We recently participated in a Costume Contest on ThatCostumeGirl’s blog, offering a “Costume Craze Choice” award to our favorite entry.

And, Ladies and Gentlemen - we have a winner!

We are pleased to award the “Costume Craze Choice” award to Crystal Cox, Shane Cox and Blake Sanders for their DC Comics Trio! They look terrific in their television-style superhero costumes.

ThatCostumeGirl received a ton of excellent entries, and it was very hard to choose our favorite. So many entries were very creative and extremely professional.

In the end, we chose the DC Comics Trio because their costumes were great, and most importantly, they looked like they had the most fun dressing up together in costumes. There’s nothing better than dressing up with family and friends and having a great time.

We’ve sent a $25 gift certificate to the Cox family. Congratulations, and well done!

Be sure to visit ThatCostumeGirl.com to view her other contest Winners and Honorable Mentions. Thanks to all the costume lovers who submitted an entry. Great job!

Halloween 2008 has come and gone, and a great time was had by all.

Our local newstation, KSL.com, has published an extensive photo gallery of Halloween costumes worn this year by the fun-loving members of our community.

A great many of these costumes were purchased from Costume Craze and it’s fun to see our costumes in action.

Be sure to browse the entire photo gallery (220 pics) on KSL.com.

Our Costume Blowout Sale was supposed to end today - but we’re extending it through Nov. 18th!!

Everything, and we mean EVERYTHING, is 30% to 60% off!

Pilgrim Girl Costume $18.95 $13.27	Child Elf Costume $42.95 $30.07	Deluxe Santa Clause $157.99 $110.59

Costume Craze recently donated over a thousand costumes to the Nebo School District. We are proud to support our local schools.

These costumes will be used for various theatrical and educational purposes, and we are thrilled to be able to help provide a fun and enjoyable learning environment for students.

Nebo School District is comprised of 34 schools and over 25,000 students in Utah county. The district is rapidly growing and the quality of education has achieved national recognition. Mapleton Elementary was named a 2008 Blue Ribbon School of the Nation by U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings.

You can learn more about the Nebo School District by visiting their official website or by downloading their Quick Facts sheet (.pdf).

We’d like to thank all the teachers and professionals in the district for providing such a valuable service to our community. You are very much appreciated!
 

With Thanksgiving just a few weeks away, now is a great time to gobble up Thanksgiving costumes for your school play or family party! We have a large selection of Pilgrim, Native American and Turkey costumes for children and adults.

Costume Craze is here to help make your Thanksgiving festivities fun and something to remember.

And best of all, through November 14th, EVERYTHING is on sale at 30% to 60% off!

Gobbler Turkey Hat $19.95 $13.97	Pilgrim Boy Costume $16.95 $11.87	Pilgrim Girl Costume $18.95 $13.27
Indian Babe Costume $33.95 $23.77	Turkey Costume $99.99 $69.99	Costume Peace Pipe $3.99 $2.79
Indian Warrior Costume $115.95 $81.17	Pilgrim Girl Costume $31.95 $22.37	Pocahantas Costume $27.95 $19.57

VIEW ALL THANKSGIVING COSTUMES

ThatCostumeGirl is back!

This time she models our I Dream of Jeannie costume. As always, she looks incredible. On her blog, she poses in the costume, provides detailed closeups of the material and offers handy makeup tips and tricks.
 

I Dream of Jeannie Costume
(Item #TVSH18)

This costume comes in sizes Womens X-Small, Small and Medium and is currently on special for $34.99 (30% off).

Includes the Jeannie hat with attached scarf, red top, pants, ankle bands and glitter! (more info)

 
CLICK HERE to visit ThatCostumeGirl’s blog.

Thanks again, TCG!

You might wonder what you can possibly do with old newspapers besides line the bottom of birdcages or recycle (please don’t say wrap gifts). But for a creative film student, seamstress and award-winning costume designer, newsprint presents no limitations.

When Costume Craze saw the Salt Lake Tribune’s announcement of a costume contest in which all entries were to be crafted from old Tribune newsprint, CEO Kate Maloney commissioned employee Camilla Whitney (the above mentioned film student and costume designer) to create the ultimate costume from newspaper.

I watched as Camilla cut, measured and taped. I’d guess it took her 5-6 hours, working on it about one hour each day. When she finally pieced it together, I was stunned that a bunch of newspapers could actually resemble a late 19th century Victorian dress. Camilla’s artistic design and careful details turned out to be the winning combination.

She won First Place! The Salt Lake Tribune announced the winner in their Friday, October 31st issue which featured a nice color photo of Camilla “in her ingenious fair maiden’s gown, complete with puffed sleeves, a sweeping apron and pleated skirt, all trimmed with black and silver duct tape.”

Costume Craze has plans to display the prize winning paper dress in a glass case. Congratulations, Camilla. Wonderful job!

 

It’s hard to believe that Halloween is over. My, how time flies. I hope everyone had a great time dressing in costumes and eating lots of candy!

Costume Craze finished the season with a big celebration. Employees came to work in costume, and we ended the day with a Halloween party for friends and family. It was a ton of fun! We had great food, games, a pumpkin carving contest, as well as crayons and coloring books for the little ones.
 

Employees were each given a Certificate of Excellence in recognition of their great work this Halloween season, which was very nice.

After shipping hundreds of thousands of Halloween costumes, we had a MOUNTAIN of cardboard boxes. We took a fun photo posing by all the cardboard. This week a recycling company will come and truck it all away.

 
Here are a few more photos from the event. Be sure to visit our PHOTO GALLERY to view all the pictures.

Special thanks to the Maloneys for taking such good care of us and throwing such a great party!

Over 2000 years ago, the Celts celebrated their new year, on November 1st, which marked the end of the harvest season. The Celts believed that on the night before the New Year (Samhain) the veil between the living and the dead blurred, allowing ghosts to haunt the land and damage crops. To avoid being recognized by unearthly spirits, people adorned ghoulish masks and costumes when they ventured out after dark.

European immigrants brought their customs with them to America, but because early New England maintained a strict Protestant belief system, celebration of Halloween in colonial times was extremely limited.

Over time, a distinctly American version of Halloween began to emerge as cultures melded. Halloween was more common in Maryland and the southern colonies, with citizens taking part in public harvest celebrations–telling stories of the dead, dancing, singing and telling each other’s fortunes. Halloween was not yet celebrated everywhere, but yearly fall festivities were common.

With the arrival of millions of Irish immigrants in America (because of the potato famine of 1846), Halloween finally took hold as a national celebration. Interestingly, the first store bought Halloween costume didn’t become available until the 1930’s.

In addition to wearing costumes, many of today’s other Halloween traditions can be traced back to the ancient Celtic “Day of the Dead”, including bobbing for apples, trick-or-treating, carving vegetables (The Celts originally used turnips, but pumpkins were more readily available to early American immigrants) and drinking cider.