A Celebration of the Harry Potter Films at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

Happy Birthday to Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling! If you're Potter-heads like our tweens, you'll be interested to learn that tickets to a Celebration of Harry Potter Films at the Universal Orlando Wizarding World of Harry Potter go on sale at noon EST today. This event includes a Private Gala, screening with the cast members, and a Q-and-A with the filmmakers. It's pricey ($699/adult for the 3-day event), but it's an unprecedented event. Tickets are limited and available online only. The package includes four days at a Universal Orlando resort, three-day admission to the Universal theme parks, the set of all eight films, and admission to the cast member Q-and-A and Gala. This Celebration of Harry Potter Films takes place November 11-13, 2011 - start saving that allowance now!

If you liked this post, you can subscribe to this blog by clicking here. You can also get up-to-the-minute updates on tween lifestyle by following us on Twitter and on Facebook. Bookmark this on Delicious Pin It

100th Anniversary of Girl Scouts Book: A Celebration of 100 Trailblazing Years

We were excited to learn about a new book coming out shortly to commemorate the Centennial of Girl Scouting. Betty Christiansen has authored "Girl Scouts, A Celebration of 100 Trailblazing Years", and it includes some very cool photographs of the largest movement of girl independence. We love the illustrations as well - sort of a silhouette-style - and the way the book tells the story of Girl Scouting through the 1900's and into today. We can't wait to add a copy to our tweens' library.

Note: MsTwixt is biased as she is a Girl Scout leader to three troops. 

If you liked this post, you can subscribe to this blog by clicking here. You can also get up-to-the-minute updates on tween lifestyle by following us on Twitter and on Facebook. Bookmark this on Delicious Pin It

Tween Costumes at the Harry Potter Final Movie Premiere & Giveaway

Last night we were part of the crowd at DC's historic Uptown theater for the premiere of the last Harry Potter movie, "The Deathly Hallows Part 2". As usual, the wait for the film was filled with camaraderie, pick-up Quidditch games, and fantastic costumes. Here's a sample of some of the best costumes tween kids wore to the event:

Professor McGonagall poses with a young fan (she sewed every part of her costume, including the hat, and her husband carved her wand):

A few tweens were part of Team Pygmy Puff and had a wand duel:

Luna Lovegood was represented:

The most original costume was the Golden Snitch:

Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall field questions from tweens waiting for their Hogwarts admission letters:

We loved this tween's t-shirt from Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes (she was a big fan of our Skiving Snackboxes):

Several wizards battled Bellatrix Lestrange:

We ran out of battery, but other cool costumes included Fleur dela Coeur, Dobby, and Rita Skeeter.

Our tweens also dressed in their Hogwarts best, and they LOVED the film. Unbeknownst to us the show we saw was in 3-D, so we have an extra set of special, opening-day Harry Potter 3-D spectacles to give away to a lucky reader. Just "Like" us on Facebook and post a comment here or on Facebook telling us about a cool Harry Potter character costume you've worn or seen. We'll select one winners at random from those who post comments, and you can post as many comments as you'd like. (NOTE: Tweens: if you would like to enter this giveaway, you must have your parent enter. As Facebook's policy is that you must be 13 years or older to have a profile, we hope that this helps to ensure that parents only enter. This is because we want to respect the privacy of tweens and will not collect personally identifiable information on kids. As always, please be smart online - see our tips on online safety for tweens as a reminder.) We'll post the winner on July 31st (Harry's and J.K. Rowling's birthdays).

If you liked this post, you can subscribe to this blog by clicking here. You can also get up-to-the-minute updates on tween lifestyle by following us on Twitter and on Facebook. Bookmark this on Delicious Pin It

A Justin Bieber Singing Toothbrush?

Tween Justin Bieber fans will rejoice: a company called Brush Buddies has made a singing Justin Bieber toothbrush. The idea behind this "build a better toothbrush" is that the toothbrush plays a song for the full amount of time that one is supposed to brush your teeth. The Justin Bieber line plays "Somebody to Love" or "Baby" or "You Smile", and there's also JB floss (which looks like a CD), and a travel kit. Given the star's mega-watt smile, it seems the company has chosen a good product model.

Available online at BrushBuddies; $1.99 for the toothbrush

If you liked this post, you can subscribe to this blog by clicking here. You can also get up-to-the-minute updates on tween lifestyle by following us on Twitter and on Facebook. Bookmark this on Delicious Pin It

Getting Ready For the Final Harry Potter Movie

It's no surprise that we are HUGE Harry Potter fans (even traveling to Boston to take in the Harry Potter Exhibition), and we've had our movie tickets for tonight's midnight show for months. To help us pass the time in line (and yes, our tweens will be in costume), we made our own Skiving Snackboxes. In the books, Skiving Snackboxes were an invention of the older Weasley twins to help students get out of class for medical reasons. Our version is designed to do the opposite - to treat our tweens as they wait for the film. Here's how we tackled this project:

We found these wonderful "cardboard satchels" at Paper-Source for $6.00 - they even have straps!  Then we lined the interiors with glittery purple paper (brilliant purple seems wizard-like, right?):

 

We're using colorful cupcake liner papers to hold little bags on goodies inside including Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans (jelly beans), Puking Pastilles (chocolate nonpareils), licorice wands, crystallized pineapple (Professor Slughorn's favorite), lemon drops, Droobles Blowing Gum (gumballs), Peppermint Humbugs (York Peppermint Patties), Ton-Tongue Toffees (toffees), Fizzing Whizbees (Pop Rocks), and Chocolate Frogs.

The tweens made custom decals for the boxes like this one:

Then we envisioned what a Skiving Snackbox would look like in the Muggle World and went to town with some paint pens and glitter:

And here it is filled:

 Now we're off to join the throngs of other Harry Potter fans in the movie queue. Even though we'll be in line for hours, there's a carnival-like atmosphere amongst the crowd. It's always fun to see other kids' costumes and to play (Wizard) Chess and broomstick Quidditch while we wait. 

We'd love to learn what you're doing too - what are your tweens doing for the last Harry Potter movie?

If you liked this post, you can subscribe to this blog by clicking here. You can also get up-to-the-minute updates on tween lifestyle by following us on Twitter and on Facebook. Bookmark this on Delicious Pin It

Tween Foodies Can Meet Cupcake Wars Chef

Our tweens are huge Food Network fans and know their celebrity chefs. Sprinkles was one of the first cupcake-only places, and chef/owner Candace Nelson will be in Washington today to host the First Annual Congressional Cupcake Wars. This unique cupcake battle will feature seven bakery teams competing to create stars-and-stripes-themed cupcakes and will benefit military families at Fisher House. More details on this fun event are here.

Our tweens met Candace at the opening of the Sprinkles DC store this spring, and she graciously gave our girls a hands-on tutorial of how to frost cupcakes the Sprinkles way - details here.

If you liked this post, you can subscribe to this blog by clicking here. You can also get up-to-the-minute updates on tween lifestyle by following us on Twitter and on Facebook. Bookmark this on Delicious Pin It

Just Announced: the Members of "Healthy MEdia: the Commission for Positive Images of Women and Girls"

Co-chaired by actress Geena Davis and former FCC Commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate, an organization to "lead the national dialogue on how women and girls are portrayed in the media and outline a blueprint for promoting positive and healthy media images" has been created. Members of "Healthy MEdia: the Commission for Positive Images of Women and Girls" draw from the public, private and non-profit worlds and include:

• Co-chair Geena Davis, Academy Award-winning actor and founder of the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media
• Co-chair Deborah Taylor Tate, former FCC Commissioner
• Maria Brennan, President and CEO, Women in Cable Telecommunications
• Alice Cahn, Vice President, Social Responsibility, Cartoon Network
• Danielle Carrig, Senior Vice President, Advocacy & Public Affairs, A&E Networks
• Salaam Coleman Smith, President, The Style Network
• Sean Cunningham, President and CEO, Cabletelevision Advertising Bureau
• Madeline Di Nonno, Executive Director, The Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media
• Carmen DiRienzo, President and CEO, V-me Media, Inc.
• Emme, Social Reformer, TV Host and Founder, EmmeNation.com
• Ivelisse Estrada, Senior Vice President, Corporate and Community Relations, Univision Communications
• Janice Ferebee, founder and CEO, National Council of Negro Women
• Erin Fuller, President, Alliance for Women in Media
• Marie Gallo Dyak, Executive Vice President, Program Services and Government Relations, Entertainment Industries Council
• David Honig, President and Executive Director, Minority Media Telecommunications Council
• Sherri Hope Culver, President, National Association for Media Literacy Education
• Myung Kang-Huneke, Executive Vice President and General Counsel, Sesame Workshop
• Jean Kilbourne, Creator of the "Killing Us Softly: Advertising's Image of Women" Film Series
• Linda Kinney, Vice President for Regulatory Affairs, Motion Picture Association of America
• Jeanine Liburd, Executive Vice President, Communications and Public Affairs, Black Entertainment Television
• Vicki Lins, Chief Marketing Officer, Canoe Ventures
• April McClain-Delaney, Washington Director, Common Sense Media
• Cindy McConkey, Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications, Scripps Network
• Lesli Rotenberg, Senior Vice President, Marketing and Communications, Children's Media, Public Broadcasting Service
• Katherine Schwarzenegger, author, "Rock What You've Got"
• Ann Shoket, Editor-in-Chief, Seventeen Magazine
• Jennifer Siebel Newsom, Director, Miss Representation
• Dr. Nancy Snyderman, Chief Medical Editor, NBC Nightly News
• Belinda Van Sickle, President and CEO, Women in Games International
• Alexa Verveer, Senior Vice President, Discovery Communications
• Jess Weiner, Author, Self-Esteem Expert and Dove's Global Self-Esteem Ambassador

Eight teen Girl Scouts were also selected to serve on the Commission: Allie Lundell and Jasmine Dent of Maryland; Caitlin Claire O'Brien of Texas; Kulsoom Ahmed of Illinois; Katie McGrath, Maggie Burgos and Caroline Tydings of Virginia; and Toni Guiterriez of California.

The first meeting of the Healthy MEdia Commission will take place next week in Washington, D.C., and we hope that we can bring you live reporting from the event - stay tuned! 

If you liked this post, you can subscribe to this blog by clicking here. You can also get up-to-the-minute updates on tween lifestyle by following us on Twitter and on Facebook. Bookmark this on Delicious Pin It

New Pottermore Site Brings Wizarding World to Life, Sorts You Into Hogwarts Houses

Details about J.K. Rowling's new Harry Potter website, Pottermore, were released at a press conference today, and millions of Harry Potter fans are rejoicing. About the site the author says, “You visit Diagon Alley, get sorted into a house, cast spells and mix potions to help your house compete for the House Cup.” E-book versions of the Harry Potter series will also be available.

The site won't be live in the U.S. until October, but a few lucky tweens in London got a personal tour of Pottermore by Ms. Rowling herself.

Photo credit: New York Times

If you liked this post, you can subscribe to this blog by clicking here. You can also get up-to-the-minute updates on tween lifestyle by following us on Twitter and on Facebook. Bookmark this on Delicious

New Harry Potter Website From J.K. Rowling: Pottermore

“The owls are gathering…Find out why soon.”

Tomorrow at noon London-time, J.K. Rowling will turn the "On" switch on her latest Harry Potter creation: Pottermore. (Click on the owls on the website, and it will lead you to a YouTube video post from Ms. Rowling.) Pottermore is a gaming site for Harry Potter fans, but rumor has it that several real wands are hidden throughout the United States and the U.K. as real-life prizes in the virtual game. Says Ms. Rowling, "The site is 'not a new book' and 'not directly related' to the upcoming movie."

There has been a fair amount of drama leading up to the launch of Pottermore: on June 15th the author sent coordinates to ten Harry Potter fan sites leading fans on a scavenger hunt. The coordinates had to be entered at another website, secretstreetview.com (using Google Maps), and those could be zoomed in on to reveal the letters of Pottermore.com

Our tweens already have their tickets to the midnight showing of the last movie, and this new game has them cheering even more.

If you liked this post, you can subscribe to this blog by clicking here. You can also get up-to-the-minute updates on tween lifestyle by following us on Twitter and on Facebook. Bookmark this on Delicious

The Perfect Summertime Treat For Tweens To Make

Today is officially the first day of summer, and we stumbled upon a new twist on an old-fashioned summertime treat that we thought would be perfect for tweens to make.

Ice with flavorings exist in multiple forms: in Hawaii they're called shaved ice, at state fairs they're known as sno-cones, on the East Coast there are Italian ices, and in New Orleans, they're called Sno-Balls.  A new New York City spot just opened with a fabulous name: Imperial Woodpecker Sno-Balls, and they make this New Orleans-style icy treat. Sno-Balls are not in the shape of a ball at all - they come as lighter-than-air containers of shaved ice that are drenched in neon-bright flavored syrups. We love how they are served in Chinese takeout boxes with a straw and spoon and come in flavors that range from Root Beer to Pink Bubblegum to Peaches N' Cream.

They're super easy to make at home but do require one piece of special equipment: an ice shaver (not just an ice crusher - you won't get the air ice texture you need). From there, you can add any flavorings you like - we're partial to the all natural line of syrups from Monin (our tweens' favorite is the blue curacao - a non-alcoholic orange/vanilla flavor).  You can mix the syrups with half-and-half to make any flavor a cream-style flavor.

Happy Summer!

If you liked this post, you can subscribe to this blog by clicking here. You can also get up-to-the-minute updates on tween lifestyle by following us on Twitter and on Facebook. Bookmark this on Delicious