Dance costumes are a big aspect of any performance, but choosing the right costume can be overwhelming! How can you create a cohesive look for your entire team? Whether you’re planning costumes for dance performances, cheer performances, competitions, or even just warm-ups, this step-by-step guide will make sure you have everything under control from start to finish! This no-stress dance costume guide will make it easy to create a powerful look your entire team is proud of!
Find Your Inspiration
First things first, you need to know what you’re looking for when searching for dance costumes. What type of costume are you looking for? Something to wear during warm-ups, competition costumes, uniforms, or team apparel. Search around for the latest trends in dance fashion! What are you seeing at competitions today? While it’s great to follow trends, remember to keep your team looking unique! At competitions, you always see a lot of duplicate costumes or similar designers. Look for something that’s on-trend but unique! For inspiration, check Instagram hashtags or Pinterest!
Check Your Inventory
What needs to be replaced? What is in good supply? Check with your dancers to see what apparel items are needed. Sometimes you’ll discover a lot of things are still in good condition and can continue to be used for another season. Things that tend to need replacement quickly include warm-up clothes, shoes, and accessories. Get official numbers on how many of every replacement you need and include these in your order counts.
Take Team Sizes
Team sizes and measurements are the most important part of costume planning. Sizes can change pretty quickly, especially for children, so you should always take accurate, recent measurements before placing orders. Refer to your apparel retailer on the right measurement guide to get accurate numbers for every dancer. Review the return process with your supplier to make sure you can secure accurate sizing if something comes in the wrong size for a dancer.
Look for Early Discounts
Many competitions involve different themes depending on the season. As soon as you know your season’s theme, you can place a deposit with your apparel company to get an early discount. Check with different apparel outfitters to see what discounts apply to your team! The earlier you start the process, the more money you can save!
Go Custom
While existing designs are easy and might work for some situations, it’s always nice for teams to have custom apparel! While costume gear might need to include more extravagant designs, warm-up apparel and team uniforms are best when customized. Add team members names, the team logo, and more to bring the team together! Alexandra Costumes carries a wide variety of dance costumes for competition including made to order options for customization!
Order Your Costumes
When ordering your dance costumes, make sure you get started early! This is why that early discount is so valuable! Remember you’ll need time to distribute costumes to dancers and make any adjustments before competition season. It can take between 4-12 weeks to receive your team apparel or costumes once you’ve ordered, so leave more than enough time to be safe! Keep track of your receipts, invoices, quotes, and shipping information throughout this process to stay on top of all steps!
Distribute Costumes
Once you receive your new costumes for apparel from your supplier, you’ll need to keep track of what you’ve received. Compare the invoice with the apparel received to make certain everything matches up. Once you’ve confirmed the numbers match what you ordered, pass out the new costumes to dancers. When passing out new costumes, keep track of who gets what and what size they received. This will make it easier to do inventory next season!
Have Dancers Try Their Costumes
The ordering process isn’t complete until dancers try on new costumes and confirm they’re the right size. While dancers might grow into costumes and apparel that’s a little bit too big, other types of adjustments need to be taken care of immediately. Everything needs to stay in place and look great to prepare for competition or performance. Have the dancers not only try on costumes but rehearse in them to ensure they’re competition ready.
Discuss Garment Care
Finally, your team needs to know how to properly care for their new apparel and costumes on their own. You might need to review care instructions with both the team and their parents, if necessary, to ensure proper care. When costumes are properly taken care of, they can last a lot longer! Speak to your costume supplier about the care instructions for each garment.
Enjoy Your Dance Costumes!
Now that you’ve successfully ordered and received your newest dance costumes and apparel, you’re ready to rock competition season with confidence! The right costumes allow dancers to look and feel their best! Always review how your costumes are holding up over the course of the season. You might need to make changes or order new accessories as the season goes on, so it’s important to stay on top of its performance. As long as you’re proactive, your dance costumes will look great all season!
