Age-Appropriate Pageant Casual Wear

This post is about pageant casual wear and pageant outfit of choice, which are often categories in glitz pageants. Some beauty pageants might be more specific with their casual wear or outfit of choice, requiring that the outfits be holiday wear or have some other specific theme. For example, a Christmas pageant might require the outfit of choice or casual wear to have a Yuletide theme. Some glitz pageants might also require specific colors that help to keep with the theme of the beauty pageants.

When you’re trying to come up with a casual wear outfit or an outfit of choice, remember to keep it age appropriate. Okay, I know what you’re thinking: you’ve seen little girls on television win these categories by wearing “hooker-like” outfits and Dolly Parton outfits that included fake busts. Believe me, most judges frown upon such outfits. They want little girls to look sweet and cute – not sexy. Sexy is not appropriate for a very young contestant.

Of course, this varies somewhat from judge to judge and might also be influenced by the particular pageant and where it’s held. For example, some judges don’t even want little girls to show any midriff. In fact, we once had points deducted for just that reason, even though the outfit wasn’t at all “sexy.” This pageant was held in a very small, very conservative southern town, so I should have been more prepared. You might want to keep this in mind when you’re choosing casual wear outfits and outfits of choice for glitz pageants.

Tips for Riding in a Parade

If your daughter has won a beauty pageant, she might very well be invited to ride in a parade. Some larger pageant systems have their own floats on which all the queens ride. Lots of other pageants don’t have their own float, so for these, you’ll probably have to ride in a convertible. Some pageant directors are good about providing convertibles, but others might not have access to convertibles. In that case, of course, you’ll have to find your own car.

Finding a convertible to ride in might not be an easy task. It’s a lot easier if you have a friend or family member with one. If you don’t, and if the pageant director can’t help you find one, ask around at local car dealerships. They might be willing to loan you a used convertible for the parade. Another option is to rent a car for the day of the parade.

If you have a toddler or young child scheduled to ride in the event, she’ll need some supervision, obviously. If it’s a float she’s riding on, you’ll probably want to be up there with her to keep her from falling or jumping off. But how would it look for you to be up there with the queens? A better idea is to have the miss queen be in charge of the child. This is how we’ve handled the situation, and it always worked out well.

If the child is riding in a convertible, place her on the trunk, with her legs hanging down in the back seat. You or another adult should sit in the back and hold her legs. That way, there’s no way she’s going anywhere! Remember that parades travel at a snail’s pace, so there’s really very little danger involved.

What to wear? Your pageant director will provide you with some guidelines. Some pageants want all the queens dressed in their pageant dresses, some want all the girls to be wearing the same color dresses, and some require special apparel like long gloves. Make sure you know before you go!

Watch the weather closely, too. If there’s a chance of rain, you might not want your new $2,000 glitz pageant dress exposed to water. If pageant dresses are required for the ride and rain is a possibility, wear a cheap pageant dress.

What if it’s cold? Pageant dresses aren’t made for cold weather. Most are either sleeveless or have short sleeves. If it’s cold outside the day of the parade, supply your daughter with a white faux-fur cape. This is very elegant looking, and it will keep her warm!

If you’re dealing with a younger girl, don’t go all out with her hair. Just have it neat, attractive, and SPRAYED!

Beauty Pageant Tips - Baby Pageants

If you think child beauty pageants might be something enjoyable for you and your child, you can start her out as a baby. If she seems to enjoy the attention and being in front of an audience as a baby at bay pageants, chances are that she'll like it even more as she gets older. If started early, she'll become comfortable with the whole beauty pageants experience.

Actually, entering a baby in baby pageants is much easier than dealing with older kids. You won't have to worry about makeup, pageant hair, tanning, or modeling. You will, however, still need a great pageant dress, a hair band with an attached bow, and the right shoes and socks.

A typical glitz pageant dress is in order - one with a cupcake skirt and some stoning. For some reason, my pageant pals and I have noticed that dreeses with short sleeves usually do better than sleeveless dresses on babies. Also, make sure the bow and hairband or headband don't overpower the baby's small face. Use white lace ankle socks and white mary jane shoes.

In baby pageants, your baby will most likely be scored on natural beauty, dress, and personality. It's hard to score a baby on poise, so personality is extremely important. This means that the contestant needs to be happy and smiling. Giggling on stage would be even better!

Arrange the baby's nap time and feeding time around the pageant schedule. Learn the schedule in advance and be prepared. for example, if your baby usually takes a nap at 2 p.m. and the pageant starts then, make sure your little one gets a good nap in before you have to be at the pageant. You can do this by starting several days before the day of the pageant by gradually changing the baby's nap time. GRADUALLY is the key word here. The same goes for feeding times.

You might also want to choose child pageants for your baby based on the age divisions. It's often difficult for a baby to compete with toddlers who can walk, wave, wink, and blow kisses. My ten-month-old granddaughter will be doing her first pageant in a couple of weeks, and she'll be in the 0-12 months age division. I don't thik we'd put her in a pageant now where the age division was 0-24 months. It would be hard for her to compete with the older kids. That's not to say that it's impossible for a baby to win against toddlers - sometimes they do - I'm just saying it will be tougher.

Practice getting your baby to smile and/or clap on cue at home. You might use a small toy, a silly face, or a hand puppet. Be careful, however, not to use the strategy so often that the baby no longer finds the prompt interesting or humorous.

When you're on stage, cock up one of your legs so that the baby can rest on your thigh. Spread the back of the skirt of the dress behind the baby, sort of on your midriff. Whisper to her, tickle the back of her neck - anything you can do to elicit a smile or laugh. If your baby is light enough, you might want to fold one of your arms across your chest and rest her on your forearm.