Barbie Gets a Tattoo

Barbie has her issues, and parents of girls are no stranger to them. Add this one to the list: the newest Barbie features Tokidoki tattoos on her body.
Certainly tattoos are becoming more mainstream, and many parents I know and love have them. Something tells me that a toy that claims to serve as a role model for girls and whose marquee product now models large, visibly highlighted tattoos will receive a lot of attention. (BTW, Hello Kitty didn't get a tokidoki tattoo.)

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American Girl Opens in Washington, D.C.

The newest American Girl store opens in Washington this weekend at the Tysons Corner Mall (which is actually in Virginia, not the D.C.), and our tweens were invited to the opening party to get a preview.

As a parent of tween girls, it's nearly impossible NOT to know about the American Girl line of dolls and books. When our eldest tween was very young, my mother-in-law gave her the Samantha doll (which was sadly just archived). The feminist in me was relieved to have an alternative to Bratz and Barbies, and our daughters took these dolls and their books immediately. This has lead to years of birthday and holiday presents (an admittedly expensive habit fed by my very generous mother-in-law) and visiting the American Girl Place in New York has become part of our family's Christmas tradition.

The new store at Tyson's Corner lives up the hype - it is beautifully executed and a tween's dream. The cafe is stocked with even more pink treats than I recall from earlier visits and the doll "salon" is as eagerly anticipated by our eldest tween as our youngest (and this parent is glad to not have to tame the doll's hair). The Tysons' location has added a new feature - the Creativi-Tees station, where girls can get custom tees with matching decals for both their dolls and themselves (remember all those iron-on tee short places in the 80's?).

We were privileged to be included in tonight's opening event, and all proceeds benefitted the National Children's Medical Center - one of the most deserving organizations in the District.

The American Girl Store in Tysons Corner opens tomorrow, June 18th.
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New Orleans Tweens Learn About Barbie's New Career: As Architect

Barbie is both nostalgic and notorious but iconic nonetheless. The icon's maker, Mattel, this week introduced Barbie's chosen profession for 2011 as an architect to a crowd of tweens in New Orleans at the American Institute of Architects annual meeting. Mattel chose this field specifically because women are under-represented in it (personally, we like that architecture is so math-based) and chose this date as it is the 125th anniversary of women being allowed to join professional associations in the architecture field. Barbie's career options are being showcased as part of the toy maker's "I Can Be..." campaign; last year Barbie was a computer engineer.

The doll and her accoutrements are, of course, available for sale ($13.99), but if you were one of the tweens in attendance at the AIA event and career workshop, you received the doll for free.

Check out the video below with the interview of two outstanding women architects as they talk about Barbie's new career and why they got involved in the campaign:




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Holiday Gifts for (Younger) Tweens: Barbie Video Girl

We admittedly have mixed feelings about Barbie, but lately she's been making progress. This includes the latest Barbie item: Barbie Video Girl. It's a Barbie doll with an actual video camera built-into the doll's necklace. Tweens can make their own videos and edit them using free and simple software. We were intrigued and liked that this toy concept bridged the virtual and physical worlds. We cannot vouch for the video quality as yet as we have not purchased this product (as a reminder, there is no pay-to-play here; Ms.Twixt is strictly editorial) - but let us know if you did and what you think - we'd especially love to post a tween's review (we remove all personally identifiable information from tween's posts and do not share our subscriber lists).

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Amazing Opportunity For Tween Girls on Take Your Daughter to Work Day

We are NOT in the habit of promoting contests, but this one deserves an exception: Barbie (of all things!) is sponsoring an AMAZING opportunity for tween girls this Take Your Daughter to Work Day (April 22, 2010). The "I Can Be a Mentor" project is looking for girls ages 6 to 14 years old to shadow some REALLY inspiring women and report back about their work day and their advice for girls.


From their site: "In support of Take Our Daughters And Sons To Work® Day, many of these 10 Women to Watch in 2010 have generously committed to mentor a girl for one day so she can share her stories with girls everywhere. Can you imagine? A day in the life of any of these women would be a-mazing! If you think your daughter or a special girl in your life is perfect for this job, register now and tell me why. You can also upload a favorite photo or record a video and send it to me (don't worry, it won't be posted without your permission!)
After spending a day in the life with these fabulous women leaders, the girls will be asked to report back with photos, videos and a short written essay to share their experiences so girls everywhere can be inspired. They'll also be asked to attend a one-day celebration on April 22 to report their stories in support of Take Our Daughters And Sons To Work® Day."

Tween girls will have the chance to shadow one of these incredible women:

For tweens interested in books/writing:

• J.K.Rowling (no description needed)
• Susan Taylor (former Editor-in-Chief of Essence magazine)

For tweens interested in fashion:

• Rachel Roy (fashion designer and mom)
• Tavi Gevinson (tween fashion blogger; although we love her, we're not sure exactly how she fits into "Take Our Daughter to Work Day given that she's a full-time student herself)
• Cindy Leive (Editor-in-Chief of Glamour magazine; NOTE: if your daughter shadows her, PLEASE report back on what they're doing about healthy body image in the media)

For the sporty tween:

• Danica Patrick (NASCAR's celebrated female racer)
• Gretchen Bleiler (Olympic snowboarder)
• Brittany Lincicome (professional LPGA golfer)

For tweens interested in politics:

• Marie Wilson (founder of the White House Project)

For tweens interested in science:

• Yoky Matsuoka (Professor of Computer Science & Engineering, University of Wisconsin)

The contest is free to enter, and Mattel promises not to post any information on your tween without your permission.

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Happy Birthday Barbie!

The original fashion plate celebrates her 51st birthday today! Last year Mattel threw Barbie a HUGE bash for her 50th, but we'll still sip pink milkshakes to toast her today (maybe Chef Spike's pink cotton candy shake - see video below - from Good Stuff Eatery).



(Cake image from Cakebox Special Occasion Cakes)

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Twilight Barbies?!?!

I suppose these were inevitable, but as of today one can purchase Edward and Bella Barbie dolls. Edward is frosty-skinned, and Bella looks a bit like Skipper. Ms. Twixt is not sure what to make of these - the Twilight series seems a bit mature for the I-still-play-with-Barbies set, doesn't it? What do you think?

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Just For Fun: The Barbie Dance Craze

Mattel has teamed up with Beyonce choreographer, JaQuel Knight (who most recently directed Sasha Fierce/Beyonce's Put a Ring on It music video), to introduce a new dance: the Barbie. The video from Mattel can be seen below and goes along with Aqua's "It's a Barbie World" tune (the original Aqua lyrics have been cleaned up a bit), and Mr. Knight's instructional video on how to perform the dance is also below. Mattel will launch new, posable Barbie dolls this October - hence the video to show that Barbie can dance.

Mattel's "The Barbie" video: (a minute and a half)


JaQuel Knight's Instructional dance video for "The Barbie": (about 3 minutes)


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