The Ultimate Tween New Year's Eve Party

Ms Twixt's plan for the Ultimate Tween New Year's Eve Party:

It must be a sleepover, of course. Invite her BFFs to ring in the New Year with style and sweets.

New Year's Eve Decorations:
A huge disco-ball-esque pinata sets the stage (we love the ones by Confetti Systems):

Similar available from Urban Outfitters, $28-$48 depending on the size

The girls can make confetti-filled balloons:

Here are the directions from Family Fun's website:

Materials:
Large balloons
Brightly colored construction paper
Hole punchers
A funnel or empty plastic bottle
Pins or pushpins

When it comes to making a big bang, popping balloons is unparalleled--and even more thrilling if streams of confetti come pouring out. Prepare your New Year's balloons by setting the kids to work punching circles out of brightly colored construction paper with a hole puncher. (or use store-bought confetti) Stuff as many circles or confetti pieces as you can into each deflated balloon using a funnel, or improvise one by cutting a plastic soda bottle in half. You may also want to write fortunes on small pieces of paper and slip them into the mix. Blow up the balloons and hang them high, but still within reach. A few moments before the appointed hour, hand out the pins. When the time is right, let that confetti fly.

New Year's Eve Festive Attire:
Fabulous glitter top hats set the mood:

From Oriental Trading.com; $14.99 per dozen

And glow bracelets are a MUST!


For a fun bit of sparkle, how cool are these glitter-y Converse kicks?

From Target, $24.99

Fun sleep masks will help the girls get some shut-eye - eventually:

From BeePosh, $10

New Year's Eve Treats:
Mocktails, for sure. Here is a fun recipe, or you can make sparkling Jell-O parfait using sparkling Jell-O and seltzer:

Starry Night Mocktail:
4 oz. purple grape juice
2 oz. pineapple juice
4 oz. ginger ale
Lemon and lime peels
1 or 2 slices of star fruit
Ice

In a tall glass, mix the juices and the ginger ale. Make spirals from small strips of the lemon and lime peels. Slide the slices of star fruit onto the glass rim.

And there must be cake - perhaps a confetti cake?


Or special NYE cupcakes?


Or maybe "almost midnight cookies"?

Receipe from The Decorated Cookie blog

Some folks serve breakfast at midnight, and this could be a great way to help wind things down.

New Year's Eve Party Activities:
If your city has a First Night celebration, count yourself lucky (Ms Twixt and tweens will be enjoying a chilly but festive First Night in Boston this year). But if not, Disney Channel is running an amazing line-up of shows and stars starting at 6pm EST featuring Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez and more tween stars.

Make a wishing tree: set out strips of paper and colorful pens and invite guests to write down their wishes for the future. Hang them from a wire form or branch to make a New Year's Wishing Tree and take turns reading them at midnight.

Or have fun with fortune fish:


However you choose to celebrate, MsTwixt wishes you a happy, healthy and peaceful New Year!

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It's National Candy Cane Day!

Today is National Candy Cane Day! What will you do with any holiday leftovers? (We shower them on our gingerbread house as snow.)

Hammond's, one of our all-time favorite candy makers, hosts a Candy Cane Festival every year. Although it's not on National Candy Candy Day (this year it was December 12th), we hope to attend it one of these days. Yum!

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First Tweens Have a Tropical Christmas

First Tweens Malia and Sasha Obama are spending Christmas in Hawaii with friends and family. The Obama family always returns to the President's home state for the holidays, and this year they will be in the same rented house on Oahu as last year. The First Tweens will share a room with a view of the home's pool. The house is on the beach, and the family plans to spend down-time on the beach.

Christmas dinner will be spent with friends and family traveling with the First Family, and a Christmas tree will be flown in from the mainland. According to the President, the girls will receive books, video games and iPod "stuff" as gifts.

Photo from Getty Images.

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Emma Watson Wishes You a Happy Christmas

Harry Potter star and Brown student Emma Watson is in the holiday spirit - she created a special mini-site just for Christmas to wish her fans, share her holiday music pics, and give us an update on her life (she is back filming the Harry Potter movies in England while on break from Brown).

BTW, for all Harry Potter fans on the East Coast, be sure to check out the Harry Potter Exhibition at the Museum of Science if your travels take you to Boston this season - it closes February 21.

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First Official Movie Stills of Eclipse Released

The third book in the Twilight saga, Eclipse, isn't due in theatres until June 30, 2010, but the first official stills from the movie were released today. In this novel, the battle between Jacob and Edward is still in full swing but the Cullens and Quiluetes must band together to protect Bella from a new enemy. Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner return in their marquee roles.

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National Chocolate Covered Anything Day!

Okay, so this is one of those odd holidays, but what a great excuse to eat chocolate? We wrote recently about the opening of the first ever Peeps store in the Washington area, and we often have a Peeps fondue bar during our candy parties - they are the perfect thing to cover in chocolate!

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Glee Nominated for Four Golden Globe Awards!

Glee has been nomimated for four Golden Globe awards including Best T.V. Show, Best Actress (Lea Michelle as Rachel), Best Actor (Matthew Morrison as Mr. Shue), and Best Supporting Actress (Jane Lynch as Coach Sue). Winners will be announced on January 17, 2010.

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Happy (Belated) 21st Birthday to Vanessa Hudgens!

HSM star Vanessa Hudgens turned 21 on December 14th and was feted with a surprise party in L.A. attended by her HSM cast-mates and other Disney stars (including Zac Efron, Corbin Bleu, Ashley Tisdale, and Selena Gomez). Guests enjoyed red velvet birthday cake - Happy Birthday Vanessa!

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Happy (Belated) Birthday to Taylor Swift!

Breakout country/pop singer Taylor Swift celebrated her 20th birthday on December 13th.

How's this for a birthday present?: for HER birthday, Ms. Swift donated $250,000 to several schools that she attended as a child. The funds will go towards books, program and salaries. "Something I wanted to do at the end of this amazing year and especially on my birthday was give back to something I really believe in, which is education," Swift said. "The schools that I went to and the amazing people I got to learn from really turned me into who I am, and I wanted to give back."

For her birthday celebration she hosted a party at her home in Tennessee during which she baked Christmas cookies and gingerbread men for her guests.

Taylor Swift is a class act - it's never all about her.

Photo from BigPicturesPhoto.com of Ms. Swift at a Baskin-Robbins in NYC (is that a wig?)

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Justin Bieber in D.C.!

Tween singing sensation Justin Bieber was in Washington earlier this week to perform for the President, First Lady, and First Tweens at TNT's Christmas in Washington celebration. This annual event will be broadcast by TNT, and you can check out Mr. Bieber's performance on December 20th. He sang "Someday at Christmas" by Stevie Wonder and posted this picture of him with Michelle Obama, Usher, and President Obama via TwitPic (you can also follow Justin Bieber on Twitter at www.twitter.com/justinbieber, and be sure to follow MsTwixt at www.twitter.com/MsTwixt on Twitter too - we track cool things for tweens and their parents!)

This is Justin Bieber's first performance in D.C., and we hope he comes back!

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A Twilight Valentines

Look what's coming this Valentine's Day - New Moon conversation hearts! Perfect for your Twilight-crazed tween.

Available at CandyWarehouse.com

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Peeps Opens First Ever Store Near Washington!

We are HUGE fans of Peeps (who isn't?!?) and are so excited to tour the first ever store devoted to Peeps. It opened December 10th at the Shops at National Harbor and features every kind of Peep shape and color imaginable, Mike and Ikes, and Hot Tamaless, among other candies made by the Just Born company.

The store has a giant color-changing marshmallow Peep presiding over the candy and features Peep art from local artist David Ottogalli. We can't wait to visit!

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The Perfect Stocking Stuffer for Tweens

Quite possibly the coolest stocking stuffer or Hannukah night present for your tween: candy ear buds.

These are compatible with any MP3 player and would be fantastic for any age tween. The flavors include Bubble Yum, Dots, Razzles, Tootsie Rolls, Reese's, Jolly Ranchers, and more.

And the price is right: $12.95. Available at CandyMachines.com

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Chat Live Online With Daniel Radcliffe This Weekend

The 6th movie, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, comes out on DVD and Blu-Ray this week, and Warner Brothers is hosting a live online chat with Director David Yates and Daniel Radcliffe. The chat will be on Saturday, December 12th at 3pm EST.

The DVD is a must on the gift list of any tween HP fan, and the Blu-ray version allows one to be connected online to participate in the live chat. A great opportunity for your tween (and you!) to chat with the star.

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First Tweens and Jordin Sparks at National Tree Lighting

First Tweens Malia and Sasha Obama were on hand with the President and First Lady for the lighting of the National Christmas Tree this weekend. Idol star Jordin Sparks was also on hand to perform at the event, singing "I'll Be Home For Christmas".

She tweeted live from the event: “Obamas were so sweet! I met Michelle & the girls @ the Jonas concert this year! First time meeting the Prez though. [sic] Hes tall!! And so nice!” You can follow MsTwixt on Twitter too at www.twitter.com/MsTwixt and see who we're following as well.

Photo from WENN.com

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The Power of Youth, Covered by Variety

Variety magazine, arbiter of all things Hollywood, held it's 3rd Annual Power of Youth event this weekend in L.A. The event honors up-and-coming kid stars who harness their celebrity power to put a spotlight on charity causes. It's nice to see stars doing good - even nicer to see them starting young to do it.
2009 honorees were:
- Corbin Bleu for his support of the Starlight Foundation
- Miranda Cosgrove for her support of St. Jude's Research Hospital
- Jesse McCartney for his support of City of Hope
- Annalynde McCord for her support of the Blind Project
- Keke Palmer for her support of the Boys and Girls Clubs

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It's National Cotton Candy Day!

Any excuse to eat one of our favorite treats: today is National Cotton Candy day!

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Taylor Swift Blogs About Winter

We just our first snowfall here in Washington, and that's certainly put MsTwixt and tweens in the holiday spirit.

We're not the only ones enjoying a winter wonderland - here's Taylor Swift's latest blog entry about the season:

"I love winter.
I'm laying on the couch, wearing fuzzy red and white socks. In my peripheral vision is a giant, lit up Christmas tree. This is my favorite time of year. Hands down.

I just got back to Nashville this morning after being in LA all week. Today I was out and about and in the studio all day, and when I drove home, I saw this strip of restaurants on Main Street in my hometown.. I've driven that road and seen those restaurants four billion times since we moved here almost six years ago. Somehow they've never looked as perfect and welcoming as they did tonight. It was Sunday night and there were cars jammed into every last parking spot available. I could see the smoke billowing out of fireplace chimneys into cold winter air. It's the holidays. People are coming together and going out for dinner and something about seeing that just stuck with me. I love everything about this time of year, but mostly the way that people find ways to be with the ones they love. And I love sweaters. Everyone is wearing sweaters right now."

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Glee Soundtrack Part Deux - Out Tomorow

Just in time for the holidays, the Glee Soundtrack Volume Two comes out tomorrow! This is the perfect gift for your tween Gleek fan although MsTwixt does wish the mash-ups were included. Here's the latest line-up:

1.“Proud Mary”
2.“Endless Love”
3.“I’ll Stand By You”
4.“Don’t Stand So Close To Me / Young Girl”
5.“Crush”
6.“(You’re) Having My Baby”
7.“Lean On Me”
8.“Don’t Make Me Over”
9.“Imagine”
10.“True Colors”
11.“Jump”
12.“Smile”(cover of Lily Allen)
13.“Smile”(cover of Charlie Chaplin)
14.“And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going”
15.“Don’t Rain On My Parade”
16.“You Can’t Always Get What You Want”
17.“My Life Would Suck Without You”

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Tween Appropriate Interview With Glee Cast

Calling all gleeks: check out this really cool interview with the cast of Glee on JSYK.com - perfectly appropriate for tweens - about who'd they "slushie", what's on their iPod right now, and their message to high school students today.

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A Gingerbread White House

The White House has just released photos of its holiday decorations. The First Lady's theme for this year is Reflect, Rejoice, Renew (as we are still a nation with troops fighting two wars and in the midst of a recession), and she opted to re-use holiday decorations from past White House administrations and things found in the White House Kitchen Garden. We love that her ideas can be used by tweens to inspire their own homemade decorations.

Check out pics of this year's White House Gingerbread House - it weighs about 400 pounds! It's covered in white chocolate and includes the White House Kitchen Garden in marzipan and Bo in marzipan - how cute is that? After Christmas this confection will be moved to the White House Visitor Center for the public to view.

And here's a video by ABC News of the White House Pastry Chef, Bill Yosses, talking about the process of building this year's gingerbread house with shots of Bo in marzipan, the Kitchen Garden, and the dining room in dark chocolate.

Photo by Eddie Gehman Kohan

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