Nickelodeon Scares Up Kids' Favorite Characters for Halloween Costumes

Nickelodeon Scares Up Kids' Favorite Characters for Halloween Costumes

LazyTown's Stephanie and Sportacus Added to Lineup that Includes Kids' Favorites Dora the Explorer and SpongeBob SquarePants

Halloween Candy Pails, Beanie Babies and Holiday-Themed DVDs Add to the Fun of the Day

NEW YORK, Oct. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- Nickelodeon, the number one entertainment brand for kids, celebrates Halloween with the debut of costumes from the popular new Nick Jr. show, LazyTown. Kids will do back flips when they find out they can dress like their favorite characters -- Sportacus and Stephanie -- the acrobatic stars of LazyTown, one of the top five shows for preschoolers on all of commercial TV, which encourages kids to get up and move.

Sportacus and Stephanie join Nickelodeon's roster of popular character costumes from Disguise, including Dora the Explorer, SpongeBob SquarePants and Blue from Blue's Clues available this Halloween.

Costumes

LazyTown Sportacus -- Sportacus is a super-fit superhero who always tries to inspire the kids of LazyTown to leave their bad habits behind and embrace a more active, healthy lifestyle. He is an amazing acrobat with an infectious love of play. Like anyone, he is sometimes tempted by unhealthy options, but he always manages to find the strength to resist. Sportacus costume available in Deluxe ($39.99) and Standard ($19.99) and comes complete with vest, hat, goggles and arm bands.

LazyTown Stephanie -- Eight-year-old Stephanie is new to LazyTown and the viewer sees the strange new place through her eyes. With her signature pink hair and energy, Stephanie is assertive, strong-willed and sees life as a great adventure. She has an "always a way" attitude and is the drive behind the adventures -- the sparkplug that brings change to LazyTown. Stephanie loves moving and music, dancing and doing. There are two versions of the Stephanie costume for little girls to enjoy: Deluxe ($39.99) and Standard ($19.99). Each costume comes with Stephanie's signature pink wig and cheerleader dress.

Fiber Optic Star Catching Dora ($39.99) -- Little girls will truly sparkle and shine in this new Dora costume that features fiber optic lights in her shirt (batteries included). Each costume also includes shorts and a yarn wig so little girls can have their own Dora adventure. Based on the hit Nick Jr. TV show.

Talking Blue's Room ($39.99) -- This plush costume comes with a talking bracelet that says three phrases... just like Blue!

Accessories -- Halloween is all about the candy you can carry. Oh sure, dressing up is a huge portion of the holiday but at the end of the night, what did you get and how did you get it all? This year, kids can collect their Halloween riches in pails that look just like their favorite characters! Check out Dora's backpack pail, a purple pail just like the backpack Dora carries on her show. Or for those with a little seafaring in them, try a great interpretation of SpongeBob SquarePants in a pail! They're perfect for collecting tons of Halloween fun. Prices range from $2.99-$4.99, from Disguise.

Toys

SpongeBob SquarePants Frankenstein and Pumpkinhead Beanie Babies -- SpongeBob celebrates Halloween with his favorite costumes. This year, he's dressing as Frankenstein and as a pumpkin. Collectors of all ages will love to add these to their Beanie Baby collections. (Ty, $6.99)

DVDs

Backyardigans: It's Great to be a Ghost (Paramount; $16.99) -- Howl with laughter this Halloween with two special Backyardigans episodes that feature spooky ghosts and soccer-loving monsters! In "It's Great to be a Ghost!" Pablo, Tyrone and Uniqua are ghosts, haunting an old house to the sounds of '20s-style jazz. When unsuspecting Tasha drops by, they really put their scaring skills to the test. In "Monster Detectives," sixties-style rock underscores Tyrone's adventure as a no-nonsense detective helping his client Uniqua retrieve her soccer ball from the castle of the Soccer Monster.

Dora the Explorer: Dora's Halloween (Paramount; $16.99) -- In "Boo!" it's Halloween and Dora and Boots are out teach-or-treating when a cute little monster surprises them. Dora and Boots encounter a spooky journey ahead of them as they help Little Monster hurry home before the clock strikes twelve. In "The Missing Piece," Dora and Boots meet a wizard who is missing his magic wand. In order to help find it, the gang has to ride in a rocket ship all the way to the end of the rainbow. Features two bonus episodes: "To the Monkey Bars" and "The Big Storm."

Max & Ruby: Max & Ruby's Halloween (Paramount; $16.99) -- Join Max and Ruby as they dress up for Halloween, collect leaves, read a scary story, go to a fair, skate to Grandma's house and tell spooky ghost stories.

SpongeBob SquarePants Halloween (Paramount; $16.99) -- SpongeBob and his friends celebrate Halloween, as well as experience other scary days throughout the year. Whether it's monsters or ghosts or encountering others in costumes, SpongeBob always manages to control his fear and have a good laugh at the end. Features the music video "Scaredy Pants."

All costumes, accessories and home videos are available at mass retailers nationwide or http://www.nick.com/catalog.

Nickelodeon & Viacom Consumer Products manages the third largest licensing business in the world with $4.7 billion in retail sales in 2004, from such properties as SpongeBob SquarePants and Dora the Explorer. The department handles the merchandising for Nick Jr., Nickelodeon, Paramount Pictures, Comedy Central, MTVN International, and Spike TV.

Nickelodeon, now in its 26th year, is the number-one entertainment brand for kids. It has built a diverse, global business by putting kids first in everything it does. The company includes television programming and production in the United States and around the world, plus consumer products, online, recreation, books, magazines and feature films. Nickelodeon's U.S. television network is seen in more than 89 million households and has been the number-one-rated basic cable network for nine consecutive years. Nickelodeon and all related titles, characters and logos are trademarks of Viacom International Inc.

Source: Nickelodeon

CONTACT: Sara Stern Levin of Nickelodeon & Viacom Consumer Products, +1-212-846-8670, or Sara.levin@nick.com

Web site: http://www.nick.com/ http://www.nick.com/catalog

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