2009 Homemade Halloween Costume Ideas for Kids & Adults

Searching for the perfect Halloween costume this year? Why not make your own? MindBites has some great video tutorials on how to make your own Halloween costumes this year as well as costume ideas for babies, toddlers, adults and couples! Have you seen our Halloween section? Take advantage of our Halloween video tutorials on everything from how to make a pillowcase dress for a toddler who wants to be Dorothy to how to create a cardboard sword for a child who wants to be a pirate. Here’s a select few of some of MindBites most popular videos for Halloween:

1. How to Make a Cardboard Sword
Wouldn’t it be great to have a sword to go with your son’s pirate costume? Or maybe he wants to be Link from Zelda? This is a great idea if you want to do some holiday arts and crafts with the kiddos and keep them safe from the hazards of a real sword.

2. How to Make a Pillowcase Dress

Does your toddler want to be Dorothy for Halloween? How about making her dress from one of your old blue pillowcases? Then all you would have to make is a white apron and pair it with red shoes and a basket. There’s no place like MindBites to get great ideas for homemade Halloween costumes!

3. How to Make a Onesie
Who doesn’t want to dress their baby up in a cute little pumpkin onesie? All you have to do is use a cookie cutter as a stencil and cut it out of felt to sew onto the burnt orange onesie. Or what if you wanted to make a onesie look like a cow? All you would need to make are the black spots and some pink circle shapes for utters. Pretty nifty ideas, eh? And the ideas are endless!

4. How to Make a Tutu
Every little girl needs her own pink tutu! Tutus are essential to complete Halloween costumes for ballerinas, princesses and fairies. Instead of buying your little ballerina’s tutu this Halloween, have her help you make her own! A fun idea to do with the kids before Halloween.

5. How to Shop for Halloween Costumes on a Budget
Shopping for Halloween costumes doesn’t have to break the bank. Avoid the corporate price tags at Target this year and find your way to the nearest thrift store! This is a great way to find the most awesome Halloween costumes on the fly. Just walk into any thrift store and use these Halloween shopping tricks to get just what you need. I would also suggest having a photo on hand just in case you need to give your shopping aid a clear direction.

Where do you do your shopping for Halloween? Or do you make your own costumes for the family? Share with others in the MindBites community by leaving a link to your favorite how-to Halloween video tutorial in the comment section below!

The winner of the MindBites Education Twitter Contest is…

Before we unveil the winner of the MindBites Education Twitter contest we would like to thank everyone who helped make this effort a success. With the help of the fabulous MindBites community and some newfound friends on Twitter, we were able to spread the good word of MindBites and our fantastic Education lessons.

Another perk of the contest was finding out some of your favorite subjects and teachers and seeing you show them love on Twitter. History, Algebra, English, and Drama were among the most mentioned favorite courses, while Mrs. Keys, Mr. Antonicci, Mr. Wagstaff, and Professor Douglas are just a few of the numerous teachers for which the MindBites community proclaimed their admiration and gratitude.

So, thank you to everyone who participated. We wish that we had an iPod Nano to give to each and every one of you.

Now, to the news that most of you are undoubtedly here to see. The winner of the MindBites Education Twitter Contest is: @AllRubyCakes

Thanks again to everyone who entered and be on the lookout for more contests and giveaways from MindBites in the future.

Austin City Limits Music Festival 2009: How to Get Cheap or Sold-Out ACL Tickets

It’s a dog-eat-dog world out there, especially when it comes to buying ACL tickets. Let’s face it; we’re all dogs. Everyone wants to sell their tickets to the highest bidder or get them cheap and with no work involved. But the truth is, you have to work to find the deals. You have to put up with spamming your friends’ Facebook status feeds or religiously checking Craigslist throughout the day. It’s not fun, and it takes up a lot of time; but, the good news is you can get good at it. Here are some tips to becoming the world’s best Austin City Limits ticket scavenger:

1. If you’re out of town, you might be in luck.

Ticket-holders that live in Dallas, Houston or San Antonio and can’t make the festival end up selling their tickets for cheap…if you can pick them up where they are, which is not in Austin. Out-of-town ticket-holders don’t want to drive or mail their tickets overnight, so check your local Craigslist. You could be in luck.

2. If you’re in Austin, start with Craigslist.

Don’t wait until the day before to get the cheapest tickets. I follow Craigslist religiously each year and it doesn’t get cheaper. Even though ticket-holders should be more desperate by then, they hold out even till the very end. Not a cool business model IMHO, but it works for them and their karma.

The easiest way to check a forum site like Craigslist is to add their RSS feed to your RSS reader. I use Google Reader, and it is fabulous! Here is the feed I read religiously: Craigslist RSS Feed for ACL Tickets.

3. Ask your Friends directly.

Friends don’t overcharge friends. If they do, question their friendship.

4. Use social network sites like Twitter or Facebook.

Post a status update every 3 hours. Friends/users check their accounts at different times throughout the day, so this will ensure that they see your post and hopefully pass it along to their friends with tickets to sell.

And, make use of Twitter Search for ACL tix. It is your best friend, for real. You can find anything you need, including ACL-ticket giveaway contests! (See Tip #5.)

5. Enter online contests to win tickets

Always enter any online contest that is giving away free tickets. Usually, all you have to do is tweet about the contest or say why you’re the best person to win the tickets, etc. There’s not much work involved. Mr. Gatti’s is finishing up a contest today (September 30) that asks you to simply become a fan of their Facebook Page and then post a comment on their wall telling them why you’d be the best “Roving Reporter.” Austin City Limits also has their own Facebook Fan Page that periodically posts contests to win free VIP passes or side-stage seats.

You can easily track a new contest in the works by setting up a Google Alert for “win ACL tickets.” Or just Google it. Twitter has a fabulous search feature that lets you see what Twitter users have tweeted about ACL tickets and ticket giveaways in real time. Definitely make use of this information.

6. Listen to the radio and check updates from your local news stations!

Local radio stations like 101X usually have radio contests to win free tickets to Austin City Limits or whatever festival is in town. Right now, 101X is paired up with Mr. Gatti’s to announce the 4 winners to their contest “Be a Roving Reporter” tomorrow morning on The Morning X when one lucky winner will get a Media badge!

Let me know your genius way(s) of finding cheap ACL tickets by posting in the comments below. And good luck!

We have other resources on ACL and Austin in general. Check out this lesson on Austin Hot Spots and this blog post from last year on ways to survive ACL.

Win a Nano in MindBites Education Twitter contest!

Update: The contest is now closed to new entries. A huge thank you to everyone that entered our Twitter contest and helped us spread the word about our fabulous Education lessons. We will announce the winner of the iPod Nano on our blog by the end of day Friday October 2, 2009. Thanks!

Welcome all tweeters, twitterers and tweeps! To celebrate the expansion of our Education category, MindBites is giving away an iPod Nano (the fancy new one, with a video camera among other new bells and whistles). Want to win one? Sure you do! And it is VERY easy to enter.

Simply complete one of the tasks below to enter once daily OR complete both tasks to be entered TWICE daily!

1.  Retweet (copy and paste into Twitter) the following message to your followers: #MindBites is giving away a new iPod Nano! RETWEET to win! Follow link to double your chances! http://bit.ly/2ewuOw

Click here to automatically retweet!

2.  Tweet the name of your favorite teacher or your favorite subject in school, along with the phrase: Thanks #MindBites for the great Education videos!

The contest is free to enter and runs through the end of day September 30, 2009. The winner will be announced on Twitter on October 1, 2009. Click here for the official contest rules.

That’s it! Simple. So let your followers know about the awesome lessons in the MindBites Education category, give your favorite teacher/subject some love and earn a chance to win a sparkly new iPod Nano. It is a win, win, win!

MindBites Twitter Contest Rules

1.         ENTRY: No purchase necessary to enter or win. The contest will be run from 9/16/09 - 9/30/09. Participants may enter the contest by completing one or both of the following actions:

• Retweet the following message using their account on Twitter: #MindBites is giving away a new iPod Nano! RETWEET to win! Follow link to double your chances! http://bit.ly/2ewuOw
• Tweet the name of their favorite teacher and/or subject in school, along with the phrase: Thanks #MindBites for the great Education videos!

Completion of each action is good for one entry into the sweepstakes. Participants can enter up to twice daily (by completing each task) through the duration of the contest.

2.         ELIGIBILITY:  Employees and contractors (and their families) of MindBites or any of its affiliates are not eligible.  Void where prohibited by law.
3.         PRIZE:  One prize will be given out. The winner will receive an Apple gift card by mail for the amount of $160.92 (the price of one new 8 gig iPod Nano plus tax in the great state of Texas).
4.         WINNER SELECTION:  The winner will be selected randomly on October 1, 2009 from all eligible entries.
5.         WINNER NOTIFICATION: The winner will be notified through Twitter direct message and @reply no later than October 2, 2009. The winner is required to contact MindBites via Twitter direct message to provide contact information (full name, email address, and mailing address). If the prize goes unclaimed after 5 days an alternate winner will be selected.
6.          GENERAL CONDITIONS: By acceptance of the prize, the winner consents to the use of his or her name and/or likeness for purposes of advertising or trade without further compensation, unless prohibited by law.
7.         USE OF CONTEST INFORMATION: All entries become the property of MindBites. MindBites reserves the right to use any and all information related to the contest, including submissions provided by the contestants, for editorial, marketing and any other purpose, unless prohibited by law.
8.         CONDUCT: All contest participants agree to be bound by these Official Rules.  MindBites in its sole discretion, reserves the right to disqualify any person it finds to be in violation of these rules.
9.         LIMITATIONS OF LIABILITY: MindBites is not responsible for late, lost or misdirected tweets or for any computer, online, telephone or technical malfunctions that may occur.  If for any reason, the contest is not capable of running as planned, including infection by computer virus, bugs, tampering, unauthorized intervention or technical failures of any sort, MindBites may cancel, terminate, modify or suspend the contest without notice.  Entrants further agree to release MindBites from any liability resulting from, or related to participation in the contest.

Introducing the MindBites Monthly Credit Plan

With all of the great new content hitting MindBites lately (new Disc Golf lessons, Texas Hold’em lessons, Thinkwell’s Education lessons, & more), you may be wondering how to afford all of the things you want to learn. Never fear, the MindBites Monthly Plan is here! Now you’ll be able to sign up for a subscription plan and “auto-magically” receive more MindBites credits each month at an even lower price. That means you can learn more for less!

Let’s take a look at how this works: Now, when you decide to purchase a MindBites lesson or series, you will have the option to sign up for the MindBites Monthly Plan (or “subscription”). With this plan, you will receive 24 credits monthly for only $19.95 per month. As you can see from the table above, the Monthly Plan is clearly the best bang for your buck at $0.83 a credit (a 16% savings). But wait…it gets better. When you first sign up for the MindBites Monthly Plan, you’ll receive 6 bonus credits free! Crazy, right? But it is true! That means that you will receive 30 credits for $19.95 the day you sign up ($0.67 per credit and a 33.5% savings…in case you were wondering - we’re big fans of math around here).

You can cancel the Monthly Plan at anytime, but why would you want to? When you combine the amazing lessons from our MindBites authors with the substantial savings of the MindBites Monthly Plan, it is almost too good to be true. In fact…you better jump on board before we change our mind! ;)

Back-to-School Technology - 14 items that rock!

It is back-to-school time and that means that many of you may be looking for the latest and greatest gadget or thing-a-ma-jig in order to start the year off in style. Even though it has been many years since most of the MindBites team has experienced a “first day of school”, we jump at any opportunity to research (and purchase) the latest high-tech gear.

So here are a few suggestions from the MindBites’s team on what you (or your kids) absolutely, positively, MUST HAVE to start the school year off right (or the highest grade you will receive is a B+…possibly an A- in Health).

Laptops:

MacBook 13-Inch

MacBookPro 13-Inch

NetBook

Here at the MindBites office, all but one of us are Mac advocates (and the one hold out is taking medication to remedy her ailment). Therefore, we are slightly biased when it comes our recommendations of a 13 inch MacBook or 13 inch MacBook Pro for back-to-school laptop options. However you cannot go wrong with either laptop. If you can swing the extra $200 for the MacBook Pro we would highly recommend it. Apple’s latest version of the MacBook Pro has a bevy of new features including a precision unibody enclosure crafted from a single block of aluminum. This construction gives it a thinner and lighter body than the previous model, while at the same time making it stronger and more durable. It also includes Apple’s innovative built-in notebook battery for up to 7 hours of wireless productivity on a single charge without adding thickness, weight or cost.

If you are looking to go a different route, NetBooks are becoming increasingly popular with students. With their tiny size, longer battery charge time, increased storage space, and lower price point these miniature notebooks may be your best choice for the upcoming school year. Our recommended NetBook is the ASUS Eee PC 1002HA 10-Inch Netbook, which has garnered glowing reviews from experts and users alike.

Also, be sure to take advantage of educational discounts! Apple offers discounts to students and many PC manufacturers do the same. If you’re not sure how to access these deals call your school’s technology department and ask what is available.

Laptop bags/Backpacks:

JanSport Backpack (w/ laptop pouch)

Belkin Messenger Bag

Get a backpack that has a padded pocket for your laptop and you will never be overwhelmed. I’ve had a JanSport backpack that has held up for nearly a decade that looks just as good as the day I got it (after I run it through the washing machine.) JanSport has a wide array of standard backpacks as well as backpacks specifically designed to accommodate your laptop on your journeys to and from class.

If you prefer the Messenger Bag style you should check out the bags that Belkin has to offer. I have been shopping laptop messenger bags for a month now and I am on the verge of purchasing this one. Reasons why? It is stylish yet it provides protection and padding for my laptop. It is roomy enough to fit my 15-inch laptop. It has separate compartments for my iPhone, mouse, power cord, planner, etc. And it is on the cheap side of the bags I have researched. Color me (almost) sold!

MP3 Players

iPod Touch

Zune HD

For your mobile media needs we recommend the iPod Touch or Zune HD. Sure, they don’t hold as many songs as some of the other players on the market, but the pure power and flexibility of these players is what makes them special. The iPod Touch is the front runner as it has full access to the massive library of Applications on the Apple app store, many of which are free. The Zune HD is the new kid on the block but everyone who has seen one and used one have great things to say about it. It’s not Mac compatible so if you’re a Mac user look elsewhere, but if you’re a PC user don’t count it out!

Pocket Video Cameras

Flip

Kodak Zi8

Need more gadgets to drool over? The latest entries to Pocket Handicam world, the Flip Mino and Kodak Zi8, are perfect for students to record class lectures with and (for the college student) make dorm room videos to send back to parents at home, far, far away. It shouldn’t be too hard for parents to be convinced to make this purchase; they’re (relatively) cheap, easy to use, a great tool for communication, and can (occasionally) give the student a break from taking notes. These amazing little devices record to a USB drive that easily transfers to a computer. There’s no capture time, no digitizing required, nothing annoying about it. Just shoot, record, transfer, and upload to YouTube or any other video hosting site! These cameras make today’s educational experience a far cry from just a few years ago.

Flash drives/Jump Drives

Kingston 4GB Flash Drive

SanDisk 16GB Flash Drive

You can get a 4gig flash drive for $15 or less (like this Kingston flash drive). This should be enough space to hold all your documents and files for school. However, if you do think you may need more space it is not a huge price jump to the 16 GB flash drives (this SanDisk flash drive is a popular option).

Books

The Kindle 2

We could recommend this book or that book for back to school reading, but it seems to us that if we can suggest one item that, in essence, is EVERY book…that is the way to go. Our fearless leader, Jason, has a Kindle and he highly recommends it. In case you are unfamiliar with the Kindle it is Amazon’s wireless reading device.  As you would expect the Kindle comes loaded with high tech features including a lightweight design (10.2 ounces), 3G wireless connection that allows you to download books anytime, anywhere (books are downloaded in less that 60 seconds), a long battery life (runs out in days not hours) and huge storage capabilities (holds over 1,500 books).

Headphones

JBuds Noise-Reducing Ear Buds

Behrhinger HPX 2000

If you have a problem keeping the standard plastic circles in your ears, you’re probably going to want to invest in a pair of in-ear headphones. Almost every brand and price of in-ear headphones will come with different size pads to make your listening experience more comfortable. Best of all you can mix and match if your left ear is disturbingly disproportionate to your right ear. I’ve got a pair of JBuds in ear headphones and I love them. They don’t have the greatest sound but they stay in my ear and they are nearly indestructible.

Some of you want a little more bass and clarity from your headphones. The best solution for this is generally over-ear headphones. Now some people are wary about sporting Princess Leia esque headphones walking down the street, but the gains in sound quality are incredible. I have a pair of HPX2000Behrhinger High-Definition DJ Headphones that I keep in my backpack for when I’m interested in really enjoying movies or listening or creating music and I want to make sure that everything sounds incredible. They aren’t the most expensive pair of headphones on the market, nor are they the most responsive, however, for $30 I don’t think you can do much better for your money. These things sounds great, are comfortable, have great high and low end response, and are durable as all get out.

Do you have back-to-school tech suggestions? Let the MindBites community know about them in the comments below or in the MindBites forums. And from everyone on the MindBites’ team we wish you the very best on this new school year.

“Will the musicians please come to the stage. Oh, and the drummer too.”

We have all heard the jokes before: what do you call someone who hangs out with musicians? A drummer. Ha ha, very funny. As a below average to average drummer myself, I take exception to that hilarious jab at the drumming community. Granted, there are some knuckleheads out there whose attitude, cleanliness, and time-telling abilities may reinforce drummer stereotypes, but overall, I would say drummers get a bad rap.  In fact, here are three quick reasons why you should become a drummer (and prove everyone wrong).

1)    Drummers are very popular

If you take a look under the “musicians community” on craigslist.com there are more posts about bands “seeking a reliable drummer” than about any other topic. The fact that bands seem to go through drummers more quickly than Spinal Tap is certainly a perk for aspiring drummers – there is plenty of work out there. As long as you know the basics, have your own car and can show up to practice roughly on time, there will be plenty of opportunities for you to jam.

2)    You cannot sing

I am not saying that all drummers can’t sing…but most can’t. For every Dave Grohl (drummer for Nirvana now lead singer/songwriter for the Foo Fighters) there are thousands of…well…drummers like me (a drummer for a bad band that’s now a drummer for a slightly mediocre band). If you were born vocally impaired and tone deaf but still have visions of rocking out on Letterman, the drummer’s life is for you.

3)    Drumming is fun

That is not to say that playing the guitar, bass, keyboard, or accordion is not fun…it is just that these things are less fun than drumming. There is something amazing about getting behind a drum set and playing a rock and roll tune as loud as you can. It can be artistic and beautiful, while at the same time a fantastic adrenaline rush and stress reliever.

While these are all great reasons, there is one last reason to become a drummer. In fact, the reason is one generalization about drummers that I am willing to get behind…”chicks dig drummers.”

If these reasons have inspired you, or if you have just always been curious about drumming, your first step towards the Rock N’ Roll hall of fame is finding someone who can teach you the basics and provide you with a firm drumming foundation. Enter MindBites’ drumming expert Jim McCarthy. Jim is a drum clinician and teacher and has specialized in pure drumming technique for over 20 years. Jim has a tremendously broad background in drumming. He has played in rock bands, orchestras, marching bands - everything from high-brow contemporary music to Latin American music.  Jim spent six years at a university studying percussion performance full-time and earned a Masters Degree in percussion. During that time, Jim studied every aspect of numerous drumming techniques from rudimental drumming to orchestral percussion to full drum kit performance. Jim believes that teaching and creating learning resources is like anything else - one needs practice to do it well, so he has dedicated himself to the art of teaching.

Here are some of Jim’s rockin’ MindBites on drumming:

Introduction to Drumming: The Basics

Drumming Practice: Rudiments

How to Play the Drums: Drum Kit Solos

Drumming Lessons: Reading Rhythm

Drumming Lessons: Beginner-Intermediate

Drumming Lessons: Intermediate

Drumming Lessons-Advanced

Drumming Lessons: Basics through Advanced

View all of Jim’s lessons and series here.

Share your favorite perks of being a drummer below (or reasons NOT to be a drummer…if you must).

Teach your baby sign language - All the cool kids (and parents) are doing it

It seems that the modern day baby has responsibilities outside of eat, cry, poop, sleep, repeat. They are now expected to learn sign language. In fact, more and more parents are teaching their babies simple sign language… and for good reasons.

Experts say that babies have the capacity to communicate well before they master the art of speech, and anyone who has dodged a flying sippy-cup knows that children gain control of their arms and hands early on. Therefore, teaching your baby sign language allows your little one(s) to express themselves and communicate effectively a lot sooner than they would have been able to with normal speech. Being able to communicate helps reduce your baby’s frustration (which reduces the crying and whining and thus likely your own frustrations). The decrease in tantrums is only one of the many positive results of teaching your baby sign language.  According to experts Linda Acredcolo, PhD and Susan Goodwyn, PhD, the authors of Baby Signs: How to Talk with Your Baby Before Your Baby Can Talk (3rd Edition), there are five main benefits of teaching your baby sign language:

1. Helps babies talk sooner . . . and boosts their spoken vocabulary once they start to speak
2. Empowers babies to direct adults’ attention to what they want to talk about
3. Reduces frustrations
4. Provides a strong foundation for early literacy
5. Stimulates intellectual development

Here at MindBites we have a resident baby sign language expert, Laura Berg, who can teach you everything you need to know with her baby sign language how-to videos. Based out of Toronto, Laura teaches baby signing classes and trains other ASL baby sign language instructors through her company, My Smart Hands. Laura has helped countless parents in their quest to better understand and communicate with their little ones through her baby sign language classes and video lessons. Laura’s teaching background and highly developed skills in curriculum planning make her a formidable force in the classroom and in her video lessons. Her classes and video lessons have all received rave reviews, but most importantly, they offer parents the tools they need to facilitate early communication with their children.

Here are some of Laura’s fantastic MindBites that you can view to learn baby sign language today:

• Baby Sign Language – Alphabet Songs
• Make Baby Sign Language Flash Cards
• Baby Sign Language – Family Signs
• Baby Sign Language – Food Signs
• Baby Sign Language Song – Hey Mommy, Hey Daddy
• Baby Sign Language – Children’s Songs #1
• Baby Sign Language: ASL Alphabet
• Or, if you’re completely new to this, check out this series: Baby Sign Language Basics
• Or, if signing with song is more your game, you may enjoy: Children’s Songs and Alphabet Songs

View all of Laura’s lessons and series here, or click through from the handy widget below:

Creating Title Images on the Mac

So, you’ve seen this before.  Similarly to the Windows process (check out the Create a Screencapture blog for PC users) here are the super-fun steps needed to create a new and interesting lesson title image on your Mac.  I have included this fantastic information in two different formats: a text version and a screencast. First off, let us go check out the screencast:

Now for the instructions with a bunch of old-fashioned words, instead of fancy, new-wave audio and video. Load up your video that has the title image that needs replacing.  Play your video and look for a frame while it plays that you think best represents or sells your lesson.  Pause on that frame and hit the Apple key + Shift + 4.  That will transform your cursor into a cross hair which will allow you to capture a portion of your screen.  So draw a nice box around your video, making sure to wait a second so you don’t get the interface in your capture.  This will send your capture to your desktop which you can then open up in your image editor of choice.  I’ll be using preview just because it is universal among Mac users.

In preview you’ll need to add the crop option to your menu bar so you can actually do some basic editing.  To do this, open the sidebar and click to customize toolbar and add the crop option.  You can then make a selection and cut out any extra pixels you don’t want by hitting the crop button.  Save your new title image to a place on your computer where you’ll be able to find it.  Then under your edit lesson page, you’ll be able to upload your new custom title image and save the lesson.

Take in and enjoy your new title image!