# Costume Contest - Prize ideas needed!



## LilsheDevil

I buy my awards here...Halloween Holiday Trophies, Plaques and Medallions
they are pretty cheap in price,also have you checked out oriental trading or even Halloween Candy, Snack Size Candy Bars and more from Groovy Candies

hope this helps!


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## Rikki

I give out awards for Best Overall Costume, Funniest, Most Original, and Best Couple. They all got trophies - Best Costume had a much nicer trophy. 









I gave a horror movie DVD to each of the category winners.










The Best Overall winner got a prize basket with a more expensive DVD (Halloween 2 disc special edition), Halloween colored Jelly Bellies, and a 6 pack of Pumpkin Ale.









I also gave out a prize basket for the winner of the pumpkin carving/decorating contest. It contained a bunch of small Frankenstein monster decorations. I'll do that one more like the Best Costume basket this year, though.


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## melissa

The two times I won a costume contest, the prizes were interesting trinkets the hostess had found at estate sales, thrift shops, etc. You could start checking out thrift stores now, do it on a regular basis, and not spend a lot of $.


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## Magickbean

Do you guys have Thorntons over there? I always head up to Thorntons chocolate shop a couple of weeks before the party to buy one of their huge Halloween Chocolate gift bags and two smaller gift boxes for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd costume prize baskets. I also pick up an extra few chocolate bars and lollies to put into the Quiz prize basket and the pumpkin carving prize basket. They always go down a treat and they look beautiful!

I usually put a DVD in the 1st place basket (last year it was the classic Halloween!) and a pin-on rosette badge that they wear for the rest of the evening. In all the prize baskets I put little trinkets like Halloween pens, hair accessories, skeleton gloves, stickers, skull shot glasses, goblets with sweeties in, oh and I usually go to the Disney store to get some cool NBC memorabilia like Jack Skellington notebooks, tumblers, mugs, keyrings etc. Oh and last year I popped some glowsticks and glow necklaces in too - they are always popular!


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## Magickbean

Oh and P.S - Rikki - your prize baskets are amazing!!! :O


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## melissa

Oh! This gives me an idea to track down ribbon in Halloween colors, and make some rosettes to go along with any prize packages. (They aren't that hard -- if anyone wants directions, let me know.)


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## BadTableManor

Great thread!
Check out Haunted Hot Sauce's site. They have a bunch of different flavors, and various sized bottles.
Have fun!


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## tallula_g

I gave out gift baskets and homemade ribbons last year. I gave them out to:
Best Costume, Most Original, Scariest, Sexiest, Best Couple, Most Authentic and Funniest. I also made an extra basket and had a raffle. Anyone who didn't win a prize got a raffle ticket and we picked a winner. I also made a small bag of cd's and goodes for the best karaoke performance and the Best Costume winner got a gift basket and a bag full of pumpkin carving tools. I also gave out a pair of sunglasses with the nose and mustache and pin that said Party Pooper to the worst costume (aka whoever didn't wear one!).

My baskets:


































I made each basket go with the category, all were vampire themed but had different movies, candle sets, toys, etc.


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## tallula_g

Oh yeah, Selz scour the $1.00 stores when it's Halloween, alot of the stuff in my baskets came from the dollar store, big lots and targets $1.00 bins. The Vampire Wine is also relatively cheap (about $8.00-$10.00 per bottle). Everyone liked getting the wine.

Rikki, love your prizes and trophy's they are beautiful!


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## LV Scott T

Last year we gave out trophies we made for about $5 apiece. They are made from: Cheap doll(s) from the dollar store, wood base & dowel, first-aid tape, gold spray paint and green ribbon.
http://www.starkmadness.com/photos/albums/userpics/10001/Trophies_5.JPG


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## tallula_g

BadTableManor said:


> Great thread!
> Check out Haunted Hot Sauce's site. They have a bunch of different flavors, and various sized bottles.
> Have fun!


Thanks for the link to the Haunted Hot Sauce. My friend wants to have a zombie themed party and this would be a great grand prize!


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## Suzeelili

i love all these gifts! 

lv scott, LOL!
thanks for some great ideas everyone


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## halloweenbarb

*prize ideas*

for costume prizes, we make something that looks like a diploma . frames with a ribbon and gold stamp on it to make it look 'official'. that way they can hang it in their house or office all year long. Our guests loved it last year. We also make up 'diplomas for years of service for our actors and special diplomas for behind the scenes helpers for people (mothers) who keep things in order while actors are coming in for breaks and snacks.


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## HallowSkeen

tallula_g - did you make your award ribbons or buy them someplace? They look awesome! Love the prize baskets too. Very creative ideas.


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## tallula_g

thanks HallowSkeen, I actually made the ribbons. You can get empty plastic pins at Wal-Mart. I think I ordered mine from Oriental Trading by the dozen. I printed up the category in my Print shop program and stuck them in the pins along with some glitter, then I just glued ribbon cut into loops and done! Pretty easy and cheap. The baskets were really fun to fill, I started buying stuff months in advance. I snagged those black baskets from Wal-Mart the day they put them out (which was 2 months before Halloween!)


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## selz

Wow guys, knew I could count on you all to give me some fab ideas!

Rikki - those awards are fab, they've got a homemade feel to them, did you buy or make 

Magickbean - I do have a nearby Thorntons, I'm not a million miles from you (well, you need to cross the Severn Bridge). I'm a Welshie  You've given me some fab ideas too - sweets!

I normally have two piniatas (can never spell that! LOL!), one for under 12's only, one for later in the night, adults only (sugar burst keeps everyone going well into the night then!). The prize giving would be later again, so more chocolatey goodness will go down well! I can always tart up the packaging on "normal" stuff too I suppose - I imagine black crepe paper bags filled with mini bars would look better than just a handful of bars! (Actually, thats what I do for the trick or treaters, wrap a handful of wrapped sweets and little toys in white crepe and write/stamp "scary" stuff all over it, no reason not to for the "grownups" LOL)

Awesome guys, thanks. Any other suggestions/pics/advice still welcomed though, it seems I'm not the only one finding this inspiring!


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## Rikki

Selz, mine are semi-homemade. The smaller ones are little tabletop tombstones with a piece of cardstock cut to fit in the indention. The larger one I saw at Home Goods and thought it would make an awesome trophy. So I bought it and then had to figure out where to attach the cardstock. I really liked it and am kicking myself for not buying a bunch of them last year. I'm hoping that they'll have them again so I won't have to find a new idea!


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## Caliban

Usually around Halloween Wal-Mart has horror DVDs for sale for $5.00 or less. They always make great cheap prizes. We also gave away lottery tickets and the king sized candy bars.


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## maleficent

How about assorted costume accessories? Boas, makeup, fangs, jewelry, nails, etc. Something they could possibly use for a costume the next year.


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## natascha

I forgot that I bought some of the tabletop tombstones, that Rikki used, last year when they were clearanced for this purpose. 

Now if I can only remember how many of them I bought!


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## AngelEye

We did prizes last year, they went over great so I am sure that we will do them again this year. We went out and bought about 5 DVDs that were horror flicks (And Batman Begins because it was on sale.. and it just plain rocks.. lol) But we also bought 1 $20 gift card to Target and 2 $10 gift cards for the runners up. So the most voted for costume winner received their choice of 2 DVDs and the $20 gift card. The 2nd place winner got 2 DVDs and a $10 gift card, and the 3rd place winner got 1 DVD and a $10 gift card. Prizes totaled somewhere around $100, maybe a bit less. But it got people involved and excited. It was worth it. But now... I don't have that awesome money making job anymore so I don't think I can drop 2K on this year's party.  

Hope that helped though!


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## tallula_g

AngelEye said:


> We did prizes last year, they went over great so I am sure that we will do them again this year. We went out and bought about 5 DVDs that were horror flicks (And Batman Begins because it was on sale.. and it just plain rocks.. lol) But we also bought 1 $20 gift card to Target and 2 $10 gift cards for the runners up. So the most voted for costume winner received their choice of 2 DVDs and the $20 gift card. The 2nd place winner got 2 DVDs and a $10 gift card, and the 3rd place winner got 1 DVD and a $10 gift card. Prizes totaled somewhere around $100, maybe a bit less. But it got people involved and excited. It was worth it. But now... I don't have that awesome money making job anymore so I don't think I can drop 2K on this year's party.
> 
> Hope that helped though!


AngelEye, That sounds like me, I dropped alot of money last year and now I don't make as much so I'm settling for planning my friends party I'm hoping to have my own again next year (gotta save up for a year!)


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## gennifyr

My dh made coffin boxes that were painted black, filled with burgundy fabric and a bottle of red wine and then tide with satin ribbon. The prizes were for best vampire, best slayer and best victim.


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## Elza

Wow, I love the mummied doll trophy's. Great Idea. I've been trying to come up with a prize/trophy for the person who solves the Murder Mystery I'm doing. I need to make one of Those! But - I think I'll corpse the doll! 

Thanks for the Idea!


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## LV Scott T

Elza said:


> Wow, I love the mummied doll trophy's. Great Idea. I've been trying to come up with a prize/trophy for the person who solves the Murder Mystery I'm doing. I need to make one of Those! But - I think I'll corpse the doll!
> 
> Thanks for the Idea!


You're welcome. They are the final results of several years of trial & error. We are actually going to be making this years' trophies this weekend.


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## elizabethjanee

>


EEP!
Where in the world did you get the vampire wine?!

Your baskets are gorgeous!


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## tallula_g

Thanks! I got the Vampire wine at Lee's Liquor in Las Vegas (I live close by) but they also sell it Cost Plus World Market. If you go to Welcome to Vampire.com they sell it online and also have a store locator. I just noticed that now they have Dracula wine! It went over really well and it is pretty cheap and tastes really good!


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## Handy_Haunter

gennifyr said:


> My dh made coffin boxes that were painted black, filled with burgundy fabric and a bottle of red wine and then tide with satin ribbon. The prizes were for best vampire, best slayer and best victim.


Thanks for the fantastic idea! I am doing a vamp themed party this year, and it never occured to me to break up the prizes into best vamp, slayer, and victim.


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## selz

Well, I've been doing some shopping, and have a few things to add into my collection. I'm trying to keep it as cheap as possible (as in as close to nothing as I can!) but found some bargain items!

In the local 99p store I got 3 large wicker baskets. I'll spray these black and they'll be perfect for the main 3 prizes! I also got 3 garden gargoyles (yes, 99p each!) which look pretty impressive for the price! I think I'll glue gems to the eyes to make them more sinister. For the kids hampers I got two "jelly cars" filled with glitter and bulging eyes. Total spend £7.92.

eBay is also providing me with Halloween on DVD for about £2.00, inc postage. Can't argue with that!

We're getting there!


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## JosieJo

A few years back I got an idea from here about some trophies. You get a wooden candle stick from joanns (they are around 2-3$), those small plastic pumpkin that look like smaller versions of the large ones for candy, gold spray paint and letter stickers. You glue the pumpkins to the candlestick and spray paint it gold. then you put the stickers on to read "best costume" or whatever you want. They ended up looking really cool and it was cheap to make. 

Last year we got a medium sized bottle of vodka for the grand prize of best costume and for worst costume we bought some nasty candy and odd things from dollar tree (tampons, mary janes, a spaghetti strainer, etc.) 

My guests were being a little unfair though and voted one of the hostesses best costume or putting people's names down who werent even there. Its hard to get them to take it somewhat seriously!


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## Halloween_Mom

*Mummy Trophy*

Sorry, I don't have a pic as of yet, but I bought mummy trophies from Ross' Dress for Less yesterday for $2.99 each. They are about 10" tall and they look like mummies only the face shows and it is a "glow in the dark" skull head. They are on a stand and look just like a mummy trophy. There is a place on the front of the base to write or label make a name. Really cool!


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## mysterymaiden

Hey, Selz! If you like I would be willing to donate a murder mystery game gift certificate for the game of the winner's choice to your prize basket! If you're interested send me an email at [email protected]

I LOVE your prize baskets. I especially love the Vampire wine... I'm going to keep an eye out for that this year for my own prize baskets!


Leigh Clements
The Mystery Maiden
Shot In The Dark Mysteries.com


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## Handy_Haunter

mysterymaiden said:


> Hey, Selz! If you like I would be willing to donate a murder mystery game gift certificate for the game of the winner's choice to your prize basket! If you're interested send me an email at [email protected]
> 
> I LOVE your prize baskets. I especially love the Vampire wine... I'm going to keep an eye out for that this year for my own prize baskets!
> 
> 
> Leigh Clements
> The Mystery Maiden
> Shot In The Dark Mysteries.com


 I also am doing prize baskets after having seen Selz's. Does that offer of gift certificates extend to everyone? 

-handy_haunter


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## selz

mysterymaiden said:


> Hey, Selz! If you like I would be willing to donate a murder mystery game gift certificate for the game of the winner's choice to your prize basket! If you're interested send me an email at [email protected]
> 
> I LOVE your prize baskets. I especially love the Vampire wine... I'm going to keep an eye out for that this year for my own prize baskets!
> 
> 
> Leigh Clements
> The Mystery Maiden
> Shot In The Dark Mysteries.com


Wow, thats a really cool offer, thanks  only downside is I'm in the UK, so might be a bit awkward, but thanks so much for the offer! 



I have just put all of the prizes out on the table, and the baskets are in the garage in the process of being sprayed black. It's looking good 

Word is out about the date of our party, and that there are prizes for the best costumes, so I'm expecting a good show this year 

Thanks everyone for the ideas!


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## bbshop

How do you determine who should win the awards? Do you have a box and let your guests write in their favorites?


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## natascha

O.K I am sure lots of you have thought of this but I had a 'AhHa' moment.

I have been looking for Cheap baskets to Spray paint black for the Prize baskets and have not found any good sized ones for under $4.

In stead I bought Halloween Bowls...Duh, Found some cool ones for $1 and picked up the big clear plastic bags 2 for $1.

Like I said I Know most of you have already thought of this, but just in case there is someone out there like me who gets an idea in their head (Baskets gotta find Baskets) sometimes there is some other item that might work just as well if not better.


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## Rikki

Bbshop, that is exactly how I do the voting. I print up ballots on parchment paper with the different categories and set them out beside the ballot box. At midnight I announce that it's time to start the voting and that votes will be counted at 12:30.

I finally got my prize baskets together for this year. There's one for the Best Overall Costume winner and one for the Best Pumpkin. They consist of a book (Field Guide to Monsters in one, Pocket Book of Death in the other), a movie (holographic cover Carrie and Misery), a spiderweb pillar candle, a spiderweb candle holder, a bag of Monster Mash Jelly Bellies, and a bag of black and white striped candy sticks (blackberry flavor).


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## MHooch

I'm in kind of a rut when it comes to prizes, I'm a movie nut as well as a Halloween nut, so I usually go with movies for prizes. They always have something to do with the theme, like this year they will be 80's movies.


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## greenmother

We're doing a contest for the first time this year. I'm planning to do gift baskets too. I'm planning to do a mix of halloween sweets and some great seasonal Lakefront Brewery beers. I was going to get some vampire wine and black cat reisling, but I realized Pumpkin Lager and Oktoberfest would give me more bang for the buck and be more popular besides.

I still have to buy the booze and pick up baskets from the local goodwill which I will spray, time depending. I'll throw in some fake mice, bugs, vampire fangs, etc. that I've picked up as I did the halloween shopping this year. Horror movies and glow sticks are a great idea! I may have to make another stop at Wal-mart and the dollar store.

Our party is in less than a week. I better get my butt in gear!


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## lbelle3

These prizes look great. Great baskets, and i loved the mummy trophies! I also just found the Black Cat Reisling (my favorite kind of wine) and i LOVED it too!


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## LV Scott T

lbelle3 said:


> ... and i loved the mummy trophies!


Thanks! This year's are all done and waiting patiently on our mantel.


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## lv2haunt

I didn't go all out, I did better than our first year though. Last time I just did big bags of candy. This year I went to Kohl's, Gordmans, where ever you can find things on sale. this year I did a set of six shot glasses with six different single serve boozes, wine glasses with wine ringy things and a cheap bottle of wine, I picked up an adult game, I chose Fact or Crap because it was under 20, and then I did one Halloween themed one where I got a Halloween outdoor mat and a metal ghost that goes in the yard. Every thing was under 20, and mostly around 16. 
I love those gift baskets, did you say how much they cost?


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## Frankie's Girl

I don't have a pic of this year's trophies, but they are exactly like the tombstone ones from Rikki's post on the first page of this post... (I did tombstones last year too).

Our prizes are a really cool Halloween book (the link is to the soft cover version, I got the hard back one that has little fold out pockets and looks better):



and a small chocolate skully (seen on the left):











I also have a door prize (we gave out keys to all the invitees and one of them opens a closet door) that contains a scary DVD, lots of candy, chocolate skull, a JoL votive candle holder and a 4 pack of pumpkin scented candles, gummy hearts...


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## Rikki

lv2haunt said:


> I love those gift baskets, did you say how much they cost?


Not sure if you were directing this at me or not, but my baskets total around $30 - $35 each. I've done another one as a game prize, I'll post a picture later.


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## Rikki

So here's the prize for my game. I'm doing the Tempt Your Fate game this year and every time someone participates they can put their name in a drawing. The winner of that drawing will get this basket. It contains a book (Vampires, Wine, & Roses - short stories about Vampires), a four-pack of Nosferatu ale (Great Lakes Brewing Co.), two plastic wine goblets from the Dollar Tree, and a wooden coffin full of Ghiradelli dark chocolates (got the coffin at Michael's and painted it).


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## croser2

I also made the little tombstone trophies listed in the first page



























Just made my own labels, too far off a drive to get Vampire wine. Thanks for the ideas!


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## teeshaw

Those baskets look awesome! I really like the cups you found there.

I'm also trying to find ideas for my Halloween Party I'm hosting as a favor for my younger sister. Now the audience is around 12-13, and I don't think wine is appropriate there  

You could always customize a shirt or something and give it away as a prize, maybe not even Halloween related. My sister designs her own shirts and her friends are always asking her to make them one! Just a wee idea


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## printersdevil

I bought some older horror movies last week at Big Lots for $3 each. Then they went on sale for two for $5! But, I thought these would make good prizes. I love the trophy ideas. I need to think on that. I was planning to do certificates of some kind.


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## Gothikren

I'm glad to see this thread bumped now I don't have to go searching for it this week. I am thinking of having movie tickets in the best couple/pair category for mine with the rest of the stuff in the basket not sure if I should tho. I'm thinking I should get on the ball for making my awards and baskets soon.


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## Witchie Woman

Wow, I love all the themed baskets, they look great!

I'm doing a pumpkin carving contest. Trying to keep costs down, I thought I would ask my Mom to "donate" some candy. (She makes gourmet toffee.) I thought a few bags of that with a nice candy dish all wrapped up in a basket would be nice. I save all the baskets my hubby gets at the office at Xmas. I could spray paint one some Halloweeny colors.


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## Gothikren

I know right now the home decor (dorm colors etc) for this year are all basically halloween colors and they had a lot of great smaller size baskets at walmarts in orange black purple and greens just in case anyone hasn't checked there. They also have the (milk carton) crate cubes as well which would make cute baskets too I think (tho a bit large maybe)


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## selz

This year, I have large black trays (from the garden centre) as containers. Gifts so far include:

1st: DVD, Bottle of wine (going to steal the label idea on the previous page), Skull shot glass, basket of sweets, colour chage ghost lamp, deep frame with certificate, 2 skull tea lights
2nd: DVD, bottle of wine, basket of sweets, skull shot glass, deep frame with certificate, 2 skull tealights
3rd: DVD, basket of sweets, deep frame with certificate, 2 skull tealights.

I'm sure there's more for the prizes, but I haven't checked all my stash places yet (I try to collect stuff through the year when I see it on offer  ).


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## Stephbat

I am going to make sashes for the winners. At my high school they gave out sashes for everything so that's where I got the idea. I might do gift bags and trophies too. I havent decided yet.


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## christmascandy1

All of the basktets look good...ill take any prize to get any basket..lmao


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## dippedstix

tallula_g said:


> Oh yeah, Selz scour the $1.00 stores when it's Halloween, alot of the stuff in my baskets came from the dollar store, big lots and targets $1.00 bins. The Vampire Wine is also relatively cheap (about $8.00-$10.00 per bottle). Everyone liked getting the wine.
> 
> Rikki, love your prizes and trophy's they are beautiful!


Your baskets are great! I need some kid versions of those


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## kUITSUKU

Not sure if this was stated already, but walmart had some wicked 'best costume' trophies for $5. I was pretty upset because I ordered a trophy online for $7 and it came damaged and less convincing than walmart's.
But all I saw were the best costume ones, nothing else. :c


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## selz

Last year I gave a trophy to the best, and rosettes to the runners up, but this year I think I'm just going to stick with making up certificates and putting them in decorated frames - much cheaper


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## 1LuvHalloween

In the past I have always done trophies and gift cards for Best male, female, and most creative. Last year I did trophies and gift basket with Evil Wine, 2 wine glasses, a candle holder and some chocolate. It went over so well that I am going to do the baskets again but with a coffee theme. I bought bags of Vampire coffee some halloween drink coasters. Im gonna get 2 coffee mugs and maybe some kind of biscotti? I cant think of anything elese to put in there.


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## selz

Wow - sounds potentially costly, but really nice! I'm trying to keep to under £10/basket if I can - just about coming in ok at the moment


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## Witchie_Woman

1LuvHalloween said:


> In the past I have always done trophies and gift cards for Best male, female, and most creative. Last year I did trophies and gift basket with Evil Wine, 2 wine glasses, a candle holder and some chocolate. It went over so well that I am going to do the baskets again but with a coffee theme. I bought bags of Vampire coffee some halloween drink coasters. Im gonna get 2 coffee mugs and maybe some kind of biscotti? I cant think of anything elese to put in there.


I love your gift basket ideas! I think I am going to do something similar this year, but maybe do a few different kinds. Here's what I've come up with so far:

Movie Basket: Jone's halloween soda's, scary dvd, popcorn, chocolate covered pretzels, Ghiradelli chocolates, gummy brains (I might do 2 different versions of this basket since we have several guests that don't drink alcohol)

Wine Basket: halloween wine, 2 wine glasses, Ghiradelli chocolates, chocolate covered pretzels, halloween jelly belly's, chocolate covered coconut patties

Beer Basket: pumpkin ale, 2 beer mugs, pretzels, salsa sampler, halloween tortilla chips, Ghiradelli chocolates

Coffee Basket: 2 halloween flavored coffees, 2 coffee mugs, biscotti, flavored coffee syrup, orange hot chocolate mix, halloween marshmallows, Ghiradelli chocolates

Also, if anyone is planning on doing a wine or beer gift basket, Dollar Tree sells wine glasses and beer pilsners for $1!


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