# Costume contest voting



## dbruner (Aug 23, 2012)

I make out ballots ahead of time for best male, best female, best couple and most original and pass them out a couple of hours into the party. Then I tally them. I would like to have less generic categories if anyone has any ideas.


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## dbruner (Aug 23, 2012)

Everyone's usually happy to vote.


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## OpalBeth (Jul 16, 2013)

Dbruner Maybe...

Best home made
Best over all
Sexiest
Funniest 
Scariest


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## Shadowbat (Sep 27, 2009)

We always kept it simple. Best, scariest, funniest. That always seemed to cover everyone. We had ballot boxes for each category and everyone simply put a name on a slip of paper and put in the box.


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## Tannasgach (Nov 1, 2009)

We usually have 30-40 people and I've run my costume contest two ways:

One is a ballot box; the only thing I don't like about this is I have to stop what I'm doing and go tally up all the votes. I'm usually a little toasty by this point and this can be pretty time consuming, especially if the votes are close.

Two is to have the voting done as a group activity. I gather everyone together for the voting and tell them the categories - "scariest, funniest, most original, and best couple". I say they can either nominated themselves or someone else, the only rule is if you win one category you can't enter another contest. I'm not above calling someone up myself if I think they have a great costume perfect for one of the categories.  Then I place my hand on each person's head, "Let's hear it for Batman, here we have a Zombie nurse, etc.... " and each winner is determined by applause. I like this idea best because it involves everyone, usually gets a lot of laughs (some people really ham it up) and it's much quicker. If I can't determine the winner between two guests because the applause level sounded similar, then I hold another contest with just those two people and say we have a faceoff and have them clap for each one. (There's no ties, only one winner).


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## ScaredyCat (Sep 9, 2011)

Last year I found these cool coffin boxes at Target. I think they were actually intended as party utensil or napkin holders, but I used them as costume contest ballot boxes. They each had a little bat shaped cut-out at the top that was the perfect size for slipping in a ballot slip. I made tags for each one identifying which category they represented and left instructions on the table stating that everyone was to submit one name or costume for each category. It worked great because people could vote whenever they wanted throughout the night. When it came time to count, the votes were already separated by category. I will definitely do this again this year. It saved me a lot of time. Here is a picture. I hope you are able to see it well enough.


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## natascha (Jul 21, 2004)

Last year I played Tempt Your Fate, and a couple of the Fates were choosing best costume. Liked that because I didn't have to stop and tally or find someone to do it.


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## ravenworks69 (Sep 27, 2009)

We break it down by age groups. 0-5, 6-11, 12-17, 18 and up. There're are 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places per age group with trophies, and all participants getting a treat bag.

A few rules are very loosely enforced. I'll admit I'm a bit of a snob with this kind of thing. You need to have a costume of some type to participate , this is first and foremost. Just a mask and street clothes is frowned upon. You don't have to go all out but please make an effort. Store bought is fine, home made has a special place in my heart though. Zombie mask is fine but zombie with face prosthetics wins every time. I also judge on originality. Brand new Batman costume works great but to the kid that made his Batman utility belt out of duct tape, toilet paper tubes, and tin foil, you got my heart.

Since these things can turn into a popularity contest I usually do all the judging by myself. Parents know their kid will get a fair shake from me and because I'm a Halloween nut (and they know it), my judgement is trusted. In a sense it also forces the parents to kick their inner imagination in the butt.

As with most things its always important to tell those who didn't "win" that they did a great job and encourage their efforts for next year.

Marc V


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## Jack'sEckstein (Oct 16, 2012)

You can decide how you want to do it. For me I will do best overall costume, sexiest costume, scariest, best female costume and best make costume. The times that I have had specific themes like my dark Alice in wonderland theme I switched up the categories. But it's really up to you and how you want to do voting and such


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