Halloween & Party Expo 2015

Just got back from the Halloween & Party Expo in New Orleans, Louisiana!  Wow!  That was FUN!  It's taking me a few days to recover, but it was well worth it.  My family turned this working convention into a week long vacation in the Big Easy.  It was just what I needed to get myself out of the rut of everyday life and get my creative juices flowing again.

On the retail front, get ready for another round of movie and media driven costumes for next Halloween. 

Did you fail to find an adult sized Elsa costume last year?  Never fear!  There will be a plethora of  Frozen Princess knock off costumes for 2015.  I never believed there could be so many variations on that one theme.  You'll be buried in an avalanche of sparkling aqua snowflakes.  Beauty and the Beast, Chattanooga will most likely be carrying the Fun World, Inc. Ice Queen in the $40 range for standard size and about $45 in plus.  The other good possibility is the Princess Krystal from Forum Novelties which will be closer to $50.  I believe either style is a better choice than the Disney brand one which premiered last year in the $60 range but was poorly made and to short.  At the time of this writing, the poorly received costume from Disguise is already on some discount sites for about $35.

Looks like American Horror Story has sparked a fresh interest in scary clowns.   While these never really left, the trend is moving away from the brightly colored "Killer Clowns from Outerspace" and toward the black and white variety.   Fans of "It" don't have to worry because Pennywise  looks like he's going to be strong for years to come.

My personal favorite is the new Annebelle costume with mask and wig from Rubies!  It comes in standard and extra large adult sizes.... but you'll just have to wait to see it! 

January - New Year, New Start

Don't worry, we're not dead!  Just going incognito for a bit while we take a much needed 'breather' after the Holiday Season.  Most people don't realize how crazy busy the last four months have been.  With the addition of our New Web Site and Blog, the Halloween prep actually started last summer, but it didn't get fully rolling until September.

September is, naturally, time to get ready for Halloween.   It's a month full of re-arranging the store, checking in merchandise and finding ways to squeeze all the cool the new stuff in with the regular stock while waiting on excited Halloween customers just getting a jump start on the season and looking at all the new trends and hunting for bargains as older styles move toward the clearance to make room.

October is all about the Scary!  It's longer hours at the shop to accommodate our customer's busy fall schedules.  The employees ran ourselves ragged showing off our staggeringly large selection of adult and children's sized costumes for sale to all our walk in customers while still trying to get more of the rental costume pictures up on the internet for our virtual shoppers.  We have high hopes of getting our more popular retail items and newest arrivals on line for next year.





November might seem like a rather dead time for the costume business, but it really isn't.  While Thanksgiving is the only major holiday, and not a big dress up party time, it does include a large number of school functions that require Native American and Pilgrim garb.  It is also the time to make the mad rush to "Hide the Scary and drag out the Merry."  Beauty and the Beast Costumes, Chattanooga often suffers from the heavy burden of trying to make an overnight switch from Halloween to Christmas without the benefits of huge space and massive numbers of staff so common with chain stores.  So, while our many happy Halloween rental customers were bringing back their costumes which needed to be sorted, washed, and put back on the racks... We were making the mad rush to clear space and bring the Christmas items out of storage and get them up for viewing as fast as possible.  November 2014 also heaped on the extra burden of trying to get some form of adult sized "Elsa" dress made in time to rent for the early December parties and parades. 





December is all about the Jolly Old Elf in a red suit and his friends.  It is always amusing how many people are dumbfounded by the concept that anyone ELSE would want to rent a Santa suit, a group of elves, Frosty the Snowman or Grinch costumes.  But, believe me when I tell you, there are A LOT of parties and parades and charity events that want to brighten the day with delightful costumed characters.  It is a full time job just keeping Santa's clothes clean and his hair sets washed and styled.  Then there is looking for those misplaced furry hands for mascots and cleaning or repairing the suits and heads after every party.  But it's FUN and it keeps us jumping!  The majority of Christmas shoppers have an idea of what they want, it's just a matter of finding a size and price range that fits their individual needs.

 


The first of January is always a little bit sad as all the pretty, bright and sparkly Christmas items have to be taken down and packed away again.  As much fun as it is to put up the decorations, it always seems a little disheartening to take them down.  But never fear!  Mardi Gras is just around the corner!  We're taking a little breather for now, cleaning the cobwebs out of the corners that just got pushed aside in the mad 4 month rush.  We're bringing out the unfinished projects and getting back to work on costumes for "Grease" the musical.

Frozen Princess Arrives in Red Bank

The long awaited Frozen Princess dresses are almost ready to go!  Beauty and the Beast, Chattanooga is proud to say that we've almost made our deadline to get these costumes finished in time for the Christmas Parades.  The dress shown is not 100% finished as it still needs to have the lining tacked down.  The dresses, 2 per size Junior, Standard, Plus and Texas Small, should be ready to go out late Friday Dec. 5 or early Saturday the 6th.  Each dress and jacket set will rent for $45 each.  Wigs sold separately.


As explained in our last post, this is NOT exactly 'Elsa' as her dress design is impractical as a rental.  These dresses are sleeveless, heavy bridal satin with sequin trim on the upper bodice.  The jacket is stretch velvet with sheer drape and silver sequin trim.

If you would like to see the dress, you may drive by the window at any time.  Santa, Mrs. Claus and the elves have graciously made room for this popular Christmas Wish.

Elsa - Progress

Good News:  YES!  Beauty and the Beast Costumes, Chattanooga is working on "Elsa" styled Frozen Princess dresses for adult sized rental.  These will be deluxe costumes that rent for $45 each.

Good News:  YES!  We will have an extra full run of 14 dresses, in our normal rental sizes, 4 each of Junior (XS-Sm), Standard (Md-Lg), Plus (XL-2XL) and 2 in size Texas Small (3XL-4XL) 

Bad News:  NO!  I don't know when they will be finished.  Currently, we have 14 dress and jacket sets cut out and are sewing 8 sets at the moment to try to cover all the parades, conventions, charity events and birthday parties as quickly as possible.  However, since I let the cat out of the bag that I was working on them, I've been getting hammered with inquiries wanting to know when they will be ready, what will they look like, and "What do you mean it's not going to look just like Elsa?"  These are things that are very difficult to explain over the phone, so let's try to answer those questions here.

Ok, the main question I'm getting is "When?" but the more difficult question is "What's it going to look like?  Will it look like the doll? the dress that was available for Halloween? the one on Once Upon a Time?"  The answer is NO, it will be unique to Beauty and the Beast as it would be copyright  infringement for us to make an exact copy PLUS those designs are totally unsuitable for rental.

My first problem was to re-design the costume to be sturdy enough to simply hang on a hanger.  The sheer fabric across the shoulders would never hold up a heavy dress on our rental racks.  The second problem was to make it a wearable costume that will look good on multiple sizes as each person cannot have a perfectly fitted bodice.  The only solution was to make a sleeveless 'under dress' with a bolero jacket to create the baby blue sleeve effect and hold the flowing cape.

Finally, I had to find machine washable fabrics in quantities large enough to make 14 identical costumes, at less than retail cost.  If the dresses had to be dry cleaned, it would ad an additional $10 to $20 to each rental price.  Expensive fabrics and trims drive the cost up even higher.  That would make Elsa rentals as much as $75 which would be out of the price range of most of our clientele. 

Here is what we figured out.  The under dress is a sleeveless version of McCall's 5206 Snow Queen.  The pattern was altered to have a full lining in the bodice for extra strength and comfort.  The dress is made of heavy bridal satin in a beautiful aqua color.  A matching sequin dot fabric adorns the chest area with a touch of extra sequin trim.

The bolero jacket is from Simplicity 2072 but will not close in the front.  It will be baby blue stretch velvet to lend strength to the garment and accommodate women with larger upper arms.  The attached flowing 'cape' will be from the McCall's 7000 pattern and be very light blue cotton chiffon with sequin trim.

Busy Elves at Beauty and the Beast

Everyone's favorite jolly old elf has arrived at Beauty and the Beast Costumes, Chattanooga.  Santa Suits for all your holiday events are now available to view, try on and book for your date.  You will find a wide variety of Christmas costumes for sale or for rent, including Santa Claus, Mrs. Claus, Elves for men, women or unisex, Angels, Snowman, Gingerbread man. 

Rental mascots include Grinch, Snowman, Reindeer (black or red nose), Nut Cracker and Rat King.

Deluxe Santa Suit $250 in Standard Size.  Super Deluxe Santa hair set $120
Sexy Elf in Green or Red (not shown) $34

Children's sized rental Christmas costumes include Angel and Elf (shown) as well as Sheep, Camels, Cows, Donkeys, and Shepherds for Nativity Pageants.

The white dress shown on left was originally made to be one of the "Swans a Swimming" for the 12 Days of Christmas, but makes an excellent Angel for groups who do not want to worry about wings on younger children.

Transition - Halloween to Christmas

Transitioning from Halloween to Christmas at Beauty and the Beast Costumes, Chattanooga can provide some strange scenes.  But don't worry, we'll have it sorted out soon enough.

If you were driving by at just the right time on November 5th, you may have seen store manager Susan Stringer changing the mannequins in the window.   Changing big, heavy mannequins isn't as easy as some people think, especially in a small space with large windows on two sides.  The easiest way to do it is to start with the mannequins next to the window then 'back' out the door, changing each one in turn. 

After changing the two elves shown above on the right, she removed the ghostly looking female and got Santa started.  When Mrs. Stringer stepped out to the parking lot to see if Santa was standing in the best lit spot, she noticed that Freddy Kruger seemed to be mincing the unsuspecting Jolly old Elf and his workers.

Don't worry!  Freddy was replaced with another bright, happy elf before closing time, lest he traumatize to many Citizens of Red Bank.

Inside the shop might be a little more frightening as Halloween decorations from the window got piled up in front of the Children's sized Clearance costumes.  A box of pumpkins and a treasure chest full of other decorations becomes a strange wrestling mat for the Zombie Babies.  Looks like Santa Baby isn't fairing to well.

Oh well!  Just another day in the life of a costume shop.

 ************UPDATE************

Santa and his Elves Prevailed! 

Back to Normal

Hours return to Normal!

Hours:  Monday-Friday 9-6, Saturday 10-2, Closed on Sunday

Beauty and the Beast Costumes, Chattanooga has been running on extended hours for the last three weeks of October.  We also stayed open until 7 pm on Monday, November 3rd for the convenience of customers returning Halloween Rental Costumes. 

If you failed to return your costume on that day, PLEASE remember to drop it off on your way into work or on your way home.  You can also send it back with a friend. 

If you need to MAIL it to us, that's OK, but you need to call us and let us know that it's on it's way.  (423) 870-3510

Send to: 
Beauty and the Beast - Costume Return
3708 Dayton Blvd.
Chattanooga, TN 37415

Be sure to include the NAME it was rented under to insure proper credit for your return and avoid prosecution.