Our First Pageant

We are currently getting ready for our first pageant. She is entering the local Preliminary for America's Cover Miss. Cover Miss is a glitz/modeling pageant organization-- however, the prelims are NOT glitz. You are not counted off for being glitzy, but the level of competition at the prelims is pretty low. Its the typical "mall pageant".

Cover Miss has been around for 20 plus years. I remember their system from both myself and a few friends of mine back in the day. At the prelims, you compete in beauty/formal wear ONLY and the rules about what is and what is not acceptable (Sunday dresses are generally fine) are much more loose than at the state/National level.

I felt this would be a great way to start. Low pressure-- we don't have to do anything other than just pluck a prom dress out of her closet. Gives her the opportunity to practice her walk, and to watch others and get an idea of what this world is all about.

Entry fees to prelim pageants are generally low. The mandatory fees tend to be in the 25-100 range, with optionals ranging from 10-25 per event. This particular pageant has a $40 mandatory beauty fee and the optionals (hair, smile, personality) are $10 each.. OR you can get the "full package" for $95. We're going all out and doing the $95 package, for kicks. In most pageants we do, we will enter all optionals (except talent), just to give moms an idea of the TRUE costs of pageantry.

The only expenses we have for this pageant are the following:

Entry Fees: $95
Shoes: $15 (we got some inexpensive shoes at Payless.. these won't work for later pageants but this one is small)
Nails: $35. We went with a mani/pedi this time. Will have to go acryllic when we start doing the glitz pageants
Dress: $0. We are using a dress that she had picked up for homecoming but decided not to wear. It is a floor length formal. Not a traditional "pageant" dress, but still a lovely formal.

So--$145 total is our cost on this pageant. We will have no hotel expenses and nominal gas expenses (its only 10 miles from our home). This is a VERY inexpensive pageant compared to some of our others on our list... but we will save that for a later edition ;)

Stay tuned for the next episode, where we will discuss the pageant, the results, and our initial impressions.

Lets Start From the Very Beginning

First, an explanation of what this blog is for, why I've decided to blog, and what I hope to accomplish.

After many years of pageant free life, my oldest step-daughter developed an interest in beginning pageants. This year marks our first year on the "circuit". We are doing a variety of pageants, from glitz, to natural, to scholarship pageants. Sara is 16, almost 17 and we are going to do as many pageants as we can afford in the next 2 years before she "ages out" of most pageants out there. Her younger sister is still deciding whether or not she would also like to participate. As of right now, she is not ready. I'm a bit of a nerd, so I've taken the scholastic approach to pageant research. I did pageants in my youth, but some things have changed in the past 20 years or so-- and I was rather surprised to find that in this digital age, there still isn't much in the way of information about the actual pageants themselves-- what to expect, what to do, what NOT to do... etc.

I've decided to blog both to chronicle our experiences in the pageant world and hopefully as to create a guide to navigating the pageant waters for those who are just getting started-- particularly those who are just starting in their teens (seems the most common age group is 4-7). I'm hoping at the very least that this blog will turn into a memento of our "pageant days"-- and at best perhaps it can help other moms out there.

So relax-- kick back, and enjoy the ride!!