Wow I can’t believe how big Jersey Shore has become!  It’s like watching a train wreck, you don’t want to but you just can’t help yourself.  MTV really hit the big time with this little reality series about a group of twenty-something year olds living together and partying it up (GTL – gym, tan, laundry) for the summer in Seaside Heights, NJ.  Can you believe season one premiered in December 2009 to 1.37 million viewers and season 3 premiered in January 2011 with record ratings of 8.45 million viewers!  It’s so popular that the cast of Jersey Shore made Barbara Walter’s “10 Most Fascinating People” list!  

Because it’s such a huge hit with high school and religiously watched by college students, it’s no surprise that the stars of Jersey Shore were popular Halloween costumes last year.  Snooki was the most popular by far!  It’s an easy costume – lots of poof in the hair, lots of bronzer and a short skirt and you’re ready to go!  Pauly D was also fun to portray with tons of hair gel and Ed Hardy t-shirt and jeans and you’ve got the look.  You couldn’t have made up a better cast of characters for all the college students to dress up as for Halloween. 

Season one and three were filmed at the Jersey Shore and season two was filmed in Miami, Florida.   But wait, there’s still another season to come with the group heading to Italy for season four.  Now that should be interesting!  I don’t think we’ve heard the last of Snooki, JWoww, Sammi, Pauly D, the Situation, Ronnie and Vinny!

One simple way to keep kids busy for hours can be summed up in one simple word…costumes! Kids love them!  Some of our children’s favorite shows are on Nickelodeon and the Disney Channel.  There’s nothing better for a child than to be able to dress up as one of their favorite characters. 

Besides the superheroes and princesses, children will love the Yo Gabba Gabba costumesand the Sponge Bob costumes!  Encouraging your child to use his or her imagination and letting their creative juices flow is a great way for them to have hours of fun when they’re stuck inside on a wintery day!

Flintstones, meet the Flintstones, They’re a modern stoneage family.
From the, town of Bedrock, They’re a page right out of history.
Let’s ride, with the family down the street, Through the courtesy of Fred’s two feet.
When you’re, with the Flintstones, Have a yabba dabba doo time, A dabba doo time, You’ll have a gay old time!

Wow, how many times have you heard that theme song and sung along with it?  I grew up watching The Flintstones and loved it!  It was so much fun to see Fred and Barney unknowingly get themselves in over their head in almost every episode only to have Wilma and Betty lovingly get them out of it.  Who could forget Pebbles and Bam-Bam and of course their adorable pet dinosaur Dino!

Yesterday was the 50th anniversary for everyone’s favorite modern stone-age family from the town of Bedrock, The Flintstones!  Even Google acknowledged this special occasion by creating a Flintstone “doodle” on their homepage.  The classic cartoon premiered on ABC on September 30, 1960.

Great family cartoons such as The Flintstones and The Jetsons have always inspired people to dress up as their characters for Halloween.  It’s not unheard of to see Fred and Wilma, Barney and Betty or even Pebbles and Bam-Bam trick-or-treating on Halloween night or winning first prize at costume parties!  Famous cartoon characters that make up television and movie costumes are always popular with both children and adults alike!

The World Wrestling Entertainment Franchise has been around for years, but became insanely popular in the late 90′s with “professional wrestler” being at the top of ever young boys list of “what I want to be when I grow up”.

Today, the WWE has kept its popularity with shows like Monday Night Raw and Friday Night Smackdown. Pay Per View events such as; Wrestlemania, Summerslam, Royal Rumble and Survivor Series have all kept the WWE wrestlers in the spotlight and bigger than life.

Every Halloween I’ve had a smaller version of just about every WWE wrestler out there. However, I think this year is going to be a really big year for those WWE wrestlers. There are so many big names in wrestling right now that it should be easy to become your favorite wrestler for a night of trick-or-treating by either going old school with the Undertaker Costume or some new blood such as The Celtic Warrior Sheamus.

My nephew is really into wrestling and the WWE so he has decided to wear the John Cena costume for Halloween this year.  A few of his buddies are going as Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock and Kane.  I’m sure everyone will recognize them for the wrestlers they are!

Halloween is a holiday best celebrated with lots of family and friends; the more the merrier!  That’s why group costumes are so popular.  Nobody wants to trick-or-treat alone!

There are so many great themes to pick from when choosing group costumes.  My favorite by far is “The Brady Bunch”.  I grew up watching the show and can still remember many of the episodes – who doesn’t!  The Brady Bunch taught us many important life lessons – such as donning a huge Afro wig will make one more popular, how to sport a groovy man perm, taking an ancient tiki from Hawaii is a sure way to get you cursed and exaggerating to your friends will get Davy Jones to sing at your prom.

Besides all that, the Brady Bunch gave us a sense of style!  There wasn’t a family out there that could put together outrageous vintage outfits quite like Mike, Carol, Greg, Marcia, Peter, Jan, Bobby, and Cindy!

This Halloween I’m definitely getting my husband to dress as Mike and I’m donning the Carol Brady costume!  Florence Henderson (who played Carol all those years) is putting on her dancing shoes to complete in “Dancing With The Stars” which airs on ABC in a couple weeks and I know Carol Brady is going to be one hot dance momma! 

I’m sad that my children are too young to appreciate the phenomenon known as The Brady Bunch, but I’m sure my brothers and sisters will be more than happy to portray one of the Brady’s in a Brady Bunch costume. 

Without a doubt we’ll win first place in any costume contest this Halloween!

Do you remember the tv series Fraggle Rock?  It was a beloved children’s animated show in the 80′s created by Jim Hensen and made up of what else…muppets!  It was right up there in popularity with Sesame Street and The Muppet Show.  Well, it’s coming back to the US next month in the form of a DVD just in time for Halloween called “Scared Silly” and is sure to be a big hit!  It consists of three mysterious and magical Fraggle stories that will entertain kids and parents alike! 

The Fraggle Muppets of Fraggle Rock are curious, clever and brave.  The five main muppet characters are:

• Gobo – He loves exploring
• Mokey – She loves painting
• Red - She loves sports
• Wembley – He loves playing the bongos
• Boober – He loves doing laundry and cooking 

They live in a cave called Fraggle Rock and spend most of their time playing, exploring, and having fun.  I think that’s why children love to watch them!

And it’s not just the DVD bringing Fraggle Rock back into the spotlight, but these fun loving characters are coming out as Halloween costumes as well!  What a great idea for a group costume!   All you men that want to relive a fun memory from your childhood, grab a Boober or Gobo Costume and for the ladies wanting to get in on the fun be sure to order a Red or Mokey Costume and bring those lovable Fraggles back to life!

One of our all time favorite Halloween shows is by far, “It’s the great pumpkin, Charlie Brown“.  It’s a tradition in our family that goes way back to when I was young.  I hope my children watch it with their kids when they grow up and have their own families.  I know Charlie Brown will still be around even then!

Did you know that the Charlie Brown Halloween show has been on the air since October 1966?  It’s been on every year since then during the month of October.  That’s got to tell you something!  The show is adorable!  Who can resist Linus and his hope to see The Great Pumpkin? 

All the Peanuts characters are wonderful; Charlie Brown, Linus, Sally, Lucy, Peppermint Patty, Pig Pen, Marcie, Schroeder and of course Snoopy and Woodstock.  Charles Schulz really knew what he was doing when he invented all these great characters.

HalloweenExpress.com now has a whole line of Peanuts costumes that will make a great theme if you’re looking for group costumes or even if you’re going on your own.  Looking for a Charlie Brown costume, then look no further!  Go as the whole Peanuts gang for Halloween this year!

The vampire craze has always been there, just not as popular as it is now.  In the late 90′s, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel were two televisions series that brought vampires into the spotlight.   Then in November 2008 the Twilight Series began and nothing has been the same for those blood thirsty lovers of the night.

The original movie and first in the series of 4 books to be released onto the big screen was “Twilight” in November 2008, followed by “New Moon” in November 2009 and soon to be released “Eclipse” at the end of this month.  Isabella “Bella” Swan and Edward Cullen have a huge following of “Twi-Hards” that live and breathe Twilight Saga!

Other vampire related television series are also moving up in popularity;  True Blood on HBO and The Vampire Diaries on CW.  On June 20th, ABC is trying their hand at vampire shows by premiering “The Gates” about an upscale neighborhood of what else…vampires.  Vampires are coming out of the woodwork and everybody is loving it! 

Halloween has always been a great holiday for vampires…vampire costumes that is!  Vampires of every age, old and young come out for some Halloween fun.  Good thing that trick-or-treating is at night.  That way the vampires feel right at home!  At HalloweenExpress.com you’ll find every imaginable vampire and vampiress costume for Halloween this year!  Whether you’re looking for a Queen of Darkness Costume or a Twilight Bite Teen Costume, you’ll find it here!

With one more movie to be released (after Eclipse) in the Twilight franchise, “Breaking Dawn”, you can bet the thrill of the vampire will not be ending anytime soon!

On November 10, 1969 a children’s production with a mix of adults, kids, muppets, live animation and music premiered on PBS.   It was a little educational program geared toward inner city children that turned into the longest running children’s program on television.  There’s not a child or adult that does not recognize the theme song when they hear, “Can you tell me how to get…how to get to Sesame Street”!

The muppet characters on Sesame Street are just as popular today as they were 40 years ago. 

• Bert and Ernie
• Big Bird
• Cookie Monster
• Elmo
• Oscar
• Grover
• Count Von Count

Sesame Street costumes are always popular at Halloween for both children and adults.  Just last year, our friends next door went to the annual neighborhood party as Bert and Ernie.  The kids loved it because the characters were recognizable to them.  The adults loved it because the costumes were hysterical!

Who doesn’t love Big Bird and Elmo; the grouch Oscar with his garbage can or the adorable blue Cookie Monster?  Sesame Street is filled with wonderful characters that children love to watch and learn from.  There’s not many shows on television today that both children and parents love to watch.

Here’s to another 40 years of Sesame Street!

It was Disney comes to life in our backyard with Cinderella, Snow White, Tiana, Belle, Jasmine and the Little Mermaid all running around having fun.  I thank all the mom’s that had to dig through their child’s closet just to find the accessories that make a princess costume complete.  We know how important the tiara’s, white gloves and sparkling shoes are to a princess. 

I think every little girl has at one time or another worn a princess costume.  It’s the way of the “little girl” world that from the moment they’re born, they become a princess.  With all the great Disney shows on television and on the big screen each with their own happily ever after, it’s no wonder little girls fall in love with the idea of being a princess. 

Thankfully the spring weather was absolutely perfect for their Princess Party.  My husband draped sheets across the swing set giving them a palace to retreat to when lunch was served.  After a while they decided to have a princess parade down our street showing off all their beautiful costumes.  My daughter thought it was the best Princess Party ever!