# What do you do for costume prizes??



## mt4106

Last year was our first party. We had a costume contest but only awarded Best Costume with a custom trophy. 

This year, I'm wanting to have Sexiest, Funniest, and Best Costume categories. I'm wanting to award little prize baskets (movie, popcorn, etc).

Here's my trouble.... do I award all three categories with the same baskets and trophies or do I do something different for Best? Would it be wrong to only present Best with the trophy and a basket and the other 2 categories with just a basket or do you think I should have trophies made for them too? 

Help!


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## DeadTed

My opinion:

"Best" should get a basket with a trophy and the others should just get a trophy. Or you can even do that, but give the other winners a single prize. Alcohol is always nice - wine and such. Just make sure the prizes are unisex.


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## Rikki

I am giving out "Best Overall", "Funniest", "Most Original", and "Best Couple" awards. "Best Overall" gets a nice trophy and a prize basket (Halloween special edition DVD, 6 pack of Pumpkin Ale, Monster Mash Mix Jelly Bellies). The other winners will get small trophies and a horror movie DVD.


















I got the idea for the small trophies from someone on this forum last year. The large trophy came from Home Goods for $10. These aren't final versions, though. I'm still trying to get the right look for the paper - I need to try it out on parchment paper.


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## wilbret

We started out giving prizes... and may again... but since the party costs a fortune, we opted to have some real plaques made and the winners get their name added each year like the Stanley Cup.


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## tallula_g

I'm giving out prize baskets with Vampire wine, Dark Candles, a vampire movie DVD and misc. little stuff and ribbons I made. Everyone is getting a basket but with different candles, wine, etc in it. I like to put this prizes into my budget because people spend so much on costumes I like to give nice prizes.

My categories are: Best, Sexiest, Funniest, Most Original, Most Authentic, Scariest and Best Couple. I also made an extra basket to raffle off.

Get stuff at the dollar store, DVD's at Wal Mart ($5.00 to $7.50), etc. People just love to get a prize!! (They don't care what it is).


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## natascha

I think either way you go would be Great. People like the braging rights. I know if I won a trophy for Halloween I would display it, but for some people it is something they really don't want out around the house.

I usually try to have the prize "fit" the theme. This year we are doing a Murder Mystery and the Murder weapon is apple seeds so the prizes for costumes Creepiest, Coolest, Scariest, Humorous, Best, and Original will be a Ribbon and a kit to make Carmel Apples.

Last year we did Hollywood and the prizes were for Best Costume, Best Hair, and Best Makeupand we had Wooden Oscars "Karloff's" and a Bucket of Microwave popcorm, Scary Movie, 2 Large Movie sized Candy one Chocolate and Sugary, and a deck of Monster Movie cards.


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## mt4106

Rikki said:


> I am giving out "Best Overall", "Funniest", "Most Original", and "Best Couple" awards. "Best Overall" gets a nice trophy and a prize basket (Halloween special edition DVD, 6 pack of Pumpkin Ale, Monster Mash Mix Jelly Bellies). The other winners will get small trophies and a horror movie DVD.
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> I got the idea for the small trophies from someone on this forum last year. The large trophy came from Home Goods for $10. These aren't final versions, though. I'm still trying to get the right look for the paper - I need to try it out on parchment paper.


Great ideas from everyone! Thanks so much for your input!

Rikki: Where did you find the little tombstones for your trophies? They look awesome!


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## Rikki

Thanks! I actually bought those on clearance last year but I saw that Walmart has them again this year. They are like $1 a piece normal price. 
Oh, and they look much better with the parchment paper!


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## cheepi6504

Rikki- could you post a picture/instructions of you're trophies again? i'm trying to decide if I should order some real ones or make my own. how much did you pay?


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## Vancouver

wilbret said:


> We started out giving prizes... and may again... but since the party costs a fortune, we opted to have some real plaques made and the winners get their name added each year like the Stanley Cup.


u know about our holy grail....most impressive

good idea re the plaques but how do u add names to the plaque without it looking cheesy on the night of the party?


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## Mz Skull

Love the tombstones..........I'm going to wal-mart today and make mine. Thanks for the idea........I was stumped this yr.


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## Rikki

cheepi6504 said:


> Rikki- could you post a picture/instructions of you're trophies again? i'm trying to decide if I should order some real ones or make my own. how much did you pay?


The tombstones were $1 a piece at Walmart (I got them on clearance for $.50) and I already had the parchment paper. I just measured the indented space on the tombstone (length, widest width, and width of the top and bottom), then made an outline of that shape in Photoshop and added my text. I printed them all on one page and cut them out. They had to be trimmed length-wise a bit more before they would fit properly into the space. I attached them with glue dots.

The big trophy I bought at Home Goods for $10. I really liked the looks of it but wanted it to say what it was for. I thought pretty hard about how I was going to do that and finally decided that it would be easiest to just attach a cardstock tag.

Not much time invested in the whole thing, or money for that matter! I'd say about $12 for all four trophies - including the parchment paper, glue dots, and ink!


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## pad113

If you go back in the archives you will see lots of ideas for trophys (self made) Thats whee I got my ideas from. So I just buy wooden candlestick at dollar store and attach a halloween something on top and then paint the whole thing gold. We used to give a trophy to each category but now just give to the Overall Best. 

Our categories are: Scariest, Best couple, best handmade, funniest, sexiest, cutest and overall best. 

The last few years my daughter and I sign up for Columbia House DVD club and get 6 DVD's for .49 each and thats what we give as our prizes. People seem to really like it. We usually do scary/horror movies for the costumes and movies to match our theme for the game. This year its a Pirate theme.


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## rescuedogmama

We're just doing a trophy and gift basket for the overall winner. My husband found one at a store that says best costume. We're putting in a bottle of wine, a scary movie, and some candy. Nothing fancy, but enough to be worth it.


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## Handy_Haunter

For our party this year we are giving ribbons to the 'best' , 'most original', 'funniest', etc. But the 'best' is also getting a copy of 'Zombie Fluxx' (The original Fluxx is a card game that is very popular among my group of friends and 'Zombie Fluxx' just came out in time for Halloween).


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## LV Scott T

Trophies are done!


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## tallula_g

HA, HA THOSE ARE GREAT!! Looks like something I would have done with my Barbie's back in the day, that and give them mohawks!! LOVE the siamese twins and the cheesiest category.


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## Rikki

Too funny LV Scott T! They look great!


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## Embalmer71

Last year for the best costume we gave away a gift certificate to a nice local restaurant plus a trophy . This year we are also having funniest, scariest, and sexiest. I'm thinking of giving mall certificates for scariest and funniest and a gift certificate to Victoria's Secret for the sexiest. The other catagories also get trophies. This year we are also having an award for the Drunkest Guest. That person will get a gift basket which includes flavored coffee, bottled water, and Advil. 

BTW Nice trophies, Scott


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## darkness

does anyone have any links to printable costume awards? my friends will not appreciate the trouble of making awesome trophies (if any of them dress up) so i just want to print out some certificates. thanks


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## Ryadread

Haha Awesome Trophy's LV Scott T!

As for my guests...I'm putting so much energy into the decorating I just don't have it in me to also make the Trophy's this year. Sooo.....I took the easy way out. lol

I ordered these Medals for the winners. http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o239/Rya_album/Halloween%202007/CostumePrizeMedals.jpg

I guess I shoulda wiped off the fingerprints before I took the picture...damned good quality camera. haha

Anyway, I only paid around $3 a piece for them + shipping. Ended up being around $13. The engraving was free unless I went over 50 characters. I wasn't expecting them to be as good of quality that they ended up being. They are good heavy medal. The only down side is the pumpkin "campie" look. They didn't have anything vampire'ish to use...but these will do. My friends wont care. lol The winners will also be receiving a basket with Vampire Wine, Godiva Chocolates, a Black Candle and a horror movie.


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## weaselphd

*Trophies*

I have ordered the same trophies for the past 3 years. this place i get them from does an awesome job for the money.... roughly 5 bucks each including the engraving! the larger one was more :0) but thats for my parties most renown event... the power-tool pumpkin carving contest...



















http://www.riherds.com/halloween/?cart=d31cf11fe728fd67d26a9fea6c78e18d


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## peyote2004

Ryadread said:


> ... I ordered these Medals for the winners. http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o239/Rya_album/Halloween%202007/CostumePrizeMedals.jpg
> 
> I guess I shoulda wiped off the fingerprints before I took the picture...damned good quality camera. haha
> 
> Anyway, I only paid around $3 a piece for them + shipping. Ended up being around $13. The engraving was free unless I went over 50 characters. I wasn't expecting them to be as good of quality that they ended up being. ...



Where did you order them from?


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## Ryadread

Peyote2004 ~ I ordered the medals from Trophydepot.com. They were in my hands within 5 days.


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## marked1234

*Pumpkins*

We gave away full size craved pumpkins and we made the winners take them home and throw it away there! HAHA


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## peyote2004

My party was on Saturday... and I forgot to take pictures of the trophies before we gave them out ... but here's the winners with the trophies.

the mummy trophie was for best Zombie, the spider (on the guys head) was for creepiest costume, and the bat was for the most origional... I couldn't fing my left over trophie supplies from last year, so I made these the morning of the party. from odds & ends I had laying around.


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## punkpumpkin

LV Scott T said:


> Trophies are done!


I just came across this post from a pinterest page. I love this mummified trophy idea! I had a question though, how did you adhere them to the wood so well? Are they held up by a wood peg in the back? Did you cutt off their feet and adhere them to it with hot glue?


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## Lil Spook

My take on the Barbie doll awards from a few years ago.


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## Lil Spook

don't forget the dollar store skelly awards!!

super fun


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## punkpumpkin

Lil Spook said:


> don't forget the dollar store skelly awards!!
> 
> super fun


I love both of these! What a great idea!


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## offmymeds

These were my Dollar store ones


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## missmandylion

I could've sworn I've got better pictures of the trophies I've done in the past, but this is the best I could find.
1st
These are from a couple of years ago - they are cheap plastic skulls hot glued on some wooden plaque holders from the craft store. Best costume had a foam crown (also found at the craft store) glued on top. Funniest had a foam clown nose hot glued and scariest had a steak knife I'd bought from goodwill stuck in the top with some hot glue "blood" that I colored in with a sharpie. They were a good size and pretty inexpensive to put together.

















Then last year, with my CarnEVIL theme, I did hot glued small skellys - I think I got them from Party City. One for best couple, best in theme & funniest. They were hot glued to trophy bases from the craft store, bought some small disks that I glued to the hands of the skellys and then used some printer friendly gold labels, with the awards name printed on them and out them on the disks. I only have a couple of photos with the winners. If I can find some photos of just the trophies I'll be sure to post them here.








^^ Best Couple








^^ Best in Theme


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## missmandylion

Okay, found some slightly better photos, of 2 of my trophies from last year. I think I got these mini skellys at Party City? But I've seen them in a bunch of places. They are about a foot tall.


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## offmymeds

That nobody helped me award is HYSTERICAL!!!!


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## psox16

I spray paint mini pumpkins gold and give away the Golden Pumpkin Award to the costume contest winners. I also give a gift card, or bottle of wine to make things more exciting. I have the typical categories (funniest, sexiest, scariest, etc). The award ceremony is one of the highlights of the evening.


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## punkpumpkin

These are not completely done yet, but here are my awards for this year! I just need to write the award names on the base. I have six categories. 
Best Over All Costume. ( The skeleton on top of the skulls)
Best Theme Costume ( our theme is fairy tales this year, so I did the witch with an apple) 
Most Original Costume ( the skeleton doing a slit with wings)
Sexiest Costume ( Skeleton on the stripper poll)
Best Couple Costume ( Two skeletons kissing)
Scariest Costume (Skeleton with head off)


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## ChrisW

Man, these are really clever.
Our awards are prizes we bought at clearance the previous year.


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## DJ Lantz

Here are the trophies I made this year.


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## ichasiris

I make fancy goody bags for prizes. Usually I have a Starbucks themed bag, last year I had a themed bag that was stuff from my work, lol, I work in a gym, so it was like a water bottle and lanyard and protein bars, and the other prize was an oversized Rice Crispy Treat.

People just LOVE free stuff.

Usually, I do trivia first, so whoever wins that gets first prize pick, so they pick which goody bag they want. After that we vote on best costume of the night, so they get to pick from the remaining two big prizes, and the last game (it varies), that person gets the remaining prize.

This year I am doing another Starbucks goody bag (five dollar gift card, sbux espresso cup, sbux candies and mini liquor bottle), and the other two prize packages are undecided so far! I better get on it!


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## matrixmom

Last year I had bought some tervis cups on sale for around $6. Needless to say, everyone played all the games once they found out what the prizes were!


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## Roxycat6

I go basic- bottles of liquor and wine for Best, Most Original, Sexiest, Funniest, Scariest and Best Couple. It's pricey but worth it because people really go all out on costumes. We have about 65 or so people. I get the little ribbons from Party City and just hang them on the bottles.


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## HalloweenCottage

Why not brew some seasonal festive drink yourself and give a bottle to each winner? If you search for 'smoking bishop' on Google you'll see what I mean. It's a fabulous drink, just right for warming yourself and your family up on cold autumn/winter evenings.


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