How to Win In a Halloween Costume Contest Continued ...
One great way to make a creative costume is to play off of a recent news story involving a famous person. Costumes of this nature will work out even better if the news story has been embarrassing or misfortunate. Consider some examples of just how you can pull it off. You could choose to dress up as Paris Hilton, well accessorized and dressed in a prison outfit. Other options could be Lindsay Lohan desperately searching for a fix, the Obama girl, or Michael Vick dragging a dead dog behind him on a leash.
This type of costume can work out extremely well. Unfortunately, it can also completely fail if other people are not able to recognize you easily. If you do not naturally look anything like the celebrity that you are trying to dress as, you will need to invest a lot of effort into your make up and hair so you can make the costume believable.
Not only that, but you need to be sold out to the idea of portraying this person. That means acting like they would act, talking like they would talk, and in general becoming that person for the duration of the party. (Or at least until the judging is done!)
You need to choose a costume based off of a person that you will be able to imitate comfortably. For example, if you normally dress quite conservatively, but you decide to go to a Halloween party dressed as Britney Spears wearing one of her skimpy outfits, you will need to seriously think about whether or not you will be able to act in character comfortably. The same goes if your body is dramatically different from the celebrity you plan to dress like.
If you are going as a couple, just be sure and not do what everyone else has done before. Originality wins, particularly in couples contests!
Make sure you have some fun! That's the bottom line here in all of this. If you come up with a great costume but aren't enjoying both the process and the contest, then what's the point?
Now's the time to start planning your Halloween costumes for this year. Don't wait until the good ones are all sold out. Get plenty of fun costume ideas on the Get In Costume website, where you can also get a free copy of my report "The Family Guide To Halloween Safety." Visit http://www.getincostume.com for more information.