# Prizes



## tinafromidaho (May 8, 2008)

I like the food contest idea


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## offmymeds (May 26, 2010)

For the food contest you could do a basket filled with cute Halloween cup towels or an apron. orange mixing bowls, cookie cutters


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## dawnski (Jun 16, 2012)

Guests might appreciate a bottle of wine. Buy Dollar store mini skeletons and some Halloween colored ribbon to make it look nice. Yellow Tail is a good but inexpensive wine, allowing you to have several prizes without breaking the bank. You could spray paint the skeletons to differentiate between the two types of prizes.


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## offmymeds (May 26, 2010)

I've also bought the wine glasses from dollar tree and added one of those individual little wine servings in them. Not bad for about a 3 dollar prize


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## Jenn&MattFromPA (Sep 4, 2013)

Maybe a Halloween door sign or wreath ~ Dollar Tree has some nice signs this year. 

I like the idea of some Halloween or fall dish towels, and you could add a box of cake mix & a tub of orange icing or the like to it. Maybe some orange & black sprinkles too - Target often has this kind of thing in their $1 Spot. 

Maybe a couple of Halloween mugs (Home Goods & TJ Maxx have great ones for $5 or less) with a bag of coffee or seasonal hot chocolate. The Tuesday Morning stores near me are actually selling green "monster" hot chocolate mix, so maybe that kind of thing will be in other stores too. 

A couple of boxes of Halloween-themed cereals could be fun! Tie them together with a big bow from Dollar Tree Halloween ribbon. 

You might find some Halloween movies inexpensively at Target - sometimes they offer them for $5 or $10. If you go to Dollar Tree, you could buy the plastic Popcorn containers (classic red & white stripes), add a bag or two of microwave popcorn & the movie. That would be a good prize!

If you have friends who like beer, some liquor stores will allow you to make your own 6 pack so you can choose a bunch of pumpkin, fall or Halloween-themed brews. I always like these because it's fun to try something new without having to commit to a whole 6-pack in case you don't like it. 

Okay, hope any of these help!


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## CherryBrandy79 (Nov 20, 2013)

We usually have a costume contest.. Categories we have are
Scariest
Sexiest
Funniest 
Most Original 
and something that goes with our theme
This year it is best Ghostly costume.

We have ballots that let everyone pick their favorite and if there is a tie we usually are the tie breakers

As for Prized we do some kind of trophy and a $5 gift card and some box candy.

The food contest sounds fun...I agree with what everyone is saying. 

We are doing a silent auction/raffle this year and that is the kind of things we are getting.


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## DogRedScottie (Aug 22, 2016)

Fun and FUNNY trophies?


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## dbruner (Aug 23, 2012)

I usually do a gift bag with pumpkin themed food (pop tarts, oreos, etc.) a halloween dvd (usually $5 or less; Hocus Pocus, Halloween) , a scented candle and and a halloween pea dispenser. I like the idea of a dish towel or mug too. You could put candy corn or creepy cloth in the mug. Most everyone likes starbucks gift cards too, and they usually have some fall decorated ones out by October.


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## dbruner (Aug 23, 2012)

"pea" in last post was supposed to be "Pez"


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## BiggieShawty (Aug 31, 2010)

I have done a food contest in conjunction with the costume contest. I change the categories each year, but usually stick to 4 categories. I have done wine as gifts and purchased halloween theme wines from World Market. For the last couple years I have been gifting craft beer (6 pack, 12 pack to the couples winner). There are tons of different fall, or pumpkin beers at our local market (Kroger). Typically the beers are 8-11 dollars so not terribly expensive. Having prizes has really upped the game and people go way out with the costumes. I post the categories before the party so they can prepare the costume for the category they want to compete in.


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## DogRedScottie (Aug 22, 2016)

Typical Categories: 
Scariest
Funniest 
Sexist 
Best couple
Best Super-hero/heroine 
Most original 
Cutest 
Best face painting 
Best homemade costume 
Top prize best of show

More Original Categories: 
Best suited for person 
Best match for Party Theme 
Most elaborate, Best concept 
Least recognizable
Weirdest Super hero/heroine

Weird Categories: 
Biggest costume
Smallest costume 
Most paint used 
Most revolting
Bloodiest costume 
Best DEAD thing
Most likely to get arrested
Requiring most explanation 
Most technologically advanced


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## MikeinMunich (Sep 10, 2013)

When I have a lot of time I will go to Goodwill and buy old trophies, deconstruct them a bit and then glue odds and ends I find at the dollar store OR use doll heads and things. I think it makes the awards more special. However, with less time I hope for the best. Last year I found glass skulls filled with Appletini Mix (puke) that looked great and were only 5€ a piece soooo. 20€ and all my awards were solved and my guests loved them. 

This year I found emplty glass skull cups at the euroshop for 1 euro a piece and have the opportunity for more prizes at a fraction of the cost. Will post them later as I don't know what to fill them with. 

Here are some of my old prizes.

Categories were typically best costume, best couple, best makeup, scariest and then I also have a bake off where guests who might not be good at costumes but good at other things can win prizes. It's all silly fun in the end but people seem to like it!


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## kab (Oct 13, 2010)

My costume categories are: Best Overall, Best Couple, Sexiest, Funniest and WTF?. In the past I have given horror movies and wine as prizes. I always try to match the prize with the category, which was fun trying to find wine or movies to match (ex. Sexiest = bottle of Menage a Trois). Though, this year I am struggling because I wanted to do something out the box. 

I like your food contest idea. For the prize, maybe a gift card to a restaurant or gift basket that contains all the ingredients for one of your favorite recipes.


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## Abs10 (Sep 25, 2016)

For our costume contest we are doing a nice bottle of wine, nice bottle of whiskey, and 6 pack of good beer. We will let the first place person choose what they want. Then the second place picks out of the two remaining items. Our friends like to drink. Haha


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## natascha (Jul 21, 2004)

I like lottery tickets as prizes/part of a prize.


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## MikeinMunich (Sep 10, 2013)

Hi Everyone,

Just a quick question for you all as a matter of opinion. I found these skull glasses at the Dollar Store this year (or euro shop for me) and instantly knew they were my prizes this year. 6 Bucks for 6 glass skulls and done. My problem I'm having is I don't know what to fill them with or how to present them - any ideas? Glitter would be cool but too expensive (Glitter is really expensive in Germany strangely enough), liquid doesn't work because there is a straw and I think I'm going to have to resort to old faithful - candy. Just wanted to pose the question and see if anyone had any ideas to fill or present. Thanks in advance!


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## offmymeds (May 26, 2010)

Those are great MikeinMunich! I think candy is fine, you could do Orange & brown M & M's or candy corn. or you could put some fancy tea bags or small gift cards for ice cream or starbucks. I would tie a bow around the top and hang some fake spiders or skeletons off of them. 

Great find!


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## Rowsdower (Oct 7, 2016)

I'm going big with prizes this year, at least big for someone with my limited budget. I'm trying to make all my prizes sort of relevant to the category itself. For example, for the Scariest prize I picked up a complete works of Edgar Allan Poe book, and a spooky little decoration, in addition to the candy, popcorn, and scary movie. For my Best Costume category, I picked up an assortment of fun Halloween items including a soft, orange faux-fur blanket, jar full of Halloween truffles, decorations, movies, and so on.

I also found picking a color scheme kind of helped narrow down my choices. For the Sexiest category, you could stick to red and black so even if the prizes aren't humongous or anything, it'll look so much more put together when they all match.

Side note- Found the coolest thing at Hot Topic yesterday. They have a miniature copy of the Tell-Tale Heart that came with a little heart that actually would beat when you pressed it. It was the coolest.


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## PSULarryO (Oct 20, 2016)

We do Best/Sexiest/Scariest/etc... Costume Ribbons that you can get via Oriental Trading or a box Halloween store. We then attach them to mini-bottles of liquor (including Crystal Head Vodka) and/or small treat bags and announce the winners at the party before people leave in large numbers.


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