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knowing what to buy.
So, how do you solve the holi
day madness? Here are a few tips:
I r* I Don’t give teens gifts
f " r you think they “need.”
Save those purchases for your quality
time together at Target. Teens don’t
want to get socks under the tree. When
they think about the holidays, it’s a “Must-
Have Moment” If you’re looking to impress,
think about one big gift vs. a lot of little ones.
Computers, cellphones, video games and digi
tal cameras top the list.
ODon’t use the holidays as a time
to correct your child’s behavior.
Your teen probably isn’t going to stop her in
cessant IM’ing just because you bought her a
set of Jane Austen books. If you don’t want
to cave and get her the latest gadget (which
is w T hat she really wants), then at least get her
one of the recent best sellers on the new lan
guage of technology and Web acronyms so
she knows you’re thinking about what mat
ters to her. She may even read it!
©Don’t overlook their ward
robe. Teens actually want to get
clothes—they just don’t want the ones
you knitted for them by the fire or
something from the same stores that
you shop in. Their favorite retailers are
Abercrombie & Fitch, Hollister and Ameri
can Eagle. Trust me, your teen can prob
ably recite the store’s return policy bet-
Vy ter than his geometry lesson, so if he doesn’t
like your selection, he’ll exchange it for some
thing else.
But the best advice I can offer is to talk to
your teens before the holidays so you don’t
feel unprepared and they don’t wind up
disappointed. Although they may wish
i w it, they know money doesn’t grow on
trees and therefore will be reason
g, able in their expectations. At the end
B of the day, the holidays are about being
B together with family, and if you really listen
w to their needs, even your teen probably will
V understand you’re doing your best.
SET DESIGN BY LINDA KEIL HALLEY RESOURCE: HAIR BY MARK TOWNSENO. MAGNET LA: MAKEUP BY TROY JENSEN. MARGARET MALDONADO AGENCY; STYLING BY JOHNNY WUJEK. MAGNET LA
CLOTHWG ON COVER: DRESS BY CALVIN KLEIN. EARRINGS BY ALEXIS BfTTAR. BANGLES BY ALEXIS BITTAR AND DEAR; CLOTHING INSIDE BY DEAR
Amanda’s Perfect Holiday
Who needs elves?
Actress Amanda Bynes
can make her own gifts.
BY FRAPPA STOUT
Amanda Bynes has a hidden
talent that helps get her
through the holidays.
“In my family, we make a lot of
our gifts,” says the Nickelodeon
bred actress and star of this year's
Sydney White and the hit Hair
spray. 'I like to draw, so I'll deco
rate a plate, or I'll do an oil paint
ing. It just means more when you
make a gift from scratch.”
Bynes is the ideal cover girl for
our annual issue, not only because
she has gift-giving down
to an art, but the 21-
year-old also knows
what youth cut- J
ture craves: cool M
stuff at discount «
prices. That's the ff|
idea behind her w
latest venture, Dear '
by Amanda Bynes, a
'WlN $250”
worth of gear
from her fashion
line, Dear by
Amanda Bynes!
Enter at
kusaweekend.comJ
popular fashion line for
teen girls at Steve & Barry's.
The apparel chain, also home to
Sarah Jessica Parker's Bitten, prom
ises no price tag above S2O. “It's
nice because it makes'affordable
chic,'”says Bynes, who meets with
designers several times a month.
Since its August launch. Dear
has become the chain's fastest
selling line. The new winter col
lection reflects the young star
let's personal sense of style, in
cluding cozy pajama sets, plaid
dresses and faux-fur-lined hood
ies. 'We were looking for some
body who appealed to [a younger
demographic], who was an All-
American girt'Steve & Barry's piesi
TURN THE PAGE FOR MORE GIFT GUIOE
dent Andy Todd, says. “No. 1 on our
list was Amanda. She's so success
ful and such a good role model.”
Growing up the youngest of A
three in Ventura County, Calif., ■
Bynes used to design her own T
clothes with patterns and ma
terials that she handpicked. At 8,
she took sewing classes at a local
fabric store. ”1 come from an ar
tistic family,” she says, "and I was
always the person drawing on the
paper tablecloth at restaurants.”
Her dad, a one-time shop
teacher, carved a dis
, play cabinet for her
Ik Beanie Babies. Her
Sgii mom sewed out
k| fits (even under
iff wear!) for Bynes'
2? Barbies; today, she
¥ makes stained glass.
The family cele-
brates both Christmas
and Hanukkah, which Bynes
admits can make things kind of
confusing. 'We go to temple and
church,” she says. Since moving
in with Bynes' Jewish grand
mother, they haven't had a Christ
mas tree. "[ln the past] when we
got one,” she says, “we called it a
'Hanukkah bush,' and I would
decorate it.”
It's usually Bynes'job to set the
mood. Each year, she decorates
the house with scented candles
(she likes cinnamon and ginger
bread) and her Marvin the Mar
tian ornaments. She also jazzes
up her own wrapping paper by
drawing holly or little bows with
*
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fjp 'l f PI
’t! fk M Hr
f Am ; agH m
R H m H
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i 9 m 1
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bright markers, and she and her
sister, Jillian, create their own
Christmas cards.
Her all-time save gift, she says,
is a stained-glass dock, made by
her mom, that still hangs in her
bedroom: “Everyone comments
on it.” She also loved it when, at
17, her best friend, Leslie, gave
her a Louis Vuitton makeup bag
(“My first!") and filled it with cos
metics, induding Bliss body scrub
and Lancome's Juicy Tubes lip
gloss. Bynes often follows suit
and buys the women in her life
"things I would love myself.”
This year, the Byneses are
planning to gather together for a
big holiday meal in Texas, where
her brother, Tommy, lives with his
family. As usual, Bynes will bake
her famous pumpkin chocolate
chip cookies.
"Instead of flour, you use pump
kin from a can,” she says. “They are
so good!” Ca
USA WEEKEND • Nov. 30-Dec 2,2007
7