For any parent today, a trip to the local video store for family programs can be a daunting experience, especially for those with pre-teen daughters. However, instead of getting discouraged by the lack of appropriate videos, Marc Kravitz and Sandy Weber, two dads from Highland Park, Illinois, got busy. They formed Blue Skies Media to produce a new direct-to-video and DVD series MYBFF, ™ (My Best Friend Forever www.blueskiesmedia.com), which celebrates the sharing, the fun and the special bonds among best friends.

Preteen girls will embrace the creativity, fun activities and simple messages about friendship in the initial title in the lauch, Best Ever Sleepover! After watching it, they’ll be eager to try out the games, tricks and recipes with their own best friends. Best Ever Sleepover! includes a free “How-To-Guide” filled with step-by-step instructions and lists of supplies needed for each activity, so viewers can create their own fabulous evening of fun.

“Our own daughters were too old for Disney cartoons but too young for some of the racy PG-13 feature films,” says Weber, who directed the program. “Though there’s plenty of alternative video titles available for boys, there really wasn’t anything for our girls.”

Best Ever Sleepover! won “Best Products for Winter” award from iParentingmedia.com, which provides a credible and objective method of determining the best products in the children’s media and juvenile products industry, and recognizes those products with their awards.

An ordinary sleepover turns into the “best ever” sleepover as 35-minute, live-action, Best Ever Sleepover! follows the antics of five young girls on an activity-packed, over-night adventure. Throughout the evening, Zoe, Lauren, Jessica, Dana and Alex delight in playing games like the balloon-bursting truth-or-dare session (“Pop the Question”), stage a glamorous pajama fashion show (“PJ Fashion Show”) and glop on goop for group facials (“Face First”).

While no sleepover would be complete without snacks, Best Ever Sleepover! shows that pre-teens can enjoy munching on healthy foods like fruit and tasty dips they make themselves during “Double Dipping.” Best Ever Sleepover! includes other activities like “Chairs Into Air,” “Be-Jeweled,” “Tongue-Tied,” “Sleeping Bag Switcheroo” and “Psychic Pendulum.”

Bonus features on the DVD include hilarious outtakes, recipes, cast comments and the music video of the “Best Friends” theme, an original song specifically written for the video by 15-year-old singer-songwriter Amber Brooke, who also performs the catchy tune. Brooke also wrote and performs her original “So Small” song, which the girls dance to in “Match My Moves.”

The evening even comes complete with the inevitable intrusive little brother, gleefully played by Weber’s eight-year-old son Perry.

For the video, Kravitz and Weber, who first met six years ago at a dads-and-daughters “Indian Princesses” group, turned to their daughters and their daughter’s friends for inspiration. “Watching them dance and sing and play pretend games together sparked an idea in us for a series of videos,” says Kravitz, president, Blue Skies Media. “Friendship is so important to girls of this age. That’s why all of the activities take place among a group of best friends.” Adds Weber, “We used the girls’ input to make sure the video was both entertaining and relevant to their interests.”

Three more titles in the MYBFF series, Best Ever Sleepover!, Volume 2, Best Ever Music Video!, and Best Ever Fashion Show!, will be released in 2004. Future titles include Best Ever Beauty Spa! and Best Ever Room Makeover!

Best Ever Sleepover! is recommended for ages 6 through 12. Suggested retail price for the VHS is $12.95 and $14.95 for the DVD. To order please call toll free 1-866-GAL-PALS (1-866-425-7257) or visit www.mybff.com.