Family-Vacation-Getaways.com's
2009 Halloween Costume Photo Contest!
The judging is over---Here are the winners!
In the slide show above, you're viewing pictures of the top prize winners in our 2009 Halloween Costume Photo Contest! Out of the contest's 400 high-quality entries, these five were chosen by the panel of judges to represent the best in family costume ideas for our website this year. You'll learn all about our 2009 Halloween Contest winners below on this page. However, there are still MORE winner's costumes you'll want to see! To see the fabulous costumes in the Halloween contest's baby, kids and tween/teen categories, you'll want to view the Prize-winning Kids Halloween Costume Pictures page.
To see more kids costume winners, plus 2009 contest winners in the family groups and pets category, please visit the Halloween Costume Winners, Part 2 page. Finally, to view the 2009 Halloween winners in our adult groups & pairs, individual and scary categories please check out the 2009 Halloween Costume Contest Winners, Part 3 page.
Grand Prize and Top Winners
in the 2009 Family-Vacation-Getaways Halloween Costume Contest!
Believe it or not, this crafty grandmother of four accomplished this feat using only the measurements of her son and his family to work from. (He and his family live over 700 miles away from her!) Then, once the costumes were finished, she flew to her son's home the week before Halloween. With only a minor fitting, the group was ready to go! For their family photo, they took care to find a setting which looks much like an English garden of Alice's day and time. And the result? A stunning group costume that captured the judge's interest from the start, and continued to intruige them throughout the length of the judging period.
What was the 2009 Costume Contest all about?
Having fun, of course! What's more fun than wearing a cute or scary costume at Halloween time?
On the rest of this page, you'll see the contest's rules and information for 2009. If you didn't enter, start making your plans now to join the fun in our 2010 Halloween Costume Contest, beginning September 1, 2010! The rules will probably be quite similar, so you may use this year's info as a guide.
Halloween is a fun celebration---
and it's also one of the top photo-taking holidays every year!
Will you, your child, or your pet be getting a cute Halloween costume for 2009? Or super-scary?
Or, do you want to show off the costume you wore for Halloween 2008?
Terrific! Send in the best photo you took of your costume. Not only can you show off to your friends, family and other readers of this website, but you might win a cash prize!
What kind of costumes can you enter? Any costume that's suitable to be shown on a family-friendly website is eligible for this free online photo contest. It can be home-made...or store-bought. You might have used a sewing pattern...or created your own original design. You might think you had the best costume ever...or you might simply think that you had the cutest baby, child or pet!
SIDE NOTE: DID YOU DREAM UP YOUR COSTUME IDEA AND CREATE IT FROM SCRATCH? If you made your costume from your own designs and patterns, you are eligible to enter a different (and more complex) contest. It's our new Halloween Creative Design Contest. If you've got 5 different pictures illustrating your homemade costume project, and if you are willing to share the instructions for making your costume, then you may be interested. To check out the details of this separate contest for amateur costume designers, please see the Halloween Creative Design Contest page of this site. But, if you don't have 5 pictures, you may still enter your home-made costume in the Halloween Costume Photo Contest described on this page.
Halloween costume photo contest prizes for 2009
$125 will be the prize awarded to the 1st place Grand Prize winner! In addition, there will be a number of other prizes.A $75 second place and $50 third place prize will be awarded, as well. (Note: because this contest was larger than expected and had so many terrific entries, two more top prizes were added to the contest---4th Place and 5th Place Overall, which each will get $35 prizes.)
In addition, each category of costumes in the contest (baby, children's, pet, scariest, couples, group) will award a winning best-of-category prize of $25. (Note: due to the large size and high quality of this competition, runner-up prizes to each category have been added. Runners up in this contest will win a $10 prize.)
The 2009 Family-Vacation-Getaways.com Halloween Costume Contest will be decided by a panel of judges. The panel of contest judges consists of 3 website owners who deal with the topic of Halloween more than most people ever will---because they have successful websites which deal all (or in part) with the Halloween holiday. You can view the list of judges...and check out their websites...in the next section of this page.
"Halloween Picture of the Week" contest: All entries will automatically be entered into a concurrent "Halloween Picture of the Week" contest. You will receive a $10 cash prize (in the form of a check) if your picture is chosen as one of this contest's Halloween pictures of the week. Costume pictures who win one of the $10 prizes will still be eligible to win larger prizes in the main judging event of the Halloween Costume Photo Contest. (The purpose of having weekly winners is simply "for fun." This contest has a long submission period---2 months---and having weekly winners is simply a way to add some excitement for early-bird contestants until Halloween rolls around and the main contest judging begins.)
You can see some of this contest's weekly winners on this page: Above (to your right) you see cool Jack Sparrow & lady pirate outfits, entered by Brittany Singletary of Florida. To your left, you're viewing a fun picture of "Demeter the Cat," a costume submitted by Cristine Armstrong of California. To your right, you see a cute Raggedy Ann, entered by Karen Cristensen of Utah. Below left, you'll find a darling little tiger, entered by Angelita Raposas of Hawaii; and right, you see a sweet picture of "Baby Dalmatian," entered by Nicole Andra of Utah. Going on down the page, you'll see 2 swashbuckling brothers wearing scary skeleton/pirate costumes, submitted by Angela Romney of California.
Our Halloween Contest's Panel of Judges
It's time to introduce you to this year's Halloween Costume Contest judges. 2 of our contest judges "think Halloween" all year long. Why? Because they each are responsible for websites which advise their readers about different aspects of preparing for Halloween and other holidays. And 2 other judges are experts in various arts, crafts and needlework...an important asset which will help them understand the complexities of this contest's many home-designed and hand-made entries.
Margaret Rench, editor of www.Theme-Party-Palace.com, helps readers plan their Halloween parties from the ground up. Whether the subject is invitations, decorating, refreshments, activities...or even costumes...the Theme Party Palace website can offer tips, suggestion and help. Other popular parties for which you'll find advice from this website are Christmas and other holiday parties, birthday parties, showers, and themed get-togethers for adults and teens. If you'll be planning a Halloween (or other) party this year, you'll want to browse through the Theme-Party-Palace.com website for fresh new hints and ideas.
Carol Leather, from www.needlework-tips-and-techniques.com is an expert on a number of different needlework techniques. In fact, she even runs a website on the subject, offering plans and advice to a wide range of readers with varied projects in mind. In her spare time, she even creates designs professionally. If needlework is one of your interests, you'll surely want to take some time to browse through her website,
Kelli Gaylor from www.Holiday-Crafts-and-Creations is our Halloween judge whose artistic flair and life-long enthusiasm for holiday crafts projects has led her to develop a website on the topic. If you're looking for beautiful Halloween decorations to liven your home this autumn, you'll want to check out her website. You'll discover how to make the cutest Halloween-themed banners, garlands, greeting cards, and other interesting projects. Each step is clearly described (and illustrated with photos) so that you're sure to have success. Kids will love the adorable Halloween coloring pages...and may beg you to hold a Halloween get-together just so you'll make the amazing party favor bags. Be sure to check out Kelli's site if you need some good ideas for fun, free designs.
For Brenda Rowe, webmaster of www.ghostsandstories.com, it's Halloween every day of the year! Paranormal tales and ghost stories for all ages are her site's specialty, and her eager readers are always helping her to keep her collection of eerie tales ever-growing. Some stories are "just for fun," while others blur the line between fantasy and reality. If you need a story for your Halloween party...or for your own personal enjoyment any day of the year...you'll want to check out www.GhostsAndStories.com!
Halloween Costume Photo Contest Rules
What is the object of the contest
1.) The object of the Halloween photo contest is to have fun! You'll submit a great-looking digital picture of yourself, your family member or your pet wearing a terrific Halloween costume. If you win a prize, your picture will be posted to the www.Family-Vacation-Getaways.com website...and you'll have pleasure & pride of showing off your costume to all your family and friends! But that's not all! You might also win money---a $125 Grand Prize, $75 second prize, or $50 third place prize...or a $25 "best of category" prize!What are the qualities of a winning photo?
Photos will be judged on the following qualities: Aesthetics of the costume and/or makeup; clarity of the photo; and appropriateness to a family-oriented website.
It's free to enter---and no purchase of products advertised on this website (such as Halloween costumes) is required. So, why not join in the fun?
2.) Eligibility for the Halloween costume photo contest
a.) Are a resident of the United States or Canada (contest offer is void if prohibited in your locality)
b.) Are 13 years of age or older. Submissions from children age 12 and under should be made by their parents. Teens should have their parent's or guardian's consent to enter the contest.
c.) Took the costume photo (or photos) yourself. Also, your entries must be pictures of you and/or your own children or your own pet. If a friend is in your picture, as well, you must have your friend's permission to enter your photo into this costume contest. No professional photos may be entered, nor photos that were done which duplicate a studio shot.
3.) Beginning and ending dates of the Halloween Costume photo contest
Entries for the 2009 Halloween Photo Contest are being accepted as of September 1, 2009. The last date to register for the contest will be Tuesday, November 3, 2009. Pictures must be received by November 5th.
The contestants will then have their photos reviewed by a panel of judges chosen by this website. An announcement of the winners be made by Veteran's Day, November 11, 2009...hopefully. At least, every effort will be made to get the judges to stop deliberating and reach their dececisions by that time! Nevertheless, it may take up to 2 weeks after the last pictures are received (on November 5th) in order for the winners to be decided. It's a difficult process!
4.) Entry requirements for the Halloween costume picture contest
In order to be eligible for judging, your Halloween picture must meet the following requirements:
a.) Your photograph must be an original digital photo. It must have been taken by yourself (or by your minor child for whom you are making the submission.) If you do not have a digital camera, you may send a digitally scanned image of your photo, instead.
b.) Your Halloween costume picture must not have been previously published on the internet, including other Halloween Costume Contests held on other websites. Please do not enter the same picture to this contest that you plan to submit to other contests. Each website, including Family-Vacation-Getaways.com, strives to bring fresh new costume pictures to its readers. It is not fair to the websites holding contests to re-submit the same photo time and time again. Beginning with this year's contest, violators of this rule will be barred from future contests on this website.
c.) Your Halloween costume picture must be compatible with the "family friendly" nature of this website. Entries may not contain any content that:
1.) Is sexually suggestive, explicit nor would be offensive to the many parents reading this website with their young children.
2.) Promotes gangs, dangerous stunts, alcohol, drugs, tobacco, weapons, hatred or other harmful activities
5.) Number and handling of entries to the Halloween Costume photo contest
Although you may enter up to 3 Halloween costume pictures, you may only win one prize. If more than one of your costume photos tally up a winning number of the judge's votes, you will be awarded the highest prize for which you qualify, and your lower-level prize must be forfeited.
6.) Awarding of Halloween Costume Contest prizes
After the winners of the Halloween Costume Contests have been decided, the winning pictures will be displayed for public view, along with a list of the winner's names. Winners will be contacted by email. (When you enter, please give an email address that you check regularly. It can be difficult or impossible to locate winners who do not check or abandon their email addresses during the contest. Family-Vacation-Getaways.com will send a follow-up email if you don't answer the first one. However, we reserve the right to award your prize to the next-highest contestant if you do not answer your 2nd winner's announcement within one week.) Once the winners have been notified by email...and have responded...their winner's checks will be mailed to them!
Sound fun? Be thinking about which costume you'll enter!
7.) How do I enter the contest?
Unfortunately, the 2009 Halloween Costume Contest is now closed to new submissions. The new 2009 winners will soon be announced.Hang onto your costume photos, though! There WILL be a 2010 Halloween Costume Photo Contest...and it will be announced right here on this page!
Entries to the 2010 Halloween Costume Contest may be registered beginning September 1, 2010. When that time comes, you'll find the registration form right here in this very spot!
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View a different Family-Vacation-Getaways.com Contest Page: Halloween-- 9/08 Halloween Winners :: 10/08 Halloween Prize Winners :: 10/08 Costume Winners, part 2 Christmas-- Christmas 2009 Photo Contest :: Summer: Vacation Photo Contest, 2010
Explore Halloween costume ideas: Halloween Creative Design Contest :: Captain Jack Sparrow :: Captain Jack, pt 2 :: Celebrity & Movie costumes :: Cheap Halloween Costumes :: Children's Animal Costumes :: Clown Costumes :: Darth Vader :: Other Star Wars Costumes :: Disney Princesses :: Fairy Costumes :: Inexpensive Homemade Costumes :: Nightmare Before Christmas :: Pet Costumes :: Pirates/kids :: Pirate Costumes/Adults :: Plus Size Costumes :: Superhero Costumes :: Witch/Vampire costumes :: Wizard of Oz ::
Discover Southern California Halloween activities: Activities--Disney: Disneyland Halloween Events :: Woodys Roundup pics :: Haunted Mansion pics :: Haunted Mansion, pt 2 :: Disney Pumpkins :: Disney Candy Corn :: Mickeys Halloween Parade :: Dance w/Disney Characters :: Halloween Disney Characters :: Knotts-- Knott's Halloween Events:: Scary Farm Pics:: Halloween Haunt Pics, pt 2:: Six Flags-- 6 Flags Fright pics :: Magic Mtn pics, pt 2 :: Other parks: Legoland Halloween :: Seaworld Halloween :: Universal's Horror Nights ::
Plan a different SoCal family activity: Beaches :: Camping :: Christmas Fun :: Contests :: Family Fun Centers :: Halloween Fun :: Hollywood fun :: Parks :: Restaurants :: Road Trips :: San Diego Fun :: Shopping :: Outlet Shopping :: Theaters :: Theme Parks :: Water Parks :: Zoos ::
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