I wrote this for our sister site, EliteDresses.com. It's a retail store of little girls' dresses, and it also carries Chinese and Vietnamese dresses. I want to share this blog post here for those who may be interested.

If you use the idea for your child's halloween costume, please send us a picture. I can append the photo to this blog post. :-)


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My dad liked watching action movies, including Kung Fu ones, so I can say I grew up watching an assortment of martial arts movies.

One thing in the Chinese movies that scared the heebie-jeebies out of me is the Chinese vampire. I don't know why but their hopping really scared me.

Chinese vampires are unsettled spirits that occupy the dead body. They go hop-hop-hop in a straight line. As you laugh yourself off at this, they go suck your life out. An antidote to quiet the hopping ghost is to paste a yellow paper written with the correct death mantra on its forehead. It senses living beings by breathing, so if you see one hopping in your path, hold your breath in so it will not sense you are there.

Anyhoo, the Chinese vampire is an interesting costume for Halloween. To pull this off as a halloween costume for your daughter:

• Pull out your little girl's Chinese cheung sam dress or pants set,
  
• color her face white or pale green,
  
• put a yellow paper with Chinese characters on her forehead
• have a toy-vampire teeth that she can wear if she wants,
• fake long nails are also okay to put on if she's a little bigger and won't scratch her face out
  
• give her her treat bag
  

and send her off hopping out the door. You can also try making a Qing Dynasty hat for her to wear if you like.

Tell her that Chinese vampires hop so she can hop for that extra effect. If she gets tired from hopping, you can tell her, yes, she is allowed to walk. (heehee, you know kids...)

Hope you all have fun this halloween!

Labels: chinese dresses, dressing children, halloween

WSJ has another great article about Fashion Bullies in Middle School. Middle School is a very intense peer orientated time with a lot of conformity (even non-conformity if done by the majority becomes a form of conformity) required and one oneupmanship done. The challenge is how to make it so your child blends in with everyone else while they focus on what they should be focusing on. To keep their self esteem in good shape during this period where children go through so many changes. Especially with advertising which is focused on getting children to buy fashion lines that have been especially made for them. Not to mention the problem that kids grow so fast!

When I was in College I worked on the Cal Poly Rose Parade Float, and I remember one child who was wearing designer tennis shoes and got glue over them. The result was a very unhappy child.

What I see is key is having great communication with your child and having them focus on a goal (such as getting good grades), and as a parent to be aware of what is going on. A great source of information if you can is picking up your child after school. Children will tell you all about their day right after school, and then later that day clam up.

Labels: dressing children, parenting