Costume SuperCenter.com
Super Halloween Costume Selections at Super Low Prices!
Blog Home

Throw Your Daughter A Disney Princess Costume Party

February 1, 2012 in Special Occasions by Lara Burke

If your daughter has a birthday coming soon then a Disney Princess costume party just might be her wish come true. There are two ways you can do it. Firstly, invite all her little friends to come to the party dresses in their favorite Disney princess costumes. You may want to state on the invitation which character your daughter will be wearing so she can be the only one in that costume. The other way you can do it is by having a Disney princess theme and having adult friends dress up as the characters to take pictures with the girls and entertain them.  Either way you decide to go, you will need Disney costumes, paper goods, cake and party favors.

The Disney princesses include Cinderella, Snow White, Aurora, Tiana, Belle, Ariel, Jasmine, Mulan and Pocahontas but you can also count Tinkerbell, Rapunzel, Alice in Wonderland and Minnie Mouse. There are several styles of each princess costume from which to choose on Costume SuperCenter for everyone from infants to girls and even women.  Accessories include tiaras, shoes and wigs. Wands are also available for each of the characters and make a wonderful party favor for each girl to bring home.

Disney party supplies can be found at any online or big box retail store. Disney princess themed cups, plates, napkins and decorations are readily available. Disney princess cakes are really easy. They can be as simple as a homemade cake that you decorate with small princess figures or as elaborate as a custom made cake like the one below.

The best things about a Disney princess costume party is that the girls will love every minute of it, the supplies are easy to find and the costumes are fabulous. It gives the children a fun opportunity to play dress up and celebrate the birthday girl in style.


Your Halloween Party Checklist

October 21, 2010 in Special Occasions, Uncategorized by Lara Burke

Boo! Did I scare you? Hopefully I got your attention. Convince that I sometimes have holes in my brain it is necessary for me to make lists in order to remember anything. If you’re having a Halloween party the last thing you want is to forget the details necessary to make your party a complete Halloween spooktacular.

In order, you will need the following:

  • Invitations – get some fun Halloween invitations that will match your party theme i.e. spooky, kid friendly.
  • Decorations – This is the fun part. Inexpensive options are spider webs with plastic spiders and carved Jack-O-lanterns. Scene Setters are inexpensive wall décor that can completely transform your room for just a few dollars. More expensive decorations include things like life sized horror figures, lawn ornaments and spooky furnishings. Put most of the decor at the entry to the party so you set the mood immediately. Decor is like a Halloween costume for your home.
  • Party supplies – This is all your paper goods, silverware, table covers and such. A combination of black, orange and purple will work for any Halloween party. Whether you make it fun or scary depends on the decor your choose. Party supplies also include prize ribbons for the costume contest and other prizes or favors.
  • Mood setters – This includes spooky music and sound effects, eerie lighting, fog and animation. Motion sensor props scare the bajeezas out of people and create a delightfully spooky atmosphere. My friend Suzy has a life sized zombie that crawls from her living room into her foyer to greet people. Fog machines cast an eerie yet harmless smoke that hangs low to the ground. You can achieve the same effect with dry ice and water. Mood setters are essential. Even something as simple as dim lights and candlelight can make a big difference.
  • Food – Its always more fun to eat food that matches the party theme. There are way too many ideas to mention here so we recommend you look at websites that feature spooky Halloween food. It can be super gross or yummy for everyone.
  • Entertainment – good food, music and company are usually enough for a grown up party but you can always include some extras. A fortune teller is a great idea but if you’re on a budget you can play games such as the Creepy Feely Game or Pass the Gord.
  • Costumes – sometimes its easier to see how your party planning evolves before choosing your costume but don’t wait too long. Always leave enough time to make an exchange. Websites like Costume SuperCenter have a Free Size and Exchange Policy. As long as you make an exchange either for a different costume or a different size, they pay the shipping for the return and the replacement.

The Cat in the Hat Costume Pays Homage to Dr. Seuss

February 22, 2010 in General Costumes, Special Occasions by Lara Burke

March 2nd marks the birthday of America’s favorite children’s author, Dr. Seuss.  His birthday is celebrated in schools around the country to honor his works as well as his contribution to early childhood education. In his lifetime, Seuss has published over 60 children’s books. Arguably, Cat in the Hat is the most well known. If you love “all things Seuss” then his birthday should be a day near and dear to your heart.

The Cat in the Hat is a tall and mischievous cat who wears an oversized red and white striped hat and carries an umbrella.  Both the adult costume and children’s costume as well as the hat and gloves for the Cat in The Hat costume sell well during Halloween but make a huge surge in February and March in celebration of Dr. Seuss’ birthday.  The second most popular Dr. Seuss costumes after the Cat in the Hat are Thing 1 and Thing 2.

You may be wonder why Dr. Seuss and all his jibberish-like language would be so well revered in schools? Well, the history being Cat in the Hat is an interesting one. Back in 1954, Life magazine published a report on illiteracy among school-aged children. The report surmised that children’s books were boring and not motivating enough to encourage a child to learn and practice reading. Accordingly, a textbook editor at Houghton Mifflin compiled a list of 348 words he felt were important for first-graders to recognize. Dr. Seuss edited to list down to 250 words and decided to write a book using as many of those words as possible. Seuss lived up to the editor’s challenge to “bring back a book children can’t put down.” Dr. Seuss used 236 of those words to write the Cat in the Hat which was published in 1955. To this day children cannot put it down. And because of his devotion to teach children the  joy of reading,  he is remembered and celebrated at elementary schools every year.

 Costume SuperCenter has several versions of The Cat in the Hat costume. For schools that celebrate Dr. Seuss’ birthday every year the Cat in the Hat Mascot costume is a high quality costume that can be used for many years.  The Cat in the Hat outfit for kids makes a great costume for a pep rally, school presentation or simply to get into the spirit of the day. There is also an adorable infant’s Cat in the Hat costume that is perfect for introducing your little one to the joy of Dr. Seuss books.  For those who only need accessories, the Cat in the Hat gloves and hat can be purchased separately. For this time of the year the accessories are extremely popular because you can wear them with your regular clothes or school uniform.

Dr. Seuss was a favorite of my as well as my child’s. I’m sure everyone out there has a special memory of a Dr. Seuss book. We’d love to hear your comments about Dr. Seuss’s birthday and if your child’s school celebrates with Cat in the Hat costumes and other fun activities.


Staging a Medieval Wedding in Full Costume

February 17, 2010 in Special Occasions by Lara Burke

Weddings are historically events for families. Throughout history, weddings remain a meaningful way to bring people together. Many people looking for a unique way to celebrate their vows choose a Medieval or Renaissance wedding theme. This is popular among Renaissance Fair enthusiasts but anyone can do it if they know a few basics about Medieval Wedding Traditions and Medieval costumes.

Traditions

During Medieval times, marriages were usually arranged by the parents of the intended couple – Today, we can be thankful that men and women can fall in love freely and marry whomever they choose.

Instead of our modern day invitations, it was customary in Medieval times to select someone to do your Bidding. Bidding is the custom of going to the homes of all your guests to announce the ceremony and let them know the date and locations. Keep in mind that modern etiquette is to send a formal invitation so you may opt for the Bidder to hand deliver the invitation.

Medieval wedding ceremonies were similar to modern religious weddings. One thing they did that was unique as called handfasting, or the joining of the hands to signify commitment. Typical handfasting involved the couple joining opposite hands of each other. Their wrists were then tied together loosely with a scarf to signify the union they were declaring. This would make a great addition to your ceremony.

Medieval Wedding Costumes
Medieval Brides did not wear white. They wore their best dress. The most popular color for brides back then was blue which symbolized purity. A bride usually wore her hair down, and she sometimes wore flowers in her hair instead of carrying a bouquet.  Costume SuperCenter has many Medieval Maiden costumes to choose from.

Men wore their best clothes, typically what they might wear to church or to court. For the wedding, the groom may choose a knight costume or a nobleman costume.

Invite your guests to dress the part as well. Parents of the bride and groom might wear King and Queen Costumes while guests can wears peasant costumes, knight costumes or what medieval or Renaissance costumes they choose.

Don’t forget about the medieval wedding feast which includes plentiful amounts of food, drink and music.

The Medieval costumes shown are all from Costume SuperCenter


Be Thankful for a Christmas Spending Budget

November 13, 2009 in Special Occasions by Lara Burke

kids

It’s hard to think about Christmas when Thanksgiving is still more than two weeks away.  Enjoy this time of year to be thankful for your family, your health and the gift of friendship.  The holidays should never be about Christmas lists and spending money but more about spending time together. Since that is easier said than done we can use this time of year to save our money and create a holiday spending budget. You’ll be thankful you did. Here are some tips to help curb your holiday spending without looking like a cheapskate.

 

Family grab bag or Secret Santa – opting for the family grab bag or Secret Santa will enable you to get one nice gift for someone rather than many “it’s the thought that counts” type gifts for the whole family. A grab bag is when everyone brings a generic gift and you exchange gifts either by picking them out of a bag or assigning a number to a gift then picking numbers from a hat. A Secret Santa is when you pick a name out of a hat in advance and buy a gift specifically for that person.

 

Discount stores – you’d be surprised by the big name brands you can find at discount stores such as Marshalls, TJ Maxx, Burlington Coat Factory and others. Last year I bought my husband a gorgeous $275 Tommy Bahama watch for $29.99 (and yes, it works). No one needs to know where you bought it and they’ll think you spent big.

 

Don’t wait to the last minute – Nothing drives overspending like panic. Waiting until the last minute causes you to overspend for two main reasons: 1. you are in a hurry to get your hands on anything and price comparing is no longer an option and 2. you wind up spending more than you planned because the item you wanted to purchase was no longer available in the size, color or platform you needed.

 

Keep the credit cards at home – set a budget, bring cash and spend wisely – Credit cards lead to a nasty case of “the might-as-wells” as in I might as well spend more than my budget because I’m too lazy to be a frugal shopper.  Using cash makes you very aware of your spending and it’s a good habit to get into all year round.

 

Consider a family gift rather than individual gifts for each family member. Some examples include an ice cream maker and a set of ice cream bowls; a DVD rental gift card and a gift basket with a popcorn bowl, candies, 3-D glasses, etc.

 

Make an agreement with your extended family to only buy for the kids. Everyone is having a rough time these days. For us parents, the real gift is seeing the joy of Christmas through our children’s eyes. Do we really need another cheap sweater or smelly bath set from Uncle Bob and Aunt Carol? Someone needs to speak up. Suggest to the family that if you have kids you should be scratched off the gift list. I’m sure many family members will be glad you spoke up. Christmas isn’t all about getting presents, especially ones you never use.

 

Do spend some money on an item you can use year after year. My fondest Christmas memories were the annual visits from Santa. Every Christmas Eve, Santa would show up after dinner and bring “cannolis from the North Pole.”  He would give everyone a treat and tell us to save one for him because he’d be back later. That Santa suit has been passed from my uncle to my cousins to my brother and was an investment that brings joy and tradition for generations in our family.

 

I hope these tips are useful. Please feel free to share your own holiday spending and saving suggestions.


Santa Clause is Coming Again

November 12, 2009 in Special Occasions by Lara Burke

santa

 

Does anyone else out there realize that Christmas is still over a month and a half away?  Its one thing to see the stores setting up their Christmas displays and toy retailers mailing out their big catalogs but you must admit it still doesn’t feel like Christmas.  I thought about what it is that makes it feel like Christmas. Is it the cold weather? Only in parts of the country where is gets cold. Is it putting up your tree? No, toomany other things happen before you get to tree trimming.  After some thought and consideration I have narrowed it down.  The holiday season doesn’t become completely official until you reach these 4 specific criteria:

 

  1. You hear Christmas music on the radio
  2. Santa appears at the mall
  3. Live trees go on sale
  4. You see men on ladders hanging lights

 

Once these four things happen there is no turning back. No matter where in the world you live, if you celebrate Christmas these 4 things need to happen to reach the point of no return. Then the season will be upon us.

 

But time it going fast. I already heard my first Christmas song on the radio and the fountain in the middle of the mall has been emptied in order to set up Santa’s workshop. Before you know it, thousands of Santa’s Helpers will don their Santa Suits and get their laps ready so they can here the Christmas wishes of millions of excited children. And soon, on your drive home from work, empty patches of land and parking lots will become roadside Christmas tree stands and the smell of pine will fill the air. And weekends will be dedicated to untangling Christmas lights, setting up the ladder and loading the staple gun. Then and only then will it become the season to be jolly.

 

For now, there is still time. Time to enjoy the remaining days of autumn; time to plan for Thanksgiving, play football and save a few more dollars to put toward Christmas shopping. So, ho ho ho and fa la la la la, here we go again!


Let’s Talk Turkey

November 9, 2009 in Special Occasions by Lara Burke

turkey

Several years ago, our cousins showed up to our house on Thanksgiving Day with an enormous hand painted lawn ornament of a turkey in a pilgrim’s hat holding a sign that says, “Eat Ham.” We are all about having a sense of humor but displaying this in our front yard is not quite our cup of tea. I may as well have my husband wear a turkey costume and stand by the mailbox with a sign that says, “HELP ME. I JUST FOUND OUT WERE THEY WANT TO PUT THE STUFFING!”

 

I love turkey. Turkey and Thanksgiving go hand-in-hand. Thanksgiving without turkey is like Christmas without a tree.  Don’t get me wrong, I’ll have ham too but turkey is the guest of honor.  Since there is still plenty of time to plan for Turkey Day, I thought you’d be thankful to see these links to the best turkey and trimming recipes EVER!

 

Wegman’s Honey Brined Turkey - a juicy, tender and flavorful turkey. Once you brine a turkey you will never, ever cook a dry boring turkey again. It comes out even juicier than deep frying and you won’t set your house on fire.

 

Cook’s Illustrated Cornbread and Sausage Stuffing. This is “Oh My God” good. This trick here is to bake the cornbread yourself. The link in the recipe gives you several of the best rate boxed mixes to choose from or you can make it from scratch. The key here is not to use those pre-made stuffing cubes. You’ll realize why when you taste it.

 

Typically, I’m all about presentation but it you are not planning on carving the turkey at the table here is a trick that will make the stuffing even better and cut your turkey cooking time almost in half. Instead of cooking the bird whole, butterfly it and remove the backbone and flatten the breasts so that you have a big, flat turkey. Place a slotted top of your boiler pan over the stuffing pan and lay the flattened turkey on top. The juices from the turkey will drip into the stuffing as it bakes making the stuffing more flavorful and allowing the turkey to cook faster. Yum. For the detailed recipe you need to subscribe to the free 14 day trial at America’s Test Kitchen but you’ll be so glad you did. The specific recipe is called Crisp-Skin High-Roast Butterflied Turkey with Sausage Dressing. Look it up – you can thank me later.

 

As for all other trimmings its best to make your traditional family favorites. You know how upset grandma will be if you don’t use her turkey recipe. At least she’ll know you can’t live without her famous mashed potatoes and green bean casserole.

 

And as for that lawn ornament Cousin Bennie made – it “mysteriously” disappeared.


Who Will be Knocking on Your Door Tomorrow?

October 30, 2009 in General Costumes, Special Occasions by Lara Burke

Tomorrow is Halloween. All of our costumes are shipped although some last minute shoppers are still ordering From Noon until 9 the endless parade of ghosts, ghouls, princesses, superheroes and pirates will be going from door to door in search of treats.

 

Every year I look forward to the new generation of trick or treaters. The babies and toddlers being wheeled in their strollers and red wagons are the cutest.  For them, it’s more fun to play with the candy than eat it. A favorite memory from last year was a family of three kids and a 1 year old in a wagon. The siblings were pouring their treats into the wagon and the baby was in her glory, sitting in a pool of colorfully wrapped candy.

 

The school aged kids are so enthusiastic, running from house to house.  And their costumes just keep getting better. They are more elaborate, have more props, better makeup and wigs. Long gone are the days of wearing what you had laying around the house. When we were kids we wore old ripped hobo clothes or we covered a large box in aluminum foil and cut out arm holes and said we were a robot. In a pinch, I’d put on my brothers Pop Warner uniform. I don’t think I know of a single kid wearing a homemade or improvised costume this year.

 

In the past few years I’ve also notice many older trick or treaters. The kids in the 12-16 year old range. There costumes are a bit more grotesque for the boys and a bit sexier for the girls. I know some neighbors who turn them away saying that Halloween is for kids but I happily give them a treat. You are only young once. You need to hang on to that for as long as possible. Besides, do you ever get too old for costumes and candy?

 

But regardless of what you wear or what your age, the idea remains the same: being out with friends in fresh fall air collecting candy and enjoying an awesome holiday tradition.

 

Wherever you are, Costume SuperCenter wants you to remember our safety tips, enjoy your costumes and have the greatest Halloween ever!


What’s Halloween without a Hot Party?

October 14, 2009 in Costume Adventures, Special Occasions by Lara Burke

 

At Halloween, people of all ages like to dress up. Kids do it for the love of candy but grown ups for the love of parties. 

 

Joonbug.com nightlife rocks!

Photo courtesy of Joonbug.com. Joonbug nightlife rocks!

 

 

So you’ve found your ideal costume and now you need to find a party. Perhaps you’ve been invited to a house party. Great! But maybe you’re looking for something more interesting, more exotic and more exciting. Someplace you can go with your friends, meet new people and have an amazing time. You can even take it a step further and organize your own event at a hot club or trendy bar. Thanks to the web, searching and planning for the best Halloween ever is easier than you think.

 

Party organizing, promoting and networking sites like Joonbug can help you find a venue that suits your style in over 45 cities throughout the US. Joonbug will give you the scoops on all things Halloween “with information on Halloween parties, restaurants, clubs, nightclubs, bars, lounges, costume shops, Halloween tickets and promotions, discounts and blogs; this Halloween 2009 events guide truly is the ultimate and only guide to the best Halloween night of your life.”

 

Enjoy all the nightlife Halloween has to offer. No matter what you do or where you go, have fun, look great, be safe and be seen.


Make Our Halloween Countdown Widget Your Own

September 11, 2009 in Special Occasions by Lara Burke

 

 

To help get you geared up for Halloween, we’ve created our official CostumeSuperCenter.com Halloween Countdown widget. Halloween is just around the corner and time is going fast. Join us in counting down to our favorite day of the year by adding our widget to your blog, website or social media profile.  Simply press the “Get Widget” button under the Countdown widget (shown on the left) and choose your application. If you don’t see your application you can still add the widget to your own site by copying and pasting the code from Widget Box

 

Why should I add this countdown to my site, you ask? Because the best part of this widget is that you can customize it to your liking by adding your own photos.  Your favorite childhood Halloween photos, pictures of friends, your kids, and your dog – whomever you choose can be featured on the widget. It holds 5 photos that change each time you refresh your page.  Share your favorite Halloween memories while counting down to the big day.  To change our photos to yours click the admin button in the lower left corner of the widget. Since it’s customizable specifically for you, you can put any kind of pictures you want on your countdown.

 

 

It may not feel like Halloween yet but the first signs of the Halloween season are evident. The kids are back in school, the mornings are a bit cooler and the phones here at CostumeSuperCenter.com are ringing like crazy. Online and phone orders are at record numbers. The hottest costumes of the season are selling fast. As the countdown ticks down, now is the time to get your Halloween costume!  

 

Once the big day has come and gone you can still keep the countdown going all year long. On November 1st the countdown automatically starts over!

 

Here at CostumeSuperCenter.com we’re happy to supply you with everything you need for a great Halloween so please join us as we countdown to our favorite day of the year and check out our terrific Recession Busters for amazing savings.


Older Posts »