Costume Contest Tips

As you may already know, I love to dress up my animals in costumes. Every year, I come up with some intricate costume and try to exicute it on my four legged friends.
This year, Mary and Sadie both got dressed up. Sadie was a cupcake and Mary was a chef.

I was a little skeptical on how well recieved these costumes would be. Honestly, I wasn't certain that they were cute enough. Apparently, I was right. We didn't even place. This was the first year that such a thing has happened. Every other year, we've done really, really well. Placing at least. Apparently, some of my rules as stated below really do apply.

Because of my history of costume contest entries, I have written some tips to help you out.

• Call ahead and double check times. I normally go to PetCo or PetSmart so individual stores may vary from what is posted on the national website. I will often visit the store and then call again a few days before. I'm sort of paranoid about this.
• Be prepared. This falls under the double checking times. But also be prepared in that you arrive early enough so that you actually make the judging and also early enough that you can get the animals dressed. Also make your costume far enough in advance that you aren't rushing around that morning. Normally, that is my failing. Its not costume contest time if I'm not finishing it the morning of. Or in the car. Both have happened.
• Use your dog's assets. Not having tails is actually a huge benefit for the corgis. It makes costumes much easiler to fit because I don't have to figure out the tail hole. This also refers to the cliched weiner dog dressed as a hot dog. While not original, the dog's natural length is used as an asset. Riley's corn costume was another good use of her natural length.
• Cute wins. End of story. A pom in a princess costume riding in a remote control car operated by two gay men will beat you every time. So will kids. This also means that things like princesses, fairies, etc will do much better than Freddie Kruger.
• Make sure you have enough people to handle your pets. One pet per person is a minimum.
• Bring survival supplies. In the past, I've brought thread, needles, fabric scraps. Not needed. Large safety pins and maybe masking tape (works really well for securing hats to heads) is all you really need.
• Be a good sport. If you can't be, save your bad mouthing for in the car or the internet. This is where I do it. Everyone appriciates your participation but not if you are a jerk.
• Don't wear out your welcome. This goes with being a good sport but also, if you've won for several years in a row, no matter how good your costumes are, people start to notice and you'll end up not winning.
• To dress up or not to dress up? Don't dress up. Especially if you are an adult. This is a pet costume contest. If you insist on dressing up, remember your dog is the main component. You dressing as Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz and having your dog as Toto doesn't count. Now if you have a bunch of dogs dressed as Wizard of Oz characters and to complete it you dress as one, that's okay. Kids can get away with dressing up. While I sort of have something against dressing your kids up for the same reason as I'm against adults dressing up, next year, I plan on using our hypothetical baby to win the advantage.
• Groups are always a good idea but all the costumes have to be well made and fit into the theme well. Remember to have enough people
• Homemade costumes aways get more points from me than store bought ones.
• The devil is in the details. One of the reasons I think we do so well is because of the details. For Riley's little bo peep costume, it would be okay if she just wore a dress and hat but her costume had little lace trim, had flowers, had a shepard's hook. Such nice things.

So good luck! Next year, watch out for us! We're cheating with the use of a costumed baby!