Getting the most from your Mascot Character Costumes
Whether you're a pro sports team, a
neighborhood restaurant, or a fortune
500 company, mascot costumes instantly
becomes the face of your organization.
Could you imagine Frosted Flakes
without Tony the Tiger, Disney World
without Mickey Mouse, or McDonald’s
without Ronald?
At Olympus we realize mascot costumes
are an important investment and can
help create a unique identity for your
organization, that’s why we are dedicated to ensuring you get the most out of your
mascot costumes. Utilizing our years of experience in the industry we have
accumulated some helpful tips that can be fun and provide a great return on your
investment at the same time.
Make the most of your mascot character costumes!
- Get involved in the community. Have your character costumes participate in local parades and charitable activities. (All people, any age, any size love mascot character costumes!). Plan on doing visits to your hospitals or join in area runs and races. Often times there are opportunities to participate in a mascot sporting event (soccer, basketball, etc.) at the half time of a local professional sporting event.
- Start setting a theme based on your character costumes. Work your Mascots character costumes into your literature or logo if possible. If in the restaurant industry create inexpensive placemats with your mascots on them for kids to color. Start a coloring contest so they will have to come back for a second meal with a colored placemat in hand.
- Be sure to send a press release to your local newspaper or TV stations announcing the birth of your mascot
- Get your mascots out in front of your store to draw attention and bring people in, especially when launching a new product or special. Have them pass out coupons on the street or just pose for pictures with the public.
- Let the community name your mascot. (Get people involved and familiar with your mascot.)
- Create a birthday program that offers the services of your mascot to appear at children’s birthday parties.
We would love to hear your success story. Contact us with your ideas and let us
know of unique ways you have used your mascot.
Mascot Character Costumes Performance Tips
Perfecting your ability as a character mascot will ultimately take practice and
spending time inside the suit, but here a couple of quick tips to get you on your way
to character mascot stardom:
Before the Event
- Hydrate!!! You will sweat---a lot. Be sure to drink plenty of water prior to performing
- Try to develop some signature moves (a walk, a dance move, a cheer), film yourself or ask friends or family to watch and give you feedback
- Practice watching yourself in a mirror, be sure to know exactly where your eyes, ears, nose, and mouth are
- Try to check out the venue before performing, look around for any potential hazards
- Check yourself out - after dressing look in a mirror or have a chaperone make sure you are completely in the character costumes.
During the Event
- Exaggerate – every movement will get drowned out inside the character costumes, be twice as big with everything you do
- Motion – stay in constant motion---never get caught standing still, walk-around, take a fake fall, dance
- Always stay in character – remember to your fans you are no longer you, but rather a fun loving mascot
- Never undress in public (this is a fireable offense at Disney), children will be heartbroken to realize that you are actually a human dressed as their favorite character
- Have fun with the kids, if they appear afraid try to get down on one knee or crouch down to make yourself appear smaller and less threatening
- Be sure to take regular breaks, on hot days you can suffer from heat exhaustion and frequent water breaks will be necessary
- Do NOT speak, unless you have a voice modulator on, 99.9% of mascots do not talk, learning effective non-verbal communication is essential, practice acting out various emotions