This past weekend, we attended two Halloween events and Leo won his first costume contests. Yep, you read that right- contests. Plural.
Now, because Leo is only 2 1/2, I'm going to take some of the credit. Because, really, he can barely dress himself for everyday, so obviously the costume aspect is at least partly mama, right?
So... here were his costumes:
At the West Jeff Family Festival on Saturday, he was dressed as a little monkey in a costume from the Audubon Zoo which included a face mask and shirt designed to look like a monkey body (with a tail on the back). His pants were just standard brown toddler pants. I attached a stuffed banana we had caught at a parade last year onto his side with a pin. He imitated a monkey with "whoo whoo" sounds and scratching under his arms and pretending to eat his toy banana when he was called up to the stage area. He won the prize for "silliest costume" in the 0-3 age group.
On Sunday, the competition was even more intense- it was at the Boo Carre fest at the French Market in downtown New Orleans. There were more eager participants than they had spaces, so they had to cut off the entry list at 15 kids. All ages were grouped together. Leo was dressed as a pirate on Sunday (because Sunday is *always* pirate day...it just is...) He wore a pair of black pants cut at the bottoms into jagged edges, a green-and-white striped button down shirt, a pirate hat and a red-and-white sash around his waist. He had a stuffed parrot pinned on his shoulder (another Mardi Gras throw) and we attached it to his hat with velcro to make it stay standing up. He also had a foam cutlass hanging from his belt. As a finishing touch, I painted a curly mustache on his upper lip with my black eyeliner (initially used a face paint crayon, but he wiped that off really quickly.) When he went on stage, he was a little shy, but he managed to "Arrr" once or twice and smiled a lot. He won "Best Homemade Costume"
As you might have begun to notice- the trick to winning is in the details. Neither outfit would have stood up to the competition had it not been for the accessories- the banana and parrot were particularly effective, not just for the contest itself, but also when walking around with him. And people *loved* the mustache! If you can find something to attach to your child that everyone he or she walks past says "oh look- he/she even has a little blah blah!"- you've got a winner.
Stage personality also comes into play. A lot of kids get up there and just say their name and stand there. Not an effective strategy. Encourage your kid to play up the costume. Act the part, don't just rely on the outfit itself. If she's a princess, encourage her to wave her wand at the audience. If he's a rock star, tell him to play air guitar up there. The kid who acts like their character will win out over the one who just stands there every time- even if the two have identical costumes.
Pick the right categories to enter- little girls always win the "cutest costume" award... boys are more likely to get "silliest/funniest" or "scariest/spookiest"- so keep those in mind. Things like "most original" and "best handmade/homemade" can be won by either gender, but store bought costumes don't stand a chance for these categories.
If your child is dead-set on a store-bought costume, improvise to make it more unique. Add face paint, accessories, etc. Even in the categories that don't involve originality, it still counts for something.
No matter what- encourage your child to have fun. It isn't really about winning, it's about dressing up and getting people to give you candy. Um...well...
If your child doesn't win- or worse, you get there too late to sign your little one up and he or she has to watch from the sidelines... see if you can let your child up on stage after the contest is over and give him or her a chance to be the center of attention for a few minutes.
No comments:
Post a Comment