Looking for an antidote to the bleached-girls-gone-wild antics of Brit, Lindsay, and Paris that’s not too cloyingly saccharine? Get thee and your daughter (and your BFF, mom, and/or gal pals) to Legally Blonde, The Musical. The message—it’s cool to be smart, and with enough grit, hard work, and determination, you can be whatever you want to be—is positively tailored-made for this generation of ‘tween girls who've been subjected to a barrage of media coverage of truly gag-inducing “role models” practically since forever.

I recently caught a performance of LB with a couple of friends. And while my expectations were modest—even though I loved the movie—I was (happily) proven wrong. Like the LB franchise shows, you just can’t judge a book—or a blonde—by its cover. So now that Broadway is once again alive and kicking, tix to the show would make a perfect holiday gift. (And if you’re not planning a trip to the Big Apple in the next few weeks or can’t get seats during the holidays, you can always buy and wrap tix for another date, and rent the DVD to give your gift recipient a preview of what’s to come.)