# Costume Winners



## paigebeasley (Oct 17, 2007)

How do you guys determine who wins the costume prizes? 

I am thinking about setting up a table with strips of paper and a fishbowl, but I'm worried that not everyone will participate. 

Any ideas?


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## Rikki (Aug 14, 2006)

Last year I made a ballot box and ballots with the categories I wanted and instructions to vote by costume description, not the person's name. At midnight we got everyone's attention and told them to go vote. We made a few more announcements before tallying up the ballots. I believe that everyone participated. I will be doing it the same way this year.


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## CMGhost (Oct 14, 2007)

I was thinking the same thing, but what would happen if each person voted for themselves... not that it will happen, but it could.


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## OMGDan (Sep 28, 2006)

Just make it a rule that you can't vote for yourself. Pretty sure everyone would respect it. Unless your friends are douchebags haha.


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## gennifyr (Aug 22, 2006)

We have a ballot box. Everyone votes and our guests are mature enough not to vote for themselves.


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## Rikki (Aug 14, 2006)

As far as I know, only one person voted for themself last year.


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## RedSonja (Sep 18, 2004)

I just hand out strips of paper and pencils right about the time we're going to vote. I announce to each group of people that they have to vote for their fave costume and they can't vote for themselves or for me.

I give them about 5 minutes and then collect them & tally the votes. Seems to work fairly well. It's always my favorite part of the night!


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## LV Scott T (Aug 14, 2007)

We also do ballots. They are pre-printed with the 4 categories: Cheesiest, Sexiest, Best Couple/Group, and Best Overall. We tell everyone to write down a name, if known, otherwise the costume, and please be very specific, since there may be duplicate costumes (especially this year, arrrg!).

Just as a heads-up - a lot of people leave the party right after the winners are announced and the trophies are presented, so don't do it too early. Since our party starts at 8:00 and usually runs until 2:00 or 2:30, we usually have the contest between 11:30 & midnight.


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## peyote2004 (Oct 12, 2007)

We give everyone a ballot, with the 3 catagories on it. They write the name(or description) of the people they want to vote for on it, and place the ballot in a big pumpkin cookie jar. My roommate reads out the ballots (survivor style), while I tally them up. Then the winners are presented their trophies, and photos are taken.


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## OKHaunting (Sep 6, 2007)

We also do pre-printed ballots with each category listed and literally walk around handing one to everyone and put the ballot box right in the middle of everything. We are also starting a costume stroll/catwalk this year (an idea we borrowed from this forum  ) where everyone introduces themselves and their costume and parades amongst the party goers. Hopefully this will insure everyone votes and knows what name they want to write down.


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## Frankie's Girl (Aug 27, 2007)

First year for a party, so DH and I are going to be the judges. We are only having best male and best female costume winners this year, but we'll see how it goes...


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## peyote2004 (Oct 12, 2007)

I don't like being the judge... so I prefer to let the guests vote. Also... by letting the guests vote, we are eligible to win too.... and it's fun to see which costumes are peoples favorites.


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## Embalmer71 (Sep 25, 2007)

peyote2004 said:


> I don't like being the judge... so I prefer to let the guests vote. Also... by letting the guests vote, we are eligible to win too.... and it's fun to see which costumes are peoples favorites.


We also let the guests vote. I feel that it makes the guests more interactive. Additionally, we (the hosts) are not elligible for the costume contest. We give gift certificates and trophies to the winners, and we have four catagories: Best, Scariest, Funniest, and Sexiest. This year is the first time we are having multiple catagories, so I suppose that it would be possible to win two or more of them i.e. Best and another catagory. We'll see.


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## paigebeasley (Oct 17, 2007)

OKHaunting, I really like the idea of having a catwalk/stroll. I may do that next year, I don't think it will work this year as I don't have any room for it!


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## wilbret (Oct 8, 2004)

I think my guests would shoot me if we did the costume parade thing, but then again by that time, my guests aren't thinking about much. ;-)

We have had a ballot box in the past, and it works out fine. One problem though, you need to pick a time to award the winner. We typically have people gone by the time that the awards are given and then some people see that as 'the end of the night.'


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## paigebeasley (Oct 17, 2007)

I did a ballot box this year and framed a little note about how to vote and also mentioned that the winner would be announced at 12. I think it will work out. The main people I care about are spending the night and will party all night, the others can leave at 12 if they want. No big deal.

Yeah, wilbret...I think my guests would shoot me as well.


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## OKHaunting (Sep 6, 2007)

wilbret said:


> I think my guests would shoot me if we did the costume parade thing, but then again by that time, my guests aren't thinking about much. ;-).'


LOL! A decent number of our guests know each other and are fairly fun spirited, so I think it is going to work out well for us. We're hoping it will also loosen up some of the shy folks a bit as well. Of course, we'll wait just long enough into the evening for a couple drinks to kick in before we start, but early enough that folks shouldn't be leaving yet. I'll take the lead, followed by my wife so folks get what is going on. However, we plan on us starting it off with a classic Halloween type song, but then have the music set to quickly switch over to Right Said Fred's "I'm too sexy" as soon as the guests get started LOL. Should be fun.


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## peyote2004 (Oct 12, 2007)

Embalmer71 said:


> We also let the guests vote. I feel that it makes the guests more interactive. Additionally, we (the hosts) are not elligible for the costume contest. We give gift certificates and trophies to the winners, and we have four catagories: Best, Scariest, Funniest, and Sexiest. This year is the first time we are having multiple catagories, so I suppose that it would be possible to win two or more of them i.e. Best and another catagory. We'll see.


My friends have very different tastes in wine, etc... mostly they just like the trophies, We're all big coffee drinkers, so I give gift certificates for Tim Hortons ($10/award) ... ... if my roommate or I win, we just add our gift certificates to the other prizes, or set them aside to buy coffee for who ever stays over.

Last year we had 2 awards (most original & creepiest), and the same person won both. This year she won again for most original ... She said she felt bad for winning both last year, so she dressed down her costume this year, but she still won. ... LOL ... it just proves what I always tell her... she's meant to stand out )


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