You’re Invited to the World’s Largest Slumber Party!

WHAT: Girls With Dreams will host the World’s Largest Slumber Party on Saturday November 14th, uniting teens virtually all over the world.

WHERE: Grab your girlfriends and join us from the comfort of your own home!  Streaming live from Slumber Party headquarters in St. Louis, Missouri, and with teen slumber party captains in each state, the party will include celebrity interviews, DIY spas, a dance party, a teen room makeover contest, movie marathon and much more!  Participants will also donate pajamas to The Pajama Program, an organization that provides new, warm PJ’s to children worldwide.

HOW: Anyone can join us, but if you want to be a slumber party captain and host a party of your own, it’s so easy!  Please join our Facebook Group and you’ll get all of the insider info!   Slumber party captains will get a FREE slumber party kit and be eligible for great prizes and raffles.  More information for captains will be coming soon!  If you have any questions, you can reach as ut info@girlswithdreams.com

Join up with Slumber Party Headquarters and other teens on Facebook.  If you want to join us in contributing to the Pajama Program, you can donate here.

Media contact Elaine Krackau at elaine@prbythebook.com | 512.733.5145

Summer Self-Esteem Challenge sponsored by Girls With Dreams

Can we count you in for our Summer Self-Esteem Challenge sponsored by Girls With Dreams?

Are you tired of feeling pressured to have a perfect body?

Are you tired of comparing yourself and being compared to other girls?

What if girls could joing together and eliminate the pressure to be thin?

We’re definitely tired of it!  The idea for this challenge came from a recent discussion Molly and Sarah were having at school about body image and American Idol’s “Bikini Girl”. Swimsuit season is here and it just another reminder of how difficult it is for girls to be happy in their own bodies.

It’s hard to live up to the bodies on TV and in magazines, and it’s even harder to be around a group of girls who are comparing their own beauty to each other. The saddest part is that we are all guilty. Help us improve self-esteem in girls all over the world by joining our Summer Self-Esteem Challenge:

1. The next time you’re in an outfit , swimsuits included, and you start mentally or verbally comparing yourself to your friends, STOP. Stop trying to figure out who has the best legs or flattest stomach and replace those comparisons with compliments.
2. Every time you find yourself picking apart the way you look or feeling jealous of someone else, give yourself one compliment and at least two to your friends.
3. When you wake up in the morning, don’t forget to start the day by looking in the mirror and complimenting yourself.
4. Pick one way to eat healthier. You could eliminate soda, drink more water, or eat more fruits or veggies.
5. Pick one form of exercise to do every day. Since it’s summer, this shouldn’t be too hard. You could swim, bike, walk, run, dance or rollerblade!
6. Help us reach 100,000 girls by August 31, 2009. Please share this challenge with 3 friends so Girls With Dreams can all help improve every girl’s self-esteem.

If you haven’t joined the Girls With Dreams Self-Esteem Challenge yet, what are you waiting for? Join now!

Will You Take Our SECRETS Survey?

What are the biggest secrets girls keep? We want to find out from 5000 girls what the biggest secrets are! Can you take a minute to fill out this confidential survey and then send it to your friends? We’ll be letting you know the results, right here at Girls With Dreams! Thanks!

Here’s the link for your friends http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=IygPwf4fE5SjXQf27aGpFQ_3d_3d

Carrie talks about the survey in this video.

Spending Spring Break at Home

If you’re not headed out to have some fun in the sun, there’s still plenty to do in your hometown. I talked to a lot of girls who stayed home this year and they still had a great time. Here’s a few ideas girls shared for spring break.

• Get caught up on sleep. You could even pamper yourself by spritzing your sheets with a scented spray or listening to a relaxing CD to soothe you to sleep.
• Hang out with the friends you haven’t seen in awhile because you’ve been too busy with school.
• Have a major movie marathon, with food and decorations related to the theme of the movies.
• Enjoy the outdoors! Go for a walk, bike, or rollerblade.
• Be a tourist in your own town. Check out sites you don’t normally visit. If you live in St. Louis, for example, head to the City Museum, the Arch, or the Zoo.
• Grab dinner with a group of friends or throw a potluck party at one of your houses. Have everyone bring a beverage, appetizer, main course, side dish or desert.
• Pick up a few more shifts at work to save up for something special.
• Go bowling. Better yet, organize your own mini-tournament with your friends. The losing team buys pizza for the group afterwards.

What about you? If you stayed home this year, tell us what you did!

Self-Esteem Quiz

Quiz: What’s Your Self-Esteem?

Here’s a quick way to find out how well your doing with self-esteem. At Girls With Dreams, we’re redefining self-esteem. It’s not just about how you feel about your looks. It’s much bigger than that. Take out a sheet of paper and get ready for the quiz…you’ll see what we mean!

Write down the following words…

Beauty, Boys, Friends, Family, School, Challenges

Now, on a scale of 1-10 rate how you are doing with Self Esteem in each of these areas. For example,

Beauty: Do you feel confident and beautiful? Do you feel good about your body? Do you put yourself down?

Boys: Do you value yourself based on boys comments or opinions? Do you feel confident when talking to boys?

Friends: Can you stand up to your friends if you disagree? Do you feel like equals? Do your friends build you up?

Family: Do you feel confident around your siblings and parents? Do you say positive things about yourself?

School: This has 2 parts (Grades and Social Scene). How do you feel about your academic abilities? Do you feel confident? Are you embarassed about your bad grades or good grades? Do you ever play dumb? Socially, do you feel like you fit in somewhere? Do you feel good about yourself at school?

Challenges: How do you deal with stress? With peer pressure? Do you have confidence in your abilities?

Next, take a look at where you scored the highest and lowest. You want to build off of your strengths. Maybe you’re really confident about your grades, but you feel useless around your friends. You can change that. Sometimes it means it’s time to find new friends, but it could also mean you need to assert yourself more.

Watch for more tips on self esteem and confidence here at Girls With Dreams and YouTube.

Super Fun Birthday Party Ideas

My birthday is in a week. Is it just me or is 17 just not as sweet as 16? You get your license at 16 and you’re offically an adult at 18. What do I do in between?

Here are some fun ideas to help celebrate your 17th!

1. Plan a shopping trip with your girlfriends to a town a few hours away. Chicago is a great option.
2. Go to an amusement park or make a slip-n-slide in your backyard.
3. Have a potluck dinner party at your house for you and your friends.
4. Try something spontaneous with a few close friends, such as a hot air balloon ride or a carraige ride.
5. Rent out a hall and have a joint birthday party with a friend that has a birthday close to yours.
6. Walk along Main Street in your town, and meet new people.
7. Learn how to make you favorite food, and have your friends join in.
8. Go on a camping trip and look for your birthday constellation in the sky.
9. Go cosmic bowling, roller skating, or ice skating.
10. Stay in a local hotel for a night, splurge on the spa, and swim in their free pool.

Whatever you choose to do, make your birthday enjoyable!

Unique Gift Ideas for the Holidays

With December flying by, the pressure is on to find good gifts! Here are a few I came across that are a little different. I hope this helps your holiday shopping! Let us know your favorite gift ideas!

Are you and your group of friends looking to chip in on a gift for your favorite teacher? Check out www.groupcard.com.  Your can create a card and also purchase numerous gift cards together.

www.originalgood.com features fair trade and recycled products from around the world.

Help the earth by sending a card using www.arborday.org/giveatree. Every time you purchase one of these cards at $5.95 a piece, you plant a tree!

Instead of buying gifts, give back by visiting Operation Christmas Child at www.samaritanspurse.org or supporting a soldier via www.soldiersangels.org. 

Get a Free Cookie!

I just heard about a great giveaway I thought I’d share with you! Kashi, the food company, is giving away free cookies. Since it’s made by Kashi, you don’t even have to feel guilty. These are even the kind that are healthy! If you want to find out more you can visit www.kashi.com.

Good Gift Ideas?

Hey Girls!

My boyfriend’s 18th birthday is coming up, and he’s one of those guys that is so hard to shop for. He’s really laidback and not picky, but he never wants anything! I’ve been thinking and I thought I could ask all of you for help. What are some good ideas or gifts you have given guys before? And while we are on this topic, what about gifts for other people. Girlfriends? Parents? Siblings?

I want to hear your ideas!!

Thinking About Travel? Continued.

Here are some more reasons why people should travel to other countries:

3. Learn something new.

Other countries have so much to offer other than the site-seeing and the food. There is always so much history in every country, and most of it is interesting. Now don’t go rushing to every museum and historical site, that would get boring. Take the time to people watch and see the things that have changed the country and make it special. You’ll be surprised how interesting it really is.

4. Expand your horizons.

Exploring a new place can seem scary especially if you’re unfamiliar with it or don’t speak the language, but don’t let that stop you from venturing out into the world. There is so much to see and learn from other people and their cultures. So what if you don’t know the language? Learn a few phrases to help you get by. So what if you’ve never had the food? Give it a taste. Always try something new because you never know how it could change your world.

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