Highlights from the NCA National Convention

July 6 - 10, 2007 was the 80th National NCA Convention. We had an absolute blast in San Jose and Santa Clara, California. The convention was hosted by Debbie Lyn Owens, of Debbie Lyn's Costumes in Sunnyvale, CA.

The opening night party theme on Saturday was "Under the Sea": Be a sensation as a creative crustacean! Our friends at Spotlight Costumes in Pittsburgh, PA loaned us the King and Queen Neptune Costumes that my husband Myke and I wore. (Pics coming soon!).

Sunday night was "Bal Masque", this year's Showcase Competition. And what a competition it was. There were 19 different entries from costume shops around the country showing their best work and awesome creativeness. Floyd Nash (from Dillard School of the Performing Arts) and I modeled costumes entered by Kim Brown at Spotlight Costumes. The costumes we modeled won three awards: #1 masquerade costume (as voted by the audience), a memorial award for sewing and construction of the costumes, and Floyd won the memorial award for our makeup, which he applied.

Monday night was the annual auction, where we raise money for the NCA. By the way, the NCA (National costumers Association) is a non profit organization made up of costumers from around the world. Members are either costume professionals or independent costume shops who rent and/ or sell costumes. Annies Costumes and Extreme Halloween have been members of the NCA since 1989. The NCA has brought us so much, both in our professional and personal lives. We have learned so much from our piers over the years and the camaraderie and friendship is unbelievable. The only way to understand is to join, if you are a costumer or an independent costume shop, you don't know it, but your family is waiting!

So convention wrapped up Tuesday night with our closing night party, The President's Banquet. This year's theme was A Banquet by the Bay. The Grand International Award was given out to the costume pair called the Fairy of the Forest and Wizard of the Woods. These costumes were truly spectacular!

I know I have told you about the night time events, but the days are filled with activities too! There are many classes, including one I taught about internet marketing tips and tricks. We also have business meetings, when we carry on the business of the organization and vote on important issues. There are also gatherings for membership forum and shop talk and my favorite event at conventions: The Creative Style Show. For this event, 10 shops are sent the same box of material, trims and notions and the audience gets to see the 10 completely different but equally awesome costumes that started out as the same box of STUFF. Of course, we no longer have a sewing facility or costume designer on hand, so we don't make costumes for this event, but it is so thrilling to see what different designers from different parts of the country come up with using the same materials.