Archive for the ‘Halloween’ Category

Look: Marissa Mayer tweets first baby pic

Wednesday, October 31, 2012 by:moms@sfgate.com (Amy Graff)
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Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer gave the world the first look at her new baby this afternoon. In typical Silicon Valley Style, Mayer posted a photo on Twitter.

The darling image shows Mayer and 1-month-old Macallister on their way to Yahoo’s Halloween party, cleverly titled YaBoo. The sleeping boy appears to be dressed up as a chili pepper and smiling mom is wearing a chili pepper-covered top. It looks as if the the 37-year-old mom is happy and has easily stepped into her new role.

I can already hear the choir of critical moms saying that Mayer shouldn’t be taking a new baby to a germ-infested office. But I say, be quiet! Let’s stop judging her! I love that she’s out and about with her baby and already taking him to the office.

When Mayer first announced her new position at Yahoo in July and revealed that she was also 7 months pregnant the very same day, she quickly became the face of working moms. Of the Fortune 500 companies, 20 have female CEOs. Mayer is the youngest woman ever in the Fortune 500.

But Mayer maddened many of her fans when she took a two-week maternity leave. She was supposed to become the working mom’s role model, blazing trails for other women climbing the corporate ladder. With the abbreviated maternity leave, people questioned whether she was helping or hurting women. She’s setting the bar way too high, they cried! Now every working mom will be expected to take a two-week leave. But as I said earlier, let’s stop judging her every move. By tweeting out a photo of herself at work with her baby, she’s obviously promoting family-friendly working environments and that’s a good thing for everyone.

Last-minute homemade Halloween costumes for kids

Monday, October 29, 2012 by:moms@sfgate.com (Amy Graff)
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A unibrow is the key to a good Frida Kahlo costume. (Oh Happy Day! / Aubrey Trinnaman)

Still don’t know what your child will be wearing on Halloween? Don’t go to a big-box store where you’re likely to find a messy, picked-over pile of cheaply made costumes, many of them inappropriate for young children. (French maid dresses for 8-year-olds, hello?!?) I know. I once went looking for a Batman costume for a 4-year-old the day before Halloween and returned home empty handed.

Instead, take a look at these classy and creative homemade costume ideas from San Francisco event planner and design blogger Jordan Ferney. For the past several weeks, Ferney has posted gorgeous photo montages with detailed instructions on her wildly popular blog Oh Happy Day! Most of the costumes you can put together with stuff pulled from closets at home and you might only need to run an errand or two. My own 9-year-old daughter is making the Eiffel Tower costume and we had everything except the beret, which we borrowed from a neighbor. All of these costumes also work well for adults.

For instructions on how to make the costumes visit Oh Happy Day!

To see Ferney’s complete collection of homemade costumes visit her blog Oh Happy Day!

A pimp and a French maid? Yikes! Worst Halloween costumes for kids

Tuesday, October 23, 2012 by:moms@sfgate.com (Amy Graff)
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A pimp costume for a 6-year-old boy? A skimpy French maid dress for tweens? A Woopie Cushion costume for babies? Halloween is reaching a new low with this batch of costumes for kids. Take a look and be appalled and outraged.

Halloween candy: Then and now

Thursday, October 18, 2012 by:moms@sfgate.com (Amy Graff)
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Halloween candy has changed over the years. While old-time favorites like Mallo Cups, Mary Janes, and Black Jack Taffy are still around, there’s now a dizzying array of new candies such as Blue Raspberry Sour Punch Straws, pumpkin-shaped Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, and Angry Bird gummies. It’s as if Willy Wonka waved his magic wand, creating a rainbow of tropical flavors, turning chocolate bars into unusual shapes, and making everything sour, gummy and jelly bean–shaped. Remember Life Savers? There’s now a gummy version of those. Below we’ve put together a series of then-and-now photos to show you exactly how candy has evolved. After you take a look, please tell us about your favorite Halloween candy in the comments.

[Candy history: wikipedia]

Vintage Halloween ads: A look at a time when costumes cost $1.89

Monday, October 15, 2012 by:moms@sfgate.com (Amy Graff)
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This charming collection of vintage Halloween ads from Retronaut takes you back to a time when costumes cost $1.89, people tossed Brach’s candy and CrackerJax into kids’ candy bags  and mom made pumpkin cupcakes with Crisco. Yes, while Halloween today is undoubtedly overcommercialized, even back in the 50s, 60s and 70s companies were pushing their products on Americans. Nothing like a holiday to get people in the U.S. to buy stuff.

Halloween hits all-new low with slutty Sesame Street costumes

Thursday, October 11, 2012 by:moms@sfgate.com (Amy Graff)
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Let’s face it. The Halloween costume industry has become oversexed.

Every year the costumes get tighter, shorter and skimpier, allowing women to show off more cleavage and more leg. (Good for men, maybe, but downright degrading to women.)

And every year more and more children’s pop culture icons get sluttified: Dorothy, Alice in Wonderland, the Grinch, Mr. Potato Head, and, yes, even SpongeBob. A sexy Lois Lane costume makes sense, but SpongeBob Square Pants? Really?

This year, the industry has stepped into uncharted territory and hit an all-new low with slutty Sesame Street costumes. (Take a look at these trashy outfits below.) A Jezebel writer ranted about the atrocious get-ups earlier today and declared that nothing is now sacred and culture is a scam. Cyriaque Lamar wrote, “If any pop cultural law deserves to be inscribed in stone, it’s ‘NOBODY BANGS THE MUPPETS.’”

I share the same feeling. Hello! Big Bird and Elmo are for kids, K-I-D-S. We’re talking 2-year-olds and preschoolers who get a kick out of annoyingly high-pitched voices. Twenty-somethings looking to get laid shouldn’t be allowed to dress up as a sexualized version of Bert, Ernie or Oscar the Grouch. People, there’s nothing sexy about furry Muppets! Why must Elmo, every preschooler’s favorite friend, be sexualized?

Yes, the costumes are what you might expect from a site like Yandy.com, which is where you go to buy sexy lingerie and rave wear. But don’t you think this company should keep its hands off the Sesame Street gang? They can do Dorothy. Gosh, they can even have SpongeBob. But they need to keep their hands off Elmo. Is nothing sacred?