Thread: Voting for the best...

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Maybe this came up before but I didn't see it. Sorry in advance if I'm repeating. What sorta voting do you use for best costume, ect...and what prizes do you give out. Any thoughts/suggestions would be great. Last year we just handed out small tickets & then collected them. I though maybe someone had a better idea.

Well, for my teen party for my boys, I invite someone from work to attend, who doesn't know the kids at all, and have them judge for me.

Maybe you could ask a neighbor or coworker who doesn't know your guests, to drop in and judge?

We do:

Scariest
Most Glamourous
Most Unique

I print out ballots, got a pack of 10 halloween pencils, and a plastic JoL (like the classic TOT buckets) and hand out ballots to each guest. If they don't know the name of the guest they're voting for, we told them to just write down the costume and we'd figure it out.

I make an announcement that we're collecting ballots in the pumpkin for the costume contest about 15 minutes before, and then DH and I take a notebook and tally all of the votes. (and announce that the hosts are not in the running for any prizes)

(My DH and I were the judges the first year we did it, but we like having everyone vote, so that's how we do it now)

We do different prizes each year, alternating between gift cards (usually $20 each) or gift baskets. It kind of depends on what goodies we can find. (local candy store here makes kick-@ss chocolates and candy within the Halloween theme)

Last year, the trophies were store-bought tombstones with the categories on them and prizes were chocolate skulls and some other goodies, this year I found some awesome tombstone hinged boxes at Michaels and painted them up - and it's also gift card year, so they work PERFECTLY to hold the cards.

Originally Posted by Frankie's Girl

Last year, the trophies were store-bought tombstones with the categories on them and prizes were chocolate skulls and some other goodies, this year I found some awesome tombstone hinged boxes at Michaels and painted them up - and it's also gift card year, so they work PERFECTLY to hold the cards.

I've got the same boxes from michaels, that's a great idea! Tho, I'm not sure how well the cards will fit in them, hmm, I'll have to take a look.
Thanks!!

We did ballots, once we judged ourselves. I like the idea of an impartial judge a lot though, next party I will probably use that idea!

We do it pretty much the same way as Frankie's Girl but we give anyone a number to stick/pin on their costume before the voting. We used to just have them write it down but its not always easy trying to figure out who they mean lol One year we had 3 pumpkin costumes...an evil looking one and a cute couple pumpkin pair. Then you get the voting ballots back and it just says PUMPKIN lol

I usually make hand made trophies and they receive Merci chocolates as a thank you.
With our friends, the honor a winning seems to drive them more than what they win lol Competitive bunch we have eh?

MsM

My SO and I hand out paper and pens and ask everyone to vote on their favorite. About the same as FG, we just ask if people don't know each other to put their favorite costumes on there instead. We usually only have about 10 or more people there so its not too hard. And then I go to our bedroom (which is restricted from guests mainly due to all the crap we throw in there to get out of the way of the party) and count up the votes. Then I come out and with my SO we make the announcements of who won.

Our categories are Most Sexy, Most Scary, Most Funny, and Best. And I think after this past year, our friends are going to step it up this year. My sister took Scary and Best with her Sarah Palin outfit.

We usually give out just dollar store creations like a mummified doll (cheap doll wrapped up in medical tape but with legs and chest showing) or that anatomy doll they had one year (its a clear body with organs inside) and then epoxied them to "stands" like trophies. Last year was beer steins with the categories on them using rub-ons from Michaels and then little things stuffed in them like a screaming zombie doll or Groucho glasses. And our Best usually gets some kind of "trophy" thing that we find at Goodwill (which they can fill with candy) and a DVD of one of our favorite movies like 28 Days Later or Monster Squad.

This year I'm planning on getting more creative with actual prizes like making a blood pillow for scariest.

Hope that helps!

Originally Posted by hulfers

I've got the same boxes from michaels, that's a great idea! Tho, I'm not sure how well the cards will fit in them, hmm, I'll have to take a look.
Thanks!!

The tombstone boxes will fit a giftcard, but the coffin boxes were too tight a fit.

I spraypainted them all black, and then used some rubber stamps (letters) to spell out

"Halloween 2009"
"Costume Contest Winner"

and did each letter sort of wonky so it looks like a messed up typesetter got ahold of them.