How BuyCostumes Photo Shoots are done!!!

Ever wonder what really happens behind the scenes of a real live, NOT America’s top model photo shoot?

Hours of planning, structuring, and interviewing go into a shoot. A group of wonderful characters from all walks of life compromise the team-people who you never would think about add to the success. First, the photographer extraordinaire (duh).

Secondly, the photographer’s assistant (the person who helps with lighting, setting up, keeping things moving and doing coffee runs…), stylists (the people who steam the costumes, set them up on the models, who are ON set making sure that not one thing is out of place, pinning them to the models, making sure they look their most absolute best) the hair and make-up people who literally transform great looking people to killer HOT looking people or models into literal nightmares…..

And let’s not forget about the costume designer (me!), the crew that made the samples and without fail, the gorgeous faces and bodies who wear the costumes in front of the camera.

We’ve taken a nice sampling of shots from our most recent photo shoot-costumes, wigs and props for this Halloween 2008. You can most likely figure out who the players are……I’m the old lady in the group….Lori Joory, the designer. (After seeing this, I’m planning on coloring my hair to its color of 20 years ago as well as consulting a reconstructive surgeon….ha, ha!!!) Hope you enjoy the pictures…the shoot was a blast and it was wonderful to see the ideas in my head come to fruition so beautifully….

Special thanks, not necessarily in order…..Dan, Erich, Matt, Gina, Laurel, Crazy Pretty, Jordan “Bree”, Tamara, Nick, Denzell my Favorite Kid, Carolyn, Tessa, Emily, Bill, Tyler, Sharon, Brita, Carrie Mac, Lauren, Baby Doll, Samantha, Jalem, Dan and Neil.

Have a great Halloween everyone. Don’t forget to check out our section of exclusive costumes to see some of these in real life!

Feel free to ask me questions you may have on anything related to this OR the design process at lorij@buyseasons.com!

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Iron Man - The next big costume trend?

With the blockbuster release of "Iron Man" over the weekend, we saw another superhero movie put up huge numbers at the box office. In past years, superhero movies "Spiderman", "Superman", and "Pirates of the Caribbean" had box office success which translated into a lot of interest from the costumes depicting the main characters from these action packed movies.

Looking at trends set by these previous movies, we can expect Iron Man to be a big costume hit this Halloween!

So make sure you don't fall behind the trends and get your iron man kids costume or iron man adult costume before everyone else! Don't forget about iron man party supplies either!

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Donate your kid's old Halloween costumes!

It is the same old story every year - your kids wear their Halloween costumes for one Halloween and then want to be something completely different the next year. That's fine, kid's interests and tastes change and they outgrow old costumes. It is to be expected. But what happens to all of those old costumes? If it's anything like my house, they'll sit in the closet for years and won't see the light of day ever again. Well, that isn't putting them to good use at all.

Rather than letting them rot in your closet, donate them! Here is a short list of places that will accept your old children's costumes and put them to good use:

• Goodwill
• The Salvation Army
• Your local schools
• Children's Hospitals - Throughout the nation
  
• Your local churches

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Halloween Costumes Make Great Year Round Gifts!

How many of you have seen photos of yourself or an older sibling dressed in dad gear, wearing huge Allen Edmonds, dragging a briefcase down the hallway? I was famous for digging out my mother’s wedding gown, veil, pillbox hat, and stiletto heels and tripping around the house – and even the muddy back yard! My family has hundreds of such memories captured on film.

These days, thanks to the prevalence of well made, high quality Halloween costumes, there’s no longer a need to dress up in mom’s old cruise wear and saunter around the house in heels way too big. If that’s the style your little girl is looking for, I’m sure there’s a kids costume that’ll be a perfect substitute.

If you have kids of your own or if you just want to earn favorite uncle or aunt status, start a dress up collection for the kids in your family.

If you don’t know where to start, you can’t go wrong with any High School Musical costume. And it’s not just girls who go gaga for these…. Boys idolize Troy too. So this is a perfect family pick. The kids will be entertained for hours! And, if you play a CD of the music, so will anyone else in the room. It’s amazing how well young, carefree kids can perform!

Another great gift idea for any young girl is the Deluxe Hannah Montana costume, complete with wig. If you can’t get Hannah Montana concert tickets for your kids, have them perform their own show at home. It’ll be much less expensive and will promote singing and dancing in your house.

Superheroes always go over well! Who doesn’t want to save the world from evil and look cute doing it! A few classics to pick from are Batman, Robin, Wonder Woman and SuperGirl. If you want to be timely, just find out which movies are popular and buy the corresponding costume. Spiderman and Transformer’s Optimum Prime are two real popular costumes for kids right now.

Princess costumes, Disney in particular, are also must haves for any young girl and one can never have too many… Boring old slumber parties can turn into fantasy princess parties if there are enough costumes to go around.

If you have an extended family that gets together for celebrations, pick up some costumes to accompany the theme. For example, with Easter right around the corner, think of how much fun it would be to have the kids hunting for eggs dressed up as bunnies or chicks? Easter costumes, Thanksgiving costumes, Christmas costumes, if you celebrate it, you can find kid costumes for it.

So make it easy on yourself and add Halloween costumes to the list of potential gifts for the little ones in your family. They make the perfect stocking stuffer, Easter Basket filler, birthday present, or surprise gift.

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BuyCostumes.com the Most Visited Costume Website

NEW YORK, NY – October 25, 2007 – The search term “hannah montana costume” was the most popular among all U.S. Internet searches that contained the phrase “costume” for the week ending October 20, 2007 according to Hitwise, the leading online competitive intelligence service.

Top U.S. Costume Searches for the 4 weeks ending 10/20/07

• hannah montana costume
• master chief costume
• pirate costume
• wonder woman costume
• little red riding hood costume
• hannah montana halloween costume
• tinkerbell costume
• pippi longstocking costume
• flapper costume
• raggedy ann costume

Note - the search term data is based on the volume of all US searches for the four weeks ending 10/20/07 from the Hitwise sample of 10 million users. Source: Hitwise

The websites receiving the most traffic from the term “hannah montana costume” were Costumzee.com, PriceGrabber.com, Celebrate Express, Target.com and Shopzilla. Other popular costume searches included Halo 3’s Master Chief, pirates, Wonder Woman, Little Red Riding Hood, and Tinkerbell. The top descriptive search terms used for Halloween costumes include perennial favorites such as sexy, funny, homemade and cool. Also among the popular descriptive searches were “cheap halloween costume ideas” which increased 305 percent and the term “adult halloween costume” which increased 336 percent versus last year.

“Retailers no longer have to guess at what the hot costumes will be for Halloween,” said Bill Tancer, general manager of global research at Hitwise. “Thanks to the availability of Internet search data, we have indications as to the most popular costumes months in advance.”

Top Visited Online Costume Retail Websites
Custom Category of Top Visited Online Costume Retail Websites
(Week ending October 20, 2007)

1
BuyCostumes.com
www.buycostumes.com
34.53%

2
Halloween Express
www.halloweenexpress.com
11.49%

3
Spirit Halloween
www.spirithalloween.com
11.19%

4
Costume Super Center
www.costumesupercenter.com
5.61%

5
AnniesCostumes.com
www.anniescostumes.com
4.88%

6
Costume Hub
www.costumehub.com
4.48%

7
Costume Craze
www.costumecraze.com
4.28%

8
Zoogster Costumes
www.zoogstercostumes.com
4.06%

9
Halloweenmart.com
www.halloweenmart.com
3.99%

10
anytimecostumes.com
www.partylounge.com
3.68%

Source: Rankings are based on U.S. market share of visits among a custom category of 22 of the leading costume websites for the week ending October 20, 2007 (Sunday – Saturday) from the Hitwise sample of 10 million U.S. Internet users. Source: Hitwise

Buycostumes.com was the most visited website amongst a custom category of 22 leading online costume retailers for the week ending October 20, 2007. The website received 34 percent of all U.S. traffic to the custom category. Following Buycostumes.com was the Halloween Express website, which received 11.5 percent of visits, and the Spirit Halloween website was next receiving 11.1 percent. Additionally, Buycostumes.com was the most visited website in the Shopping and Classifieds – Apparel and Accessories category for the same week.

Furthermore, traffic to the top 22 websites in this custom category increased 2 percent for the week ending October 20, 2007 versus the same week last year.

Weekly Hitwise Retail Index Update
Please visit our blog to see the most recent weekly update on the top 100 retail websites from the Hitwise Retail Index.

About Hitwise
Hitwise is the leading online competitive intelligence service. Only Hitwise provides its 1,400 clients around the world with daily insights on how their customers interact with a broad range of competitive websites, and how their competitors use different tactics to attract online customers.

Since 1997, Hitwise has pioneered a unique, network-based approach to Internet measurement. Through relationships with ISPs around the world, Hitwise’s patented methodology anonymously captures the online usage, search and conversion behavior of 25 million Internet users. This unprecedented volume of Internet usage data is seamlessly integrated into an easy to use, web-based service, designed to help marketers better plan, implement and report on a range of online marketing programs.

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Funniest Halloween Costumes

1. Cross Dressing.
This gets me everytime. I will never forget being in the student union on a college campus one Halloween and seeing a man walking to class in a baby pink mini-dress with pink matching heels. There is just something very funny and classic about men dressed as women and women with mustaches.
This is a favorite of mine.


2. Best Potty Humor.
You grow up, but you never grow out of potty humor. It's the truth. Bodily functions will always be popular with my 12 year-old brother and 27 year-old boyfriend alike. While I was writing this, one of my co-workers burped. Point made.

3. Sexy yet Funny

The sexiness of the costume gets you noticed, but now how do start the conversation? Humor is a great ice breaker and it's halloween, add some bad pick up lines. Pick up lines that include "angel", "light my fire" and "purr-fect" are horrible unless it is Halloween and you are actually speaking to an Angel, Fireman or Black Cat. No one can take you seriously dressed in a zebra patterned outfit (refer to above).

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Action-Gettin' Costumes!

Every costume website has a “Top Ten” Most Popular/Most Requested/Most Flirtatious list. Heck, we are even guilty of it. People have a right to know! But let’s be honest, any half-wit could figure out that PIRATES are the costume of choice by college co-eds and short business men with a penchant for owning Porsches alike (“Size Issues” are remedied with a plethora of phallic sword accessories). What smart, fun, and cutting edge folks (like you) want to know is: What Costumes Are Going to Get You Some Action at the Club/Bar/Pub This Halloween?

300 - Spartan Deluxe Costume

Sure you have brains…but what women really want is: Brawn. This one is for you Mr.-Mis-Led-In-The-90’s-And-Made-To-Believe-That-Women-Look-For-Sensitive-Men-With-Thought-Provoking-Dialogue Man (Thanks sappy sitcoms). Truth be told, women are happiest staring at your dreamy physique. The upside for you: All your grunting and sweating at the gym will not be in vain. No, no, manly man of manly proportions! You are giving hope to an entire gender! Captivate her with your battle wounds. Send scintillating shivers down her spine with your alpha-male exterior. At the end of the night, she is going home with you. And do you know why? It’s because she won’t be able to take her eyes off your sword.

Fireman Costume

Firemen are the closest guys to a knight-in-shining-armor that the modern gal is going to encounter. It’s unfortunate that most of these prince charmings only appear when a room is completely engulfed in flames. Risking their lives and showing selfless determination in helping all of human kind…well, this is the very behavior that has perpetuated the creation of Firemen Calendars. We’re not saying that ladies can’t take care of themselves, but sometimes (just SOMETIMES) she’s looking to be rescued. Whether you are saving Ms. Ordinarily Independent from the doldrums of her corner-office existence or just the creepy dude at the end of the bar, one thing is for sure: NOTHING is as completely irresistible as a man in uniform. Nothing.

Snake Charmer Costume

I know what you are thinking: WHAT?!?! This is crazy. I am going to scare off every single chick in the joint! Let’s face it: Every woman thinks about it - well, maybe not every 6.8 seconds - but it’s on their minds. Think of this get-up as more of a “conversation starter” rather than a “chick magnet”. How many times has this happened to you: The bar is packed, and just when you want to bounce to that late night diner for a low-key recap of the evening’s events, the crowd parts. She meets your gaze and you are instantly reduced to a fraction of your usual intellectually-stimulating self. Panicked that she is going to leave OR that you will never think of something great to say, all at the same time, you make your grand attempt to woo her. Stealthy walk to exude confidence? Check! Great Pick-Up Line? NEGATIVE! After nervously tapping her on the shoulder, you awkwardly stammer, “Uh, do you, um, want to a-dance?” What is this, the *expletive* prom?!? You know what you need, right? A wing man (Too easy - we’ll let you come up with your own witty repartee here)! Bottom Line: Your little “friend” proves that you have a good sense of humor and a knack for obscure pop-culture references – keep the banter tame and you’ll unveil all the forbidden fruit you can handle.

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Nostalgia: 80's Costume Ideas

What were the 80's? A time when neon clothing was fashionable? A time when the Atari video game system was 'state of the art'? A time when Prince could sing about "partying like it was 1999" and it seemed like that was ages away?...Bueller?

With Halloween just around the corner, why don't you give the 80's a deserving
tribute by dressing up as something iconic from this wonderful decade? Here is a list of our top 5 easy to put together costumes that just scream 80's.

5. Teen Wolf
Everyone knows the story - Michael J. Fox's character is horrible at basketball and tired of being "average" (I know, everyone's biggest worries in life). Luckily, he has the power to turn into a "not so average" 5 foot teenage werewolf, basketball playing machine that can fly through the air and single handedly defeat other high school teams. Kind of like LeBron James in high school, minus the whole being a short werewolf thing. As ridiculous as the movie was, Michael J. Fox's character makes for a great 80's throwback costume.

For the full effect, you'll need to get a yellow basketball jersey, a werewolf makeup and hair kit, some yellow basketball warmup pants, and a long sleeve white shirt (to wear under the jersey).

Everyone's favorite neighborhood Werewolf

4. 80's Workout Queen/King
AKA the Jane Fonda fashion revolution, consisted of spandex, headbands, lycra, and anything else that might hurt your fashion sense. These outfits were great for people who wanted to work out and look as ugly as possible doing so. But let's not beat a dead horse, the 80's workout queen/king can be a great 80's nostalgic costume!

To pull this costume together you really need to get some spandex. The brighter the colors, the better. Accessorize the costume with some arm and head sweatbands to complete the look. Try and mismatch colors as much as possible for that perfect 80's effect.

Wow...just...wow *cringe*

3. Pee Wee Herman
Current legal troubles aside, Pee Wee Herman was one of the biggest child icons of the 80's. What kid didn't want to hang out in his Playhouse with all that crazy talking furniture? His unique way of talking, coupled with his childlike antics made kids everywhere love him.

You'll need a vintage grey suit, red bowtie, and black costume hair coloring for the complete costume.

Probably not his best picture, but tell me again how he ever became popular?

2. Rubik's Cube
The popularity of this 80's toy is undeniable, with over 100 million cubes sold in the early 80's. Adults and children alike were anxious to get their hands on this frustratingly addictive toy.

Can I ask why? This seemingly impossible toy lead to countless hours of frustration and anger in my household. Making any sort of progress on it was next impossible, especially when siblings would mess up any progress made the minute they laid their logic-less little hands on it!

Regardless of my personal feelings on the cube, it still makes a great 80's throwback costume. To make this costume you'll need to be a little crafty. Get a big black cardboard box and cut arm and head holes in it. Get appropriate colored construction paper and cut them into squares and cover the box with the paper. You'll obviously want to measure out the size of the paper squares in relation to how much surface area is on the box so everything looks right.

They should change the name to the "Wasted Hours Cube"

1. Pac-Man / Ms. Pac-Man
This early video game...thing gobbled up nearly all of my weekly allowance in the 80's, much like he gobbled up his favorite yellow pellet treats. The goal of the game was great for like-minded Americans...eat everything! Pac-Man wasn't a picky eater, he would eat anything from ghosts and steroid pellets to fruit and ice cream. The only thing keeping Pac-Man from being overweight was the exercise he got from his constant pursuit of food!

Great instructions on how to make a Pac-Man costume can be found at Coolest Homemade Costumes

Feed me now!

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Top Rated Halloween Costumes

BuyCostumes.com is featuring Ratings and Reviews of the Products for Halloween 2007.

The customers have spoken and here is what they said.............

Top Rated Women's Halloween Costumes
1.Vixen Pirate Wench -
"This costume is great, the price is soo good it's a steal for the quality of this costume! It is a hot though, but beauty is pain!"
2. Mile High Captain Plus Adult -
"The fit is true to its size and it's very comfortable. The company is also great I already have recommended this site to my friends and family."
3. StoryBook Dorothy Adult Plus-
"With all the Dorothy costumes on the market, single this one out as the one to get!"
4. Flocked Vampiress Adult
Great Costume fits great best purchase ever."
5. Tiger Lily Adult-
I wore this costume to a themed party for our kids and got dozens of compliments - from the kids and the parents!"

Top Rated Men's Halloween Costumes
1.Michael Myers Adult-
"This costume is the best, you'll have the best times with this suit. Not only are you going to scare other people, but what ever crosses your way, lol!! I have it and it was a great source for Halloween!"
2. Cutthroat Pirate Adult-
"This costume is an excellent value for the money. It pretty much has EVERYTHING."
3. Musketeer Adult -
"The product shipped even faster than promised. It came with a ton of accessories which makes it a fantastic bargain. You can also depend on the fact that the costume will look just like the picture. I will definitely buy from this site in the future."
4. Jeeves, the Headless Butler-
"I have purchased three costumes from BuyCostumes.com and by far this one is the scariest yet! I wanted it last year, but waited too long and it sold out before I could buy it. If you think the Grim Reaper was scary...you 'aint seen nothing yet!"
5. Tooth Fairy Plus Adult-
"We give a Halloween party ever year. We are always trying to beat last year's costumes. This costumes is really cute and my husband is adorable in the tutu."

Top Rated Girl's Costumes
1. Little Red Riding Hood-
"The dress its self is very cute. Easy to put on and good quality. The cape is also good quality well put together. Not for warmth. Very happy with this purchase."
2. Beauty and the Beast Disney Belle Deluxe Child -
"This was for my 5 year old granddaughter. She loves it and she is so pretty in it. I would buy it again."
3. Trick or Treat Child -
"My daughter wore this last year for Halloween and she looked so pretty. She got a lot of complements on this dress. I recommend this costume especially if you live in a warm climate because of the short sleeves."
4.Charm School Witch Child -
"The price was great!! Quality of the item was good as well as comfort. Loved the overall look of the costume."
5.Corpse Bride Child -
"This is a great one! Thought it would just be a cheesy knockoff, but really well done. We added all the accessories and while it, my 5 year old is not so fond of the wig. This costume fits her perfect! She adores it, I'm happy!"

Top Rated Boy's Costumes
1. Universal Studios Monsters Frankenstein Child -
"Great costume for the price. All you need is a little green and black face paint and you are good to go."
2. Ghostbuster Child-
"This costume is very realistic. My 6 year old son could not wait to put the costume on. The fabric is very strong and will not tear. It is also light enough to wear in the warm climates for Halloween. This is a must buy for any child."
3. Zombie Doctor Child -
"This product is all complete and very well put together. Not many costumes come with so many pieces for 1 price. So it's definitely a great deal for the price"
4. Harry Potter-Death Eater Child -
"My son has gotten so much mileage out of his Gryffindor robe and HP wand I didn't mind getting him the the DE costume at all. He's been wearing it about for play time and of course he needed an evil wand to go w/ it so we got Draco Malfoy's and he's complete! My son is 4'8" and we got the size large and it's not too long at all. My suggestion is to go bigger than their size so you can get more time out of it. These aren't just fun for Halloween!"

Check out these products and other Top Rated items by using the sort by function on the top left hand side of the products page.

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The day in the life of a Halloween Costume

This is it - the day I've been so anxiously waiting a whole year for. The day when I am picked over all others in the closet. The day when I finally get to reunite with my old buddies, mask and costume accessory. The day my buddies and I come together for one common goal...to get candy. My day to shine.

Mmm...Our Goal

As the group assembles for our yearly candy assault on the neighborhood, I notice the usual cast of characters arriving. My long time friends witch costume, princess costume, and ninja costume are here and are just as excited to get started as I am. Once everyone arrives, we finally get to go.

My Good Friends

House after house people give us mounds of candy, some good candy, some bad candy, but very plentiful. Compliments are plentiful as well. We hear the typical "You're so cute" and "That's a great costume" comments, enough in our minds to warrant more than once a year costume usage. Our candy search is a great success!

Once the route is finished, we know our day is over. We say our goodbyes, knowing that it will be another full year before we get to reunite and take over the neighborhood in search of candy. But rather than dwell on not seeing each other for a full year, we congratulate one another on a candy job well done.

After saying our goodbyes, we all retreat to our respective houses. We are taken off and put back in our usual spots in the closet. We created a lot of great memories today and will continue to do so for years to come. Though we'd like to be a bigger part of your lives, we are very grateful for the day you have dedicated to us.

No other combination of closet items does what we can. On our day, we invoke a wide array of reactions from those who see us. We can frighten, scare, make people laugh, and even make people stare. From superheros to scary monsters, we allow our wearer to experience life from a whole new perspective. And most importantly, we alone have the power to extract obscene amounts of candy from our entire neighborhood, city, or even state!

See you next Halloween!

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New 2007 Costume Trends

Sexy

364 days out of the year it's "business casual" or "jacket required." On the 365th. why not toss the rules aside and strut your stuff? Sexy costumes are some of the most popular choices every year on BuyCostumes.com. Wait, I know what you’re going to say — sometimes sexy costumes are, well, maybe just a little too sexy. But, for those of us that want to have fun with the va-va-va-voom, while maintaining a shred of decency (and maybe dignity), relax — there's quite a large selection out there of risqué, but not risky, attire. Think vampy, not trampy. Oh, and "sexy" doesn't have to mean "rail-thin," either. You can find well over a hundred great examples in plus sizes, too.

Outrageous
In my experience, you get the most fun out of Halloween in a humorous costume. People stop you and say, "That’s hilarious," or "Awesome! Where did you get that?" I'd take a pass on the more vulgar varieties, though, unless you're planning to move out of town the next day. Pick out something outrageous rather than tacky. Humorous costumes make for great group themes or they can stand alone and create quite a buzz at any party. Costume Contest Alert — wear a funny costume and your chances of winning go way up!

Kid-iculous
Ever look back on those pictures from your childhood Halloweens and say, "Mom, how could you have dressed me up like that?" Well, don’t think for a minute that she didn't know exactly what she was doing. Parents, Halloween is the perfect opportunity to dress up your babies in the silliest outfits imaginable! It gets a laugh out of neighbors, family and friends — and makes for an ideal for photo op (think holiday cards for this year).

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