Fun With Dress Up Games

Even though your children have probably talked about playing dress up games you may not know exactly what that means. You probably think it refers to wearing your mom's clothes like you used to do with your friends. That is one form of a dress up game but dress up games today are often played online and are a lot more advanced than the ones you used to play.

Understanding Dress Up Games

Paper dolls were probably your favorite form of a dress up game when you were a child. They cardboard doll wearing only a swimsuit or her underwear came with clothes you could clip on her. You might have even made your own outfits to fit the doll by tracing her shape and designing new outfits for her to wear based on her shape.

Paper dolls are different today because they are on the internet. There are at least a few hundred different online dress up games on the internet today. The websites offer a large variety of outfits and dolls to choose from unlike the paper dolls you played with when you were young. Many of the games are based on a theme like a wedding theme, a school dance theme or a celebrity theme. All you have to do is drag the clothes to the doll.

The Modern Version of Paper Dolls

You might have gotten tired of your paper dolls when you were young but that won't happen with online games because they are always changing and adding new clothes and dolls. This means the dress up games will never get old!

There are themed or specialty dress up games that do not offer a lot of clothing and accessory variety. There are also sites that have over a thousand choices or more of dolls and clothes. There are themed or specialty dress up games that do not offer a lot of clothing and accessory variety. There are also sites that have over a thousand choices or more of dolls and clothes.

How Can You Use Paper Doll Dress Up Games

What exactly is the point of the dress up games? Just like you loved dressing up your paper dolls and pretending with them, online dress up games work the same way for your children. The online games provide new opportunities as well.

Avatars - Online dress up games allow children to choose and dress a doll and save their work. They can use this image as their avatar, or the image that represents them, on a variety of different websites. They can also simply save the image and start a collection of their favorite dolls and favorite outfits. Having a doll as an avatar is much better than having a picture of yourself.

Creating Illustrations - Online dress up games allow children to illustrate their own stories by saving and printing their dress up game dolls. You can find dolls that are mythical creatures like mermaids, dolls that are modeled after Disney characters and plain dolls so you can get creative with the stories for these dolls.

Autor: Vlad Stivenson

Vlad Stivenson, creator of numerous dressing up games

Added: July 18, 2009
Source: http://ezinearticles.com/

Dress Up Games- Modern Day Paper Dolls

You might wonder what there is about those Dress up Games that your daughter keeps talking about. You might dismiss them as mother versions of the old fashioned dress up games that you used to play with your mother's clothes. It's a bit like that, but dues to the nature of Internet, it's become a world wide sensation.

Just what are those Dress Up Games?

The best way to understand them is to remember the paper dolls that you used to like so much. They had a paper or carton base, with a girl or a doll in undergarments. There were several paper dresses and clothing that you had to cut out as well so that you could dress your doll. The most creative of girls would make their own paper clothing so that they would always have new outfits for their dolls.

With technology and Internet available, those paper dolls have become virtual dolls that require clicking and dragging rather than cutting and pasting. With people from all over the world creating new ones every day, the number of sites with dress up games has increased enormously. And with each site having at least a few dozen games, there's really not a limit to the number of dolls that your daughter can play with.

Virtual Dolls; the Descendants of Paper Dolls

Although the game mechanic is the same, virtual dolls have a far wider range of clothing styles. While paper dolls came in a set that had only a few pieces of clothing, Virtual doll's pieces of clothing are limited to the imagination of the designer.

In addition, paper doll's clothing was rather conservative and conventional, with only a few variations of dresses, skirts and blouses that didn't really defy the imagination. Virtual dolls can become students, teachers, policewomen, astronauts, pirates, singers, actresses and pretty much anything your daughter wishes to be when she grows up.

What's the point of Dress Up Games?

The same as with paper dolls; just to have fun by dressing up a doll. Girls play them for the same reason that you played paper dolls in your childhood. However, because they are in their most basic of nature, digital information, you can save them and give them other uses.

Avatars

An avatar is a representation of yourself in an online site that features social interaction. While a lot of people use pictures of themselves as avatars, this is not advisable, for safety reasons. Much less in the case of your own daughter! Saving a virtual doll as a picture and then loading the picture as an avatar will keep your daughter safer from strangers.

Illustrations for Stories

Most of the girls that play dress up games have a lot of imagination and creativeness. Her virtual doll could be the main character for her first story. Having a visual image of a character will make it easier to develop a story. Friends and enemies of the character can be created through a dress up game as well.

Autor: Vlad Stivenson

Vlad Stivenson, creator of numerous dress up games

Added: July 16, 2009
Source: http://ezinearticles.com/

Inexpensive Spring Crafts

Those who enjoy making crafts often like the craft making process so much because they have the satisfaction of being able to make something unique without having to spend a lot of money. Most, if not all crafts, can be made less expensively than if you were to buy a similar craft that was manufactured by some business. Many avid crafters find enjoyment in all of the money that they save by collecting raw materials and creating crafts themselves. There are millions and millions of inexpensive craft ideas and chances are that you have a few of those ideas in your head right now. Put that imagination of yours to good use and start thinking of an inexpensive spring craft that you can make today!

Melting snowman

One of the signs that spring is here is the obvious change in the weather. The snow melts and the weather gets warmer. Why not make a craft that plays off of this idea of changing seasons, by making a melting snowman. Making a melting snowman is easy. All that you need are some small twigs, a black marker, glue, white paper and a couple of cotton balls. Take two cotton balls and gently stretch them so that they are a little bit more flat. Glue the two cotton balls in top of one another. For the base, cut out a piece of paper in a random circular pattern (it should look like melted snow). Glue on the base. Decorate the melting figure as you would a traditional snowman. On the top cotton ball, give the melting snowman eyes and a mouth by using your black marker. Break the twig down into two small arms and glue those in place. Display your melting snowman in the window or wherever else you feel he will be most appreciated.

Foil family

Spring time is also a time when you start thinking about how you can entertain kids who may be itching to go outside but are forced indoors on a rainy day. Taking household materials, like tin foil, and using them to make something new and unexpected is an inexpensive way to celebrate spring. Making foil people is easy. Simply use the foil to form the various parts of the body and then assemble your fold people together, or you can use a sequence of different layers to gradually build your foil people from the inside out. Be creative with how you dress your foil people. You can also pose your foil people and have them act out a favorite scene. For example, you can have the football enthusiast in your family make a foil football player in a running position, clutching the football and running for the goal line. Use your imagination and the possibilities are endless.

Paper dolls

If you have a pair of scissors, some colored paper and some markers, you can make paper dolls. Little girls love the traditional paper doll making crafts. All that you do to start is form the body of a little paper person and then trace out appropriately sized paper clothes that can then be used as clothing. To incorporate the boys in this craft, have the paper dolls wear costumes or sports gear. Maybe your child really likes dogs. In this case you can make a paper dog and make paper hats, a cape, and a suit for that paper dog. Do not feel limited to making only a little girl's doll, you can use paper to create virtually any thing! Hopefully these simple and inexpensive craft ideas have given you some things to think about and you can now be more confident that no matter what your budget is, there is a spring craft waiting to be made.

Autor: Beverly Frank

For more kids crafts, visit http://www.makeplaydough.com

Added: July 14, 2009
Source: http://ezinearticles.com/

Collecting Paper Dolls

Snip, snip, snip with the scissors; around the base, along the curves and finally the last snip. The dolls, clad in colorful swimsuits, stood near by awaiting the final cut of their wardrobe. The hours invested in their story panned out while little fingers bent tabs to change attire.

Are you old enough to remember the joy of paper dolls? If not - all is not lost, paper dolls are still on the shelves of bookstores and super centers or available via the Internet. Although their numbers are not as great as they were in the pre fashion doll industry era .... They are still around. Many people value them beyond the playfulness associated with childhood but as the most desired collectible on the planet. Paper doll collecting needs very little room for storage only rivaled by stamp collecting for minimal space required. The dolls are an inexpensive pleasure that is not a lost art. Some publishing companies have even undertaken the replication of older dolls from by gone times making it possible to own even some of the most dated dolls affordably.

The two-dimensional figures accompanied by the best wardrobe for the time period was a considerable luxury during the 1700's. Many of the outfitted dolls were designed for adult entertainment with stages included. By the mid 1800's paper dolls were manufactured in Europe and the United States but were still considered a luxury until paper became more readily available and affordable. Magazines would even offer paper dolls within their pages. This practice appeared as recently as the 1990's with Sue Shanahan creating a new, modern version of the beloved and wildly popular Betsy McCall.

The popularity of paper dolls was not lost on the marketing branches of several industries during the 1930's, 1940's and 1950's. Some of the product leaders of the time that took advantage of this phenomenon were Pillsbury, Baker's (chocolate), Singer (sewing machines), Clark's (threads), Lyon's and McLaughlin (both coffee). Later magazine advertisements that would use the dolls would include the sales of children's clothing, fabrics, cars, nail polish and soaps.

These fabulous pieces of paper were not always colorful nor always of people. Some dolls required the addition of coloring which kept many children busy designing their own fashion couture. The dolls included inanimate objects and animals too. Popular dolls that were available over the past two hundred years included royalty, public leaders, movie stars, fantasy fairy tale style characters, family groups, stuffed animals and even cherubs.

During the 1940's and 1950's a new kind of marketing arrived in the comic book industry. Publishers took advantage of the love of the paper dolls and created complimentary dolls for some of the comics. The appeal went beyond drawing in a new customer base - girls. The publishers encouraged people to submit original ideas for the clothing / costume designs for the comic characters. The comic books would display the designer's name with each outfit chosen. This ingenious strategy appears in the books through the 1950's.

The public popularity waned during the 1960's with the rise of the three dimensional fashion doll industry but that has not deterred many from creating and collecting paper dolls. A quick search of an online auction will prove this fact. Dig a little deeper and do a search at www.google.com, www.yahoo.com or www.msn.com and you will find many very talented artists still creating beautiful pieces of art. The search will even provide you with many free resources for starting you paper doll collection.

Autor: Narcissa Summerfield

Narcissa creates curriculum for use with the early childhood level student - Including preschool, kindergarten and special needs. Specializing in accessibility for the home school parents, daycare providers and classroom instructors via a download membership site (Peanut Butter Crunch) located at http://www.Resource4Preschool.com

Added: July 13, 2009
Source: http://ezinearticles.com/

Measuring Spoon Puppets - A Fun Scripture Activity For Your Preschoolers

I love puppets! But I've never had the time to become very talented at using them. So, it's a good thing preschoolers are very forgiving. They don't care if your lips move. They just want to have fun. Measuring spoon puppets are perfect first time puppets.

Go to your local "dollar" store and get enough measuring spoons for every child in your group. Most measuring spoons come in groups of 5, so you won't have to spend too much money for this activity. Next, make them look like Bible characters. Add eyes, nose, mouth, yarn or felt for hair with the cute little headband across the forehead for the boy spoons and a little hair scarf for the girl spoons. Finally cut out some clothes, paper doll style, to glue on their fronts. Try to make them as durable as possible so you can reuse them several times.

Another idea for creating your spoons into people is to go online and find pictures of Bible characters that you can print off onto cardstock and then laminate before gluing them onto the spoon. By the way, this same idea works really well with wooden spoons also. You can usually find these at your local "dollar" store as well.

Now it's Bible story time. Assign "parts" to each of the spoons. If your story only has 3 main characters and you have 8 kids, let the other 5 be part of the townspeople. As you read the story, encourage the children to raise their puppets up high when their Bible character shows up on the scene.

Another fun idea for your puppets is to create a family member out of each spoon. The tablespoon can be Daddy, the teaspoon is Mommy, the 1/2 teaspoon is brother, the 1/4 teaspoon can be sister and the 1/8 teaspoon can be baby.

Once you have your family created, sing this sweet "piggy back" song to the tune of "Buffalo Gals". It goes like this:

When Jesus lives in Mommy's heart, Mommy's heart, Mommy's heart

When Jesus lives in Mommy's heart - Happy is the home!

Sing the song again replacing each family member's name into the song. And you thought measuring spoons were just for cooking!

Autor: Kathy Vincent Kathy Vincent
Level: Platinum
Kathy Vincent is the director of the children"s performing ministry, The Scripture Lady, and has been traveling around Southern California for the past 13 years ... ...

If you liked this Sunday School/Homeschooling idea, then sign up to receive Scripture Lady's Free Email Newsletter packed full with creative ideas and receive 6 FREE Bible Review Games to help get the kids you minister to excited about the Bible!

Just click here: http://freebiblegames.webs.com/ to receive your 6 FREE Bible Review Games.

Kathy Vincent is the director of a performing ministry for children called The Scripture Lady and has been traveling around Southern California for the past 13 years ministering to preschoolers and elementary aged children with the Word of God through musical, thematic presentations.

She is also a regular seminar speaker, author/creator of over 30 products for the Christian children's worker and a veteran homeschooling mom of two.

Added: July 11, 2009
Source: http://ezinearticles.com/

Making a Paper Doll Chain With Your Kids

Making a paper doll chain is a perfect activity for dads and children on a sleepy afternoon. It is simple and does not require either time or money. Most importantly, it will be an exercise in creativity that the children will surely enjoy.

Things you will need:

Some cardboard or hard paper
A pair of scissors
Pen, crayons, markers, and color pencils
Glue
Colorful paper or fabric scraps, buttons, beads, ribbons, sequins, and stickers to decorate the dolls

Steps to make the doll chain:

Cut out a broad strip of the cardboard or paper. This could be about 10 cm high and as long as you want to make your doll chain.

Fold about 6 cm of one end of the strip. At the point where the folded end overlaps, fold the strip again, but in the other direction. Go on making similar, alternating folds, so that the entire strip is folded into accordion style panels.

Hold the folded panels bunched up tightly, with the top panel facing you. Help your children to draw the outline of a doll on this top panel, with the hands and legs spread out so that these extend to the panel borders.

Carefully cut around the doll, taking care to retain the folds where the hands and legs touch the borders.

Now unfold the strip to see your chain of dolls, joined by their hands and legs.

Let your children decorate the dolls using the crayons, markers, color pencils, pieces of fabric, beads, ribbons, etc.

You can even help your kids cut out little shapes from fabric scraps that they can use to create colorful dresses for the dolls.

You can use this chain to decorate the walls of your living room. You could even stick it around a lampshade, hang it as a mobile, or use it to decorate your child's door.

Hand-made crafts are an instant hit when it comes to gifts-they not only are beautiful but also appreciated more because of the effort put into creating them. Introduce Valentine's Day craft ideas in your family and convert your home into an activity center.

Autor: P. Banas

Paul Banas is a founder of GreatDad.com. He writes articles on crafts and kids, camping with Kids, traveling with kids, skiing and kids and many more topics related to dads.

Added: July 10, 2009
Source: http://ezinearticles.com/

The Forgotten Demographic - How Female Gamers Can Make Your Games a Success

Rarely do you walk into a video game store and see many game titles catered exclusively for the female game audience. There is virtually no big box support for such titles as they spend millions of dollars catering exclusively to male audiences. After all, conventional wisdom would suggest that since only games for males are being made, that only males are interested in playing video games. This couldn't be further from the truth, a fact often overlooked by larger game publishing companies such as EA, Activision or Take-Two. The statistics alone disprove the notion that girls are not interested in spending time playing video games. The Sims is the best selling game of all time and a large amount of its success can be attributed to its loyal female fan base. 40% of all girls in Australia that participated in a survey admitted to spending time online playing video games as well. This is a global trend that as more game enabled devices are available, so does the potential audience for your products. From personal experience I can attest to the power of focusing on the female gamer audience and the amount of success it can bring to your game portals. Hopefully this article can shed some light on what you can do to acknowledge the female audience and entice them to use your product.

Understand Your Audience

This would be common sense regardless of any type of video game or interactive content you would develop but due to the lack of exclusively developed girl titles how would you go about starting? The answer isn't necessary waiting on a shelf of a game retail store but rather online on a games website or games portal.

Depending on the age range of the female audience you will find some games more popular than others. These games usually have simple and easy to learn game play factors that most professional game developers would consider basic or even in some cases downright primitive. Don't be fooled by this or dismiss this fact. Its a mistake that many game developers make and hold against working on such games that would otherwise be something the female audience would be interested in.

One of the most popular games website with young girls would be StarDoll.com which is essentially a online paper doll website. Moving various clothing items on a 2d doll is a very simple thing to develop if you have any professional game experience. It is this very simple game mechanic combined with variety of various current celebrities and other incentives that encourage millions of users to return every day to that website.

Dress up games are some of the most popular games with girls with thousands of web game portals devoted exclusively to this genre of game. Other game categories that are popular with female gamers include pet games, makeover games, cooking games and room makeover games. Some of the most popular games with girls may have combined elements of these game categories providing an even more compelling game experience. Almost all of the games popular with the female audience would be categorized under Casual Games.

Doing your homework on what works out there currently on the Internet will help you understand an audience that might be decades younger than you personally and completely different than your own personal preferences for games. It is a challenge you must embark upon to fully capitalize on this market segment and achieve success.

The Online Factor

One of the game categories not mentioned previously are quickly becoming the most popular. Online worlds provide an experience where they can socialize and meet new friends. Important game elements of online worlds would include; the ability to have avatar customization, personalize user rooms and the ability to chat and meet new friends. Some examples would be Club Penguin, Habbo Hotel, There.com and IMVU.

Major companies are taking notice of the immense popularity of online worlds with the female audiences and now feature many similar game elements. The key for anyone looking to compete in this field is to come up with a compelling game mechanic that entices this key demographic of female users.

This type of game might be out of the reach of many small time developers but any game starts modestly so this might be a long term goal for you to reach. Never discount any game idea entirely especially as it can help you in developing some uniqueness. Sometimes combining existing game ideas in a online setting can help set it apart from what is available currently.

Making It Unique

Regardless of the size or scope of your game websites, an important aspect to realize is that uniqueness will help stand you apart from the competition in a very crowded market. My games portal for example specializes in browser based online worlds which require no registration. The benefit of this is you can immediately introduce your user to your game product without having them register or download anything. Consider introducing a unique element such as this into your game or website and you will of taken the first step to capturing some the fastest growing gamer demographic out there.

Utilize The Female Gamer Demographic

Accepting and embracing the fact that your games website caters to female gamers is a very important and strategic move that should be planned for in any games portal website. The market share is so large that the chance you will find success and as an independent developer raises if you do so. This is not the first choice for most professional game developers but I am one hundred percent certain this is the right direction to take a small games website if you want to attract a larger audience. The games you make don't always have to be exclusively made for a female audience but I think they deserve some consideration.

Hopefully this has shed some interesting light on the often neglected market demographic of female gamers and brings about some success in your endeavors.

Autor: Derek T Young Derek T Young
Level: Basic
Currently co-owner of Switchin.net a casual games portal that is popular with 1.5 million global users per month....

Derek Young co-owns Switchin.net which receives 1.7 million unique visitors a month. With over 5 years of professional game development experience he can always point you towards some good online girl games

Added: July 8, 2009
Source: http://ezinearticles.com/

Tips on Online Dress Up Games For Kids

Have you heard about the Bratz games wave lately? First of all, the Bratz dolls are these 10-inch dolls with 'a passion for fashion'. They are the current craze among tweens and teens around the world right now. The first few Bratz back in 2001 were called Cloe (Angel), Yasmin (Pretty Princess), Sasha (Bunny Boo) and Jade (Kool Kat). People cannot also help drawing parallels between Barbies and Bratz. Maybe its the flashy outfits, but whatever the reason, Bratz is indeed the biggest global hit right now!

On the web, the most inexpensive way to play with Bratz dolls are through Bratz games. These free dress up games located on hundreds of websites can provide children players of all ages some ideas about fashion in a fun way. And tinkering with dress up games online can help a child practice their hand-eye coordination. Younger children can also learn to avoid technology phobias and practice patience while playing these dress up games even with just a few hours per week.

Free dress up games can be a big boost to your budget considerations when it comes to finding activities for your kids. Kids like to have games they can play that their parents approve of and won't get them in trouble.

Mya-Free Paper Doll Dress Up Game

In this game, you get to choose any style of clothes in Mya's wardrobe and dress her up in those. Of course, hairstyles can also be changed with each outfit.

Glitter Dress Up Game

In the case of this dress up game, the doll dress up game lets the user to play with the names of their their character doll. If you wish, you can even download some of the games into your own computer. But downloading must of course be supervised by parents.

Fun Dress Up Games.

Did you know that in the other games, you get to play dress up with animals too? Another dress up game comes as inspired by Build a Bear, another site which is a certified hit among youngsters. Hours of enjoyment are guaranteed as you dress up these furry friends.

Dress Up Games with custom scenes

With scenic dress up games, you can customize your own background, decorations, characters, and food for each of the scenes. When you click on the link for the dress up game itself, check out "props" when you see it in some of the pages. Otherwise, try also looking for for the themes of the scene under the leading background picture. That is where you will find instructions for the dress up games.

Other Bratz Dress Up Games.

Still other Bratz games on some Internet websites not only have dress-up games, but also let you try out creative thinking and imagination challenges that test your sense of style. For example, in the case of the Bratz, Cloe and Sasha may have a hard time getting their living room to jive according to the current season of the year. Were talking about a game-cum-crash course of interior designing. Unleash the creative genius in you!

To end, Bratz games are really aimed towards younger girls, but who says adults who are fighting boredom can't enjoy them too?

Autor: Mai Roberts

Mai Roberts is a doll lover and a die hard fan of Bratz.She is obsessed to any kind of Bratz Games. She is also a part of the http://www.bratzgames.biz, the game wherein you can make your own Bratz.

Added: July 6, 2009
Source: http://ezinearticles.com/

Dress Up Dolls - Remember the Dolls You Played With When You Were a Child?

Remember when you were a little girl, and you would spend hours to play kids dress up dolls? Back then, there was no internet or computer to add more choices or creativity to your dress up doll activities. You could buy paper dolls with matching outfits and different facial expressions to choose from to layer over your paper doll. There were only a few popular brand names back then, the most popular being Barbie paper dolls. The only problem with that nostalgic play era, was the tabs usually ripped at some point, so your paper dolls didn't last too long.

Of course, girls back then also had their fun with Barbie dolls. Girls would spend hours searching for the perfect dress or gown to dress up their Barbie with. The highlight of any girls day was to play kids dress up dolls. Today that is still a popular activity, but thanks to the internet, there is so much more to do. Here are just a few of the fun dress up activities are available online:

* Internet paper doll - There are dozens of characters to be found online, that you can print and cut out to make your own paper dolls. Barbie is still a popular and much loved play character, but there are many more to choose from. There are Berenstein Bears for example, where you can choose which character you would like to print (Papa Bear, Mama Bear, Sister and Brother) and then you can select which outfit you would like to dress them in, and print it.

* Internet dress-up games - There are some websites in which you can play a dress-up game online. Some of the games involve a much larger choice to work with. You can play kids dress up dolls, or even decorate their houses. Some of the houses can be decorated inside and out, so you can create the scene for your dress up dolls to hang out in. You can also add accessories to dress up your dolls, such as jewelry, makeup, and much more.

* Dress-up Themes - Many websites offer themes you can choose from, such as wedding, birthday party, beach party or special events. And you can dress up so much more than just dolls. You can make ice cream sundaes, or background scenery. Dress up dolls has gone to a whole new level.

With all these choices to pick from, it's easy to play kids dress up dolls for hours online. But some things are never the same on the internet. What happened to the good old fashioned fun of getting out your dolls and dressing them in cute little outfits? You had the added pleasure of saving up your money to buy outfits and accessories for your dolls, so it felt like a real accomplishment. Sometimes it feels good to go back in time, even if only for a little while.

Autor: Wendy Pan

Wendy Pan is an accomplished niche website developer and author.

To learn more about play kids dress up dolls, please visit Collectible Dolls for current articles and discussions.

Added: July 5, 2009
Source: http://ezinearticles.com/

Finding Halloween Costumes to Help You Win a Contest

To find adult Halloween costumes that are of the caliber to win a costume party, many websites have a good selections of kids Halloween costumes. Whether you want something scary, sexy, funny or just plain original, there are many ways to stand out this October 31st. If you're languishing over the fact that you only have a couple of weeks left and you still have no idea what you're going to wear, then check out frightcatalog.com, "Hot Topic" and "Buy Costumes" for super time-sensitive, last-minute express shipping.

Some of the cleverest costumes are the ones people devise and make themselves. For instance, some kids paint themselves all black and dress in black (with red or blue colored sleeves and iPod accessories), while carrying matching backdrops, to go as the classic iPod ad! Other kids dress up as the "Koolaid" man and have two friends dress as pieces of the wall he was busting through. You can dress as a "Holy Cow," as the late gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson or as one of the "Royal Tenenbaums" in a red cord track jacket, sweatband, faux fur and eyeliner.

You can go as "Nick Nolte's Mug Shot" by wearing a Hawaiian shirt and messing up your hair, or you may want to use that Hawaiian garb to go with your moustache and sunglasses, as in "Weekend at Bernies." Imagine the laughter at the costume party when you arrive as a lawn gnome, pine tree air freshener or paper doll!

At "Zoogster Costumes", you will find a number of clever adult costumes, plus-size costumes and kids costumes to peruse. Adult movie Halloween costumes for women include Super Woman, Sandy from "Grease," Trinity from "The Matrix," Uma Thurman from "Kill Bill," Princess Leia, a geisha, a 5th avenue girl, or get Marilyn Monroe's famous white dress for just $25!. Men can choose a costume design from Edward Scissorhands, 300, Willy Wonka, Pirates of the Caribbean, Predator, Ghost Rider or the Monty Python Black Knight.

Additionally, there are a number of excellent time period costumes. You can be a 1920s flapper, Gatsby girl, Bugsy Malone or zoot suit dancer. You can be a 1950s greaser, rocker lady, car hop, pinup girl, jitter bug dancer, cigarette girl, prom king, bowler, Buddy Holly, beatnik or Elvis. You can choose a number of 1960s characters, including Gilligan, The Beatles, Woodstock hippies, Janis Joplin or a go-go girl. From the 1970s, you can get ready to disco dance, whereas the 1980s bring old school rappers, nerds, heavy metal rockers and pop stars. It should also be noted that most of these costumes go for far less than $100!

If you're going to a costume party with a group of friends, then why not try to coordinate your Halloween costumes? At "Zoogster Costumes", you can grab a number of diverse gangster, fairy tale, super hero, and pirate or hippie costumes. Or, you can go as characters from "Grease," "The Addams Family," "Star Wars," "Austin Powers," "Wizard of Oz," "Scooby Doo," "Flintstones" or "Gilligans Island."

At "Halloween Adventure" you will find a number of funny and creative couples costumes as well. Go as bacon-and-eggs, nuts-and-bolts, Adam and Eve or plug-and-socket. Visit "Halloween Express" for a fantastic selection of costumes for kids, offering breakfast cereal characters, as well as characters from Bratz, Alice In Wonderland, DC comics, Disney, Hellboy, Harry Potter, High School Musical, Lord of the Rings, Power Rangers, Star Wars, Saw, Shrek, Scooby Doo, Spider Man and many more!

Autor: Mike Selvon

Are you planning a Halloween party and need Halloween monsters ideas to spark spectacular fun? Then visit Mike Selvon portal and also learn more about Halloween costumes.

Added: July 3, 2009
Source: http://ezinearticles.com/

The History of Toys Over Time

Toys sure have came a long way since the first doll made literally thousands of years ago in ancient Egyptian times. Imagine this, the first doll was made with basic fabrics and paper pulled together with some string! Nowadays we have complex toys made of plastics, alloys, rubbers, and so many other materials too many to mention. But not only have the materials advanced, now toys can transform, move on their own, and even speak!

Let's look back at some of the original toys back in ancient times. The first doll was made somewhere around 2000 B.C. Sure, try to hand a child a paper doll in these times. They probably wouldn't appreciate it like children back then would. With so much time and effort it must have taken to make these by hand I'm sure they would love to play with those paper dolls. Other than the doll there was kites and yo-yo's and real basic board games that resemble our modern day chess.

Now we're going to skip ahead a few thousand years into a more recent period. Not many more toys where invented until the 1800's. Within such a small span of time so many toys became popular such as stuffed animals, toys cars, and even speaking dolls! Did you know the first talking doll was made almost two hundred years ago? Alphabet blocks also became a popular learning toy during this time.

On to the 1900's now. Pretty much by now every toy has been made at this point. But the 1900's is when all the major technological advances started coming to life. Early in the century there where battery operated toys, Legos, balloons, the View Master, and of course I can't forget Barbie, probably them epitome of all girl's dolls and toys in general. The stuffed bear became popular during this after being name the Teddy Bear after one of our presidents Sir Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt.

OK let's bring it back recent times now. The only one thing left to do now really do now is to make the toys even better by implementing some real technology into the toys. Toys that walk on their own, toys that can talk back to you?! OLD NEWS! Try motion sensory technology, voice activated, and terrain adaptable toys. Ancient Egyptians would be scared of some of these toys we have invented nowadays. Yes, toys have advanced quite a lot over the years, and remember in their own time they were always fun to play with as toy were meant to be. Fun.

Autor: Victor Epand Victor Epand
Level: Platinum
Victor Epand is an expert author for a variety of subject matters, including clothing, jewelry, computers, toys, and flowers. Please visit KrishnaDesign.com to browse a ... ...

Victor Epand is an expert consultant about kids toys, stuffed animals, and dolls. You will find the best marketplace for kids toys, stuffed animals, and dolls at these sites for current toys, stuffed animals.

Added: July 2, 2009
Source: http://ezinearticles.com/

Paper Pleasures in the Technology Age - Paper Arts and Crafts

In the midst of the largest technology boom the world has ever witnessed, it is interesting to find that there are still those among us who participate in the seemingly outdated pastimes of our forbears. Before Secondlife and The Sims, before Gigapets , Tamagotchis, and even Barbie, there were paper dolls.

Paper dolls have never been a typical sort of toy. They embody, simplicity - familiar fashions and faces printed on a barely two-dimensional, flat object. While many historians locate the origins of paper dolls amongst the ancient civilizations of the Chinese, Japanese, and Western Europe, the modern manufacture of paper dolls began in the late 1700s, accompanying popular children's literature in Europe and America.

The Click and Print Age

What is the appeal of the paper doll? While classified as a toy, it is certainly not an amusement limited to adolescents, or even girls. Activities known as "dress-up games," which now includes the printable paper doll, are a popular internet pastime in contemporary America, possibly cultivated by our ongoing cultural obsession with both fashion and virtual reality. "Dress-up games are an ultra-simplified version of the virtual reality phenomenon, which caters to our escapist desires, but also offers a measure of control that is impossible to maintain in realistic life.

The paper doll fascination has never completely disappeared from youth culture in America, but the annual release of PC games and video game consoles, liberally-equipped cellular phones, and virtual reality simulations has produced stiff competition in a developing entertainment industry that thrives on the desire for unlimited options.

Luckily for paper doll fanatics, this delightful diversion has not been utterly abandoned by the technological age, but has been absorbed into the throng of information now appropriated by the internet. Once the rare possession of wealthy families, this paper pleasure has reached the height of accessibility in the form of the printable paper doll.

The images have changed from prima ballerinas and Victorian nobility to Disney princesses and media starlets, but the sentiment remains the same. In fact, paper doll culture has expanded to accommodate the multi-social world of America, responding to the vast and innumerable combinations that make up our individual interests. There are paper doll figures of Audrey Hepburn and Rita Hayworth for Grandma, right alongside cut-outs of Naruto and Paris Hilton for little Tommy and Jessica.

The use of paper dolls has been optimized, targeted even towards more specialized groups - the science fiction and fantasy crowd, Goths, historians, Wiccans, Fetishists, Anime, Biblical, and countless others. Websites like Gail's Paper Dolls, Marilee's Paper Dolls, and Spacestation42 compile a list of printable paper dolls that are sure to offer appeal to anyone and everyone - for Mom and Dad, Grandma and Grandpa, eccentric Uncle Leonard, and the kids.

Instead of disappearing into the abyss of lost amusements, paper doll fanatics have revived the paper doll and solidified its place in entertainment culture by becoming participants in the production process, as well, putting the printable paper doll only a click away from other internet users.

Autor: Wendy Pan

Wendy Pan is an accomplished niche website developer and author. To learn more about printable paper doll, please visit Paper Crafts Store for current articles and discussions.

Added: July 1, 2009
Source: http://ezinearticles.com/