The number one priority for us parents is to keep the little ones safe while running around in the dark – so lighting is key. Of course flashlights are an easy way to let people know you’re coming, but now there are all kinds of cool looking ones available like little kitties, flower wands and even tigers (some of which are below). Kids can even light up those little fingers with cool finger lights or add reflectors to costumes.

Now that they’re all lit up, let’s keep track of ‘em. We can keep tabs on their whereabouts a few ways, both include attaching a device to the child. The first is called the Loc8tor and it’s a tracking device for household items like keys, the remote or your cell phone. On Halloween night you can take one of the 4 tabs and attach it to the child’s costume. If all of the sudden you notice someone’s missing simply press the location button for the assigned tab on the handheld device and the screen will show an arrow pointing towards the tab. A beeping noise along with the arrow will lead you to them. If you’re not the parent walking with the kids but still want to know where they are? A child locator GPS enabled device will allow you to pull up an online map and literally watch where the kids are scoring their loot.

Lastly here are a few more cool treats for the scariest night of the year.

A hot glue gun that casts webs while decorating. It instantly adds that spooky feeling to any home. If you’re looking for a quick fix to get the decor up in a hurry or don’t want to hang anything, check out a decoration projector that flashes spooky images on the side of your house. Having a party? These Jello molds are shaped like different icky looking body parts and once you add different colored Jello to them they make the perfect trick or treat!

Here are some links to examples of ghoulish goodies – have fun!

Finger Lights
Kids Flashlights
Flashing mouth lights
Costume reflectors
Child Location Devices
Webcaster Gun
Decor Projector
Jello Molds

Both manufactures added in tweaks like larger capacity, easier uploading , bigger libraries of content to choose from and price reductions, but people wanted more. In fact, about a year ago I spoke with Doug Belgrad, Co-President of Columbia Pictures, one night backstage at a Chris Rock show. He told me that he wanted to turn all of his top producers on to the devices to help reduce the 30lb piles of scripts. However, the ability to read a .PDF (the main format for scripts) was not available at the time, so he wasn’t into it. He wasn’t alone in his needs; manufacturers listened and this is no longer the case. Now eReaders are almost perfect, are more user friendly and are gaining speed towards appearing more frequently under Christmas trees this holiday season. The two companies are still neck in neck in terms of popularity and have both been busy adding in all kinds of cool features like the ability to read .PDFs, content upload via Wi-Fi, larger capacity (the Kindle can hold over 3,500 books), longer battery life and quicker refresh rates (a.k.a. page turns).

On eBay you can find eReaders from Kindle, Sony, Hanlin and iRex, although the most popular is the Kindle. In the past 60 days, there were over 23,000 Kindle listings with the average selling price around $113. So definitely check one out for a good read!

Photo credited to: Kindle

*Photos licensed to: Photorazzi.com

Sheena, a charming advertising worker by day/fashion activist by night, also wants to bring attention to how we consume and recycle fashion and how art emerges at this confluence.

In May, she asked her friend and designer Eliza Starbuck to create a black dress she would wear every day for a year. There are a few different ones. Sheena is never wearing a dirty frock. She accessorizes the dress differently every single day. (Hollywood stylists could learn a thing or two here).

Well, you know how we at eBay have three true loves – fashion, the environment, and the charity cause? Sheena embodies all three so when our eagle-eyed exec Alan Marks read about Sheena’s work which, she calls The Uniform Project, he knew the community would love her idea. He asked us to get in touch with Sheena right away and see how we could support her effort.

Our collaboration with The Uniform Project kicked off this week.To read, look, donate, be inspired or even grouse about my leaving out eBay’s fourth true love, check out FASHION ACTIVIST

Our collaboration with The Uniform Project kicked off this week.To read, look, donate, be inspired or even grouse about my leaving out eBay’s fourth true love, check out /www.ebaygreenteam2.com

A shrine to edgy and ironic fashion, it’s a five-level shop put together by Rei Kawakubo. As such it features all of Kawakubo’s Comme des Garcons lines and designs by her protege Junya Watanabe. It also gives ample voice to collections that deserve to be seen but are not available everywhere (except here maybe!). Britain’s new it boy Christopher Kane, who’s show was part of London Fashion Week’s 25th Anniversary, is featured. So are Azzedine Alaia and Lanvin. There’s a vending machine where you can pop in 25 Euros and buy a t-shirt, balls of rope you can use as a door-stopper,
handbags and jewelry. Men, women and a little bit of the kid in you are well served.

It’s a cultural stop and a consumer moment all in one.

Yours in fashion,

Constance

For the little ones (ages 2-4) Leapfrog Junior is a version of the Tag Reading System that launched in June. Like the big boy version, Junior brings the book pages to life by allowing kids to interact with them in a few cool ways. Little fingers point the hand held door knob to various pictures and words on the page and kids can listen along as audio plays either reading the words or describing what the child is looking at. You can load your Junior with five titles at a time and learning can come with you anywhere you go – it’s a great portable toy.

The device comes with one book that’s enabled with the touch technology and there’s an extensive library of titles from stories with Pooh, George and Dr.Seuss. Each one of the Junior board books is loaded with 24 playful activities with 130 audio responses that expose children to preschool skills including counting, alphabet and problem solving.

A few down points include the higher price, (new system MSRPs at $34.99 and comes with one book, additional books MSRP at $10.99) and the larger design makes it hard for kids to select one specific word at a time if desired. If you get the system make sure you check eBay for any of the 13 titles and look for deals on pre-loved titles. All-in-all I love this system and love how well the technology works even more.

Photo credited to: abc.com