Thread: Costume Contest Questions

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How do you setup voting for the Costume Contest?

I have always passed out slips of paper with "best costume... sexiest costume... and scariest costume..." then come back and collected them for counting or had some place for guests to put the slips. This seems to slow down the party a little though, but I think this is the best way to keep the surprise if you have less than 20 guests and it seemed to work better when I had a smaller crowd. I will have at least one in character helper though this year, and I figure they can walk around with a pen and pad writing down peoples votes. If your crowd is big enough you could just eyeball the best costumes, and have people vote for their favorites by cheering. This is usually the way I've seen it done at bars but my guest list is only 50. So what I'm saying is I think it depends on the size of your party. 1-20-- vote by slips. 20-75--take votes down. 75+ by applause. Good luck!

I have the same problem - counting the votes always takes me about 15 time-sucking minutes, seeing I usually have 30-40 guests. And it never fails - there is always a tie in at least one category.
How I wish I could just put up a voting booth, and trust folks to only vote once!

I do 3 catergories (Most Creative, Best Couple & Best Costume of the night). I have 3 black bowls on the counter, each labeled with a costume catergory, slips of paper & pen. Throughout the night, everyone just goes to that area and votes for each catergory.

I was thinking of setting up a similar voting area this year....a voting BOO-th.
Seems things always get crazy and I can't stop to pass out slips, or tally votes. Last year guests were coming and going and I nearly forgot all together.
I'd like to find one of those little countdown clocks to put out at the voting area so everyone knew they had to get their votes in by a certain time. Hoping that will get more attention so more will participate in the vote....maybe it will help me so I don't forget either!

We do printed ballots and a slotted box. We encourage people several times a night on the PA to vote, and tell them not to vote for themselves (we say if they think their costume is the best, then vote for second best). We have a best male and best female costume contest. We give $50 Home Depot and Bed Bath and Beyond gift certs usually. We also give a bottle of wine or booze to a guest as the "Hosts Choice" award (sometimes if they "play the part" or dance the best, etc.).

My wife and I usually go into a bedroom and count the ballots. It seems every year there is some kind of tie, and we used to sweat it, and then the last year or so decided to spend about 3 seconds discussing it, and then make an executive decision. It *is* our party after all...

last year we handed out slips and then counted them afterwards

Thanks for all of the ideas! I think we will have ballots and slotted boxes too, since we have a PA system and will be able to remind everyone to vote. THANKS SO MUCH!

I use the crowd response technique. When I decide to hold the contest I stop the music and use a mic and those that feel they want to enter will step forward. It seems to work for me and I even have had children win best costume of the night.

Maybe the crowd response would be better. This way I don't have to stop and count ballots. Plus I won't have to worry about people voting twice, forgetting, etc. AND that's one less thing I have to make. haha