Actor & Staff Hiring
Actor & Staff Hiring
A great look fuels a great scare. Here's how to build a costume that fits your attraction — and stay warm doing it.
Bring your own costume — if you're a true Halloween nut, you'll want one anyway, and it's great to have in the closet for other events. As an independent contractor, your costume and makeup expenses are tax-deductible, so keep your receipts.
Great places to source pieces: thrift stores (we love Unique Thrift in Golden Valley) and eBay. Look for old wedding dresses, army clothes, hunting gear, men's suits, prom dresses. Take them home, wash or dry-clean them, then use scissors to tear them up and a can of black and brown spray paint to make them look dirty. Search Google Images for your character (try "scary costume" or, say, "grave keeper") for ideas.
Start with a base layer of your own black or dark clothing, then build from there. Your costume must fit your attraction — clowns belong in the Circus Asylum, aliens belong in the corn. If you show up as Batman, that doesn't fit. Logic is a big part of scaring; your costume should make sense.
Plan to spend $8–$10 of your own on makeup. Scream Town has a makeup trailer with tables, mirrors, and lighting, but bring your own small makeup bag with clean items (sharing brushes is bad for your skin) — and put your name on everything. You can do your makeup on-site or at home to save time. The trailer gets crowded: get in, do a good job, get out. Cover any normal-looking skin that doesn't match the rest of your look.
Temperatures can drop fast. Dress in several thin layers with a black outer layer, and bring a hat and gloves just in case — black disappears best in the dark. Don't worry if layers peek out from under your costume; your warmth matters more to us. Keep moving to stay warm. "I'm cold" is not an excuse for poor acting — that just means you weren't prepared, and you don't want to get sick.