It’s time for a contest boys and girls! Don’t even start thinking about how to butter us up though – we’re using Celebrity Bloggers to pick the winners. Feel free to butter them up instead (they probably like baked goods as much as we do).
The prize:
Four lucky winners will receive all those cool candies I talked about yesterday (pictured above) and some additional items as well. All in all, you’ll get about 10 lbs of candy to share with your friends, family and all the trick-or-treaters who come a-callin’ on October 31. No one’s going to force you to share, though, so if you want to keep it all for yourself make sure you read our candy storage tips.
The rules:
To enter the contest, leave a comment on this post telling us about your cool and timely Halloween costume for this year. The costume idea should relate to current events, world news or pop culture. For example, I was planning to dress up as health care reform, but I don’t think it will be ready by Halloween. (Get it? It’s a crack at how long it’s taking Congress to devise some acceptable health care legislation. Okay, maybe that’s only funny inside the Beltway.)
You can also qualify for extra chances to win. Mention our contest and provide a link on Twitter, Facebook or your own blog and leave a separate comment showing us that you’ve done so. After our Celebrity Bloggers each pick a winner, the Candy Dish Blog staff will give away an additional prize to a randomly selected person who helped us promote the contest. So, for those of you keeping score, that means we’re actually giving away FIVE prizes.
Your entry must be received by Thursday, October 22. We’ll announce the winners on Friday, October 23 Monday, October 26.
The Judges:
Picking contest winners time after time is a lot of pressure for your devoted Candy Dish Bloggers, so we’ve enlisted the help of some well-known writers from the blogosphere. Please welcome our Celebrity Bloggers:
Celebrity Blogger #1
Name: Kyle Ryan
Blog: www.avclub.com
Favorite Candy: Dark Chocolate M&Ms, Twix, Ghirardelli squares with caramel filling
Best Halloween Memory: When I dressed as Osama bin Laden in 2000 and no one knew who that was—I finally just told people I was “terrorist.”
2009 Halloween Costume: Matt Damon’s character in The Informant, because I totally had his hair in ‘91
What You’ll be Looking for as You Select a Contest Winner: Willingness to look beyond the obvious and do something creative
Celebrity Blogger #2
Name: Lois Kim
Blog: The Daily Grub at http://blog.grubhub.com/
Favorite Candy: Sour Patch Kids
Best Halloween Memory:My best Halloween memory is baking a cake that resembled a haunted grave yard for my fifth grade Halloween party. It was a chocolate cake decorated with Oreos as tombstones, topped of with gummy worms and spiders, and made ghosts out of Popsicle sticks. I went dressed as a green M&M but refused to wear both gloves that came with the costume, so I went with one white glove on.
2009 Halloween Costume: Undecided [ed. note - perhaps Lois will "borrow" one of your ideas!]
What You’ll be Looking for as You Select a Contest Winner: I will be looking for creativity of their costume and details. Then, I will look for how relevant the costume is to current popular trends. Ultimately, it is important that the costume stands out and its originality.
Celebrity Blogger #3
Name: Mark Wilson
Blog: www.gizmodo.com
Favorite Candy: Mr. Goodbar
Best Halloween Memory: Combining 4 different monster limbs and going as a mutant – nobody got it.
2009 Halloween Costume: I always have a great idea in June and blank out 2 weeks before. I’m in the panic stage again.
What You’ll be Looking for as You Select a Contest Winner: I’m looking for ruthlessness.
Celebrity Blogger #4
Name:Rachel Hobson
Blog: http://averagejanecrafter.blogspot.com and http://blog.craftzine.com/
Favorite Candy: This one is tricky, because I love soooo many! No wonder Halloween is a favorite holiday for me! I’m actually not a huge chocolate person – I’ll take caramel over chocolate any day. That said, I also love fruity candies and I collect PEZ dispensers. Some favorite candies are Reese’s Pieces (I also collect E.T. Memorabilia but I don’t know which came first – my love of Reese’s Pieces or my love of E.T.), Sour Patch Kids, Butterfinger and Twizzlers.
Best Halloween Memory: I remember when the Bangles’ song “Walk Like An Egyptian” was really popular, and my mom made an Egyptian costume. I wore eye liner and fake press on nails and felt really cool. Later, in high school, some friends and I mixed up a gallon of fake blood and just poured it all over ourselves and went trick or treating. That was a blast. These days, I’m enjoying Halloween as a parent – helping kids pick costumes and trick-or-treating in big family groups through the neighborhood. I’m just waiting for them to ask how to whip up a gallon of fake blood.
2009 Halloween Costume: A few months ago, we thought it would be fun – as a family – to go as characters from Coraline, but we haven’t been able to get it together. Every year, I vow to go as Rosie the Riveter, but usually I end up waiting too long and have to resort back to my standbys of blood/zombie.
What You’ll be Looking for as You Select a Contest Winner: Something that really makes me laugh. I’m a big fan of laughing. Bonus points for anything that involves gettin’ crafty, of course!
Good luck folks. Be creative and original and be sure to enter by October 22.
ED. NOTE – This is a family friendly site. Please keep that in mind as you enter your comment. As commenter Alison notes below, it’s possible to be topical without being mean spirited (or dirty).
