trip).



Just skewer that marshmallow and sketch!



Yum!

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Perfect Non-Sweet Treat for Tweens on Halloween

We saw these and flipped! Twixt has always sold these cool Lego-like Zip Zip drives, and customers love them because they're fun and perfect for storing homework files.

Now Zip Zip has come out with a glow-in-the-dark version just in time for Halloween - so cool! They also work as light up keychains, and with Day Light Savings Time around the corner (next Sunday, November 7), these are great for our tween's backpacks. Ms Twixt plans to include these in our tweens' ghost gift baskets.

$35 for 2GB from MyZipZip.com

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Selena Gomez Auction to Support UNICEF

Did your tween collect any money for UNICEF this Halloween? Selena Gomez is UNICEF's youngest-ever ambassador and has been a big promoter of the "Trick or Treat for UNICEF" campaign this year. As another way to earn funds for this worthy cause, Ms. Gomez has created an online auction of several items from her own (and some cool friends') closets and an opportunity to meet the tween star herself.

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A Book Tweens Help to Write

Have you heard of the "Amanda Project"? It's a new book series for "young adults" (read: older tweens) with a twist: readers can contribute chapters to help craft the ending of the book. The Amanda Project is the story of Amanda Valentino, told through an interactive website and book series for readers aged 13 & up. On the website, readers are invited to become a part of the story as they help the main characters search for Amanda.

The author is Melissa Kantor, and this innovative series was picked up by Harper Collins this year - the first book, "The Invisible I" came out this September.

Here's how the story starts:
"What happened to Amanda? AMANDA VALENTINO came to our high school on Halloween. She disappeared on the Ides of March. She left us some clues, but we’re not sure what they mean. The only thing we know for sure is that she utterly, completely changed our lives. Will you help us find her?"

The first 8 chapters are available to read for free online.

Also check out the latest chapter in The Exquisite Corpse book series at the Library of Congress - three chapters have already been posted, and the fourth is due this week.

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Second Chapter of Exquisite Corpse Posted

As our loyal readers know, the Exquisite Corpse isn't a Halloween costume - it is an online book from the Library of Congress' Young People's Literature Program.

The second chapter was written by Katherine Paterson (who authored The Bridge to Terabithia and Jacob Have I Loved among others) and is posted now.

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Happy National Candy Cane Day! A Candy Cane Manicure

Today is National Candy Cane Day! Our tweens are are inside during today's snow storm in Washington and celebrating by doing candy cane manicures. We found this cool post by a French blogger with instructions (if you liked this, check out our candy corn manicure post from Halloween).

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The 20th Anniversary of Wallace & Gromit

We LOVE Wallace and Gromit, the British claymation characters - you may know them from their Halloween movie, The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. Shockingly, they are celebrating their 20th anniversary today! Even Google is excited - this is the Google Doodle that was up on the Google homepage in England today.


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Fun for Tweens: How-To Do a Candy Corn Manicure

Just in time for Halloween: a fun how-to for a Candy Corn manicure!

This is from a cute blog by Babbling Brooke who is a tad nail polish obsessed, but lucky for us, she shares - here's her guide for a fun Candy Corn manicure:

1. Use two coats of yellow nail polish (she used Need Sunglasses by OPI)
2. Then paint on a coat of orange using a either a French manicure nail guide or simply swooshing a curved line. Paint to the ends, leaving a stripe of the yellow showing at the base of the nail
3. Use a French manicure white nail pen or tip paint to do the ends in white
4. Paint on two layers of top coat to smooth out the layered look and feel of this manicure

Sweet!

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