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That is a bit of a bind for the owner. What if everyone who wears a costume gets one free drink? That would certainly defuse the cheapskate accusations. And is likely cheaper than however much the owner was paying out in prize money for a contest.

How did the owner fund the prize money for previous years' contests?

He usually does $75, $50 and $25 as the prize money. It comes out of his own pocket.

I wonder if the free drink idea would cost less. If 50 people dress up and say a drink costs $3 ( that's a guess) it would equal $150. I'm going to count to see how many costumes we have this yr.

The costume contest has been advertised all month, so there is no going back on it this yr.

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This year the manager decided to give out free champagne to all costumed singers. She opened a few bottles and every costumer got a glass or two. It probably didn't cost more than $25 for the bar and yet made the costumed singers feel recognized and special. One guy didn't drink champagne and got a free glass of wine instead.

I did Halloween at a pub for nothing.
It's a new landlord and he needs all the help he can get.
My sister lives 2 doors down from it and wanted to show them what we do.
Had a fantastic day. 4 till 11.30.

Thing is the regular KJ lost the days work.
He knew this before he started working there.
That KJ put £50 in a box for buying prizes for the kids.
Thought that was worth a mention.

Well further proof there is no way to run a "fair" contest. Last year the bar near us ran a costume contest. They left it up to audience applause to determine the winner. The bar owner (who I know personally) got numerous complaints from people complaining that the costumes that won were pretty lame and that the only reason those people won was because they brought the most friends (sound familiar? ). This year, my wife and I along with some friends went to that bar for Halloween and put our hats in the ring on the contest as well. To address the complaints from last year, they had 3 judges this year. Well low and behold when it was all said and done, a friend of ours that we ran into at the bar (not one we went with) was complaining to everyone he could find that the winning costumes were lame and that the only reason those people won was because they were regulars at the bar.

Ugh, again, so lame. Seriously, just avoid contests like this if you're not ready for people to complain. Otherwise make the prizes really basic and cheap so no one cares.

(BTW, in case you were wondering, our group won the Group Costume division of the contest, $100 bar tab was the prize )

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DJ Tony
Let It Rip Karaoke

It doesn't matter who wins or how it's determined. There will ALWAYS be someone who complains that it wasn't fair. The ONLY way to avoid it is to have a random drawing. Even then, I've seen people try to claim it was somehow rigged!
You can't win, no matter what!

Should have mentioned.
Because of his action.
Every single kid got a prize.

Thanks BigJer we did exactly what you said with a little variation. First we gave every contestant a paper name tag, their name written in big bold letters. Then we gave each a piece of paper to write their own name, then write the name of the person who he/she thinks has the best costume and should win. They cannot vote for themselves. Others will vote for them.

Walk around and check out the costumes of everyone, then write their name. The contestant who garner the most votes from their peers will be declared first prize winner. The second most votes will be second prize, etc.

That worked like a charm. I like it better because I have nothing to do with the judging process, so they can't blame me. Thanks again, BigJer.

The costume contest went well this year. So far I haven't heard a complaint.

I think what actually helped was one regular, who isn't well liked, that didn't win last year was complaining nonstop before the contest this year. He was telling anyone who would listen how unfair the contest is and he isn't dressing up. I heard him go as far as to say to someone, "Don't bother dressing up because it's rigged". I over heard it and told him to put a sock in it. He acted like a 9 yr old about it and I think most people realized how juvenile it sounds to whine about not winning. It made people talk about it and he managed to make himself look ignorant. No one wanted to be that person, so they defended the contest.

The contest always seems fair to me and usually the best costumes do win by applause. Last year the winner wasn't a regular and only had about 3 friends with her.

We usually have cash prizes, but one year the owner did the $100 bar coupon. It would have worked out fine, but he made the mistake of putting a 1 month expiration date on it. That made the group of regulars that come in with that guy upset and I didn't see that group come in for a long after they tried using up the coupon. Aaaarg!

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I still say it was rigged......