Beauty Pageant Tips: Keeping Kids Happy Backstage

Most child beauty pageants and toddler pageants include a lot of wait time. Contestants and parents might have to wait backstage or at another location for hair and makeup. Then they have to wait for their age division to begin so that they can do their beauty walk. If they’re entered in more than one event, like swimwear, casual wear, or outfit of choice, they might have time to wait for those to start, also, after they’re dressed and all ready for the event. After they’re done with all their stage walks, they have to wait for crowning. Depending on the age division, the number of contestants in the pageant, and on how the pageant is organized, wait time can be considerable. For girls who are old enough to understand winning, the time waiting for the crowning ceremony can be pretty uncomfortable.

The best way to keep your little girl happy is to keep her entertained backstage. That way, the wait won’t seem so long, and her mind will be taken off of being nervous about how she’ll place in the pageant. With this in mind, plan ahead of time to take some toys, games, or books with you to beauty pageants.

Of course, what you take in the way of entertainment will largely depend on the girl’s age and on her individual interests. Babies might enjoy rattles, hand puppets, or musical toys. Toddlers might enjoy simple games, books, blocks, or pull toys. Younger kids might also feel comforted by having their favorite stuffed animal in tow. Older kids might enjoy hand-held video games, iPods, or netbooks.

Keep in mind that other the kids in the same age group will usually be together in pretty much the same location backstage, and they often play together. In view of this, you might want to include a game or toy that encourages participation of more than one player.

If your daughter enjoys coloring or drawing, bring along a coloring book or some paper, along with some crayons or colored pencils. NEVER consider taking markers to a pageant! No matter how careful you are with them, they often find a way of getting on the child’s skin – or even worse – ruining the dress.

You might want to provide a special new toy for pageant day. Take your child shopping to pick out a toy or game before the pageant, but don’t allow her to open it and play with it until she’s waiting backstage at the pageant. This will give her something to look forward to and help keep her happy, excited, and smiling!

Pageant Stage Walk with a Toddler

When you enter a toddler pageant with your child, you might want to do the stage walk with your child, especially if she's under three years old. Keep in mind however, that some toddlers cna do the pageant walk all by themselves, and such kids will often score higher than one who was escorted on stage by a parent or other adult. Of course, judges don't expect young toddlers to go on stage by themselves. In this case, judges of toddler pageants won't deduct points for parent participation.

You might choose to walk with your toddler and hold her hand, or you might prefer to walk slightly behind the child. Do this only if she's old enough to understand to stop on the Xs. It's a BIG must for her to stop in front of the judges and remain there long enough for them to get a good look at her. She'll also need to turn on the Xs - with or without your help.

There's another important point you need to understand. Don't let your toddler "run wild" on stage. Some parents think this is cute, so they allow or even encourage this type of behavior. There should, however, be some sort of order to the pageant walk, even in toddler pageants. It's difficult for the judges to focus on a constantly moving target.

Another mistake some parents make in toddler pageants during the pageant walk is to allow their kids to remain on stage too long. Not only is this disrespectful to the other contestants and the pageant director, but it's not popular with judges, either. Each contestant is allotted a certain amount of time for their stage walk, in order to make the pageant fair and to ensure that the toddler pageant runs smoothly and on time. When you use more than your apportioned time with your beauty walk, you're cutting into someone else's time. A lot of judges will deduct points for contestants who remain on stage for too long.