Have a Plan, Have More Fun!

by Ariyanna

DragonCon is coming there is still so much to do!
Planning, packing, procrastinating, I don't know when I'm through!

Costumes are in pieces, lying about the room.
   The craft store's still open - away I'd better zoom!

The day is almost here, I cannot wait to hear,
            the cheers, the shouts!
     The fun that DragonCon is all about!

Last year I learned a really hard lesson about working right up to the night before a Con getting costumes done. I worked all day and through the night on the Wednesday before DragonCon putting the final pieces on my Sailormoon costume. I made it through Thursday without any sleep but it was all downhill after that. I had a tough time enjoying myself because I was worn out before the fun even began.

This year I promised myself I would not procrastinate and wait until the last minute to get my costumes completed and so far I'm on track. A friend of mine had the great idea to create a costume board where she has pictures of all of her costumes lined up so she is inspired to find pieces and work on them far in advance of the Con. Smart girl!  

So I did a similar thing this year and it helped a lot. I also chose costumes that I knew would be comfortable this year since I wanted to do so many. It is awesome to see the professional and semi-professional cosplayers and I admire greatly their time and skill that they put into their costumes but I will leave that to them and enjoy the casual, comfortable cosplay that comes out of my closet and pieces put together from the thrift store.  

If you are a first time cosplayer my advice would definitely be to make a costume board with several ideas and start EARLY finding and ordering the pieces you need. Get excited about Con 6 months early by working in advance on your costume pieces. Not only do you get your costumes finished ahead of time, you will have more time to fix any mistakes that may happen along the way, scrap a bad project or change your mind, and have one less thing to worry you as the Con gets closer. You will be satisfied with your hard work and enjoy your cosplay much more.   


It may be a bit late for this advice - but there is always next year!

Happy Costuming!
Ariyanna