And The Winner IS…!
Once again this year I had so many wonderfully inventive entries. I loved seeing everyone’s creativity when it comes to incorporating a hoop into your costume and in fact, creativity was one of the big factors in choosing a winner out of all the awesome entries. To recap the rest of the criteria, I was looking for:
- How well the hoop fit in with the rest of your costume. Was the hoop an integral part of your costume or just an afterthought? Hoops could have been used as a structural quality in your costume or as standard hula hoop, just as long as your costume made sense having that hula hoop there.
- Handcrafted elements. Entries that were handcrafted or had homemade elements scored higher than those that were store-bought.
And of course
- Thinking outside the box with your costume got you more points than common costume themes.
And before I present all the entries, let me remind you what was at stake. 2nd runner up receives a 30% coupon for anything from the Katie Sunshine Hoops store. 1st runner up gets a 50% off coupon and the grand prize winner gets a 31” Pumpkin Spice collapsible polypro hoop! Now, without further ado, here were the 2015 entries:
First, this happy little Minnie Mouse with her Mousettes entry from Savannah Hoopstar. I thought it was not only adorable she decided to get her two dogs in on the Halloween fun, but also appropriate Miss Hoopstar was Minnie Mouse since she helped me name a new three-hoop move “The Mickey Mouse.”
Speaking of hoop stars, you know you have reached celebrity status when people dress up as your fans for Halloween. It truly 
was the #yearoftheben for this next hooper who dressed up as the number fan of Benjamin Berry, The Fanicorn! Talk about hoopers supporting hoopers, it’s awesome to see such encouragement and support! This entry comes to us from Samantha Rogers a.k.a. Hoopleseed Rogers.
Next up is this grinning Cheshire Cat Submitted by Jenna Elizabeth. Complete with striped painted shirt, furry leg warmers, and color-coordinated hoops, this hoop cat is ready for the party!
I also had a couple of Instagram entries. The first is from @valeriejo416. She looks stunning as the hooping villian of the vines, Poison Ivy! Then from @katybabygems as the beautiful Princess Bubblegum with her candy hoop.
Here are two awesome entries by Erin Gainfran and both spectacular are costumes! The first as a happy hooping little bee and the second as Katniss Everdeen with a fiery hoop as her bow. You can tell she definitely had fun hooping in these costumes!
Erin wasn’t the only Kitness hooper this Halloween. Nancy Burns entered an awesome costume as Katniss in her 
fiery wedding dress. I love how she used red feathers to represent the flames on Katniss’s dress and her shiny hoop makes a perfect bow.
I also love this little Lava Girl having the time of her life all dressed up with her hoop! 
From Jenn Frederick comes this awesomely inventive Siren from the Sky! Her
hoops are covered with sparkly seaweed that I’m sure look spectacular when she hoops. I would love to see those celestial hoops in motion!
From Sirens in the Sky we go to ghouls from underground
with this entry from as Beetlejuice: 
Next up is this creepy ghoulish hooping doll from Jill Ellis:
Jane Deason sumbitted this costume as The Soulshine Warrior: 
Halloween is also the time to show off your superpower hoop moves in character as a superhero! I had two awesome superhero costumes submitted, both incorporating the hula hoop very well. First, from Saralee Mansker, Wonder Woman showing off her golden whip/hoop in action! Then is Sonic the Hedgehog complete with Golden rings (and an awesome Sonic hood!) from Jenny Faundez.
And now for the announcement of the winners! I was totally torn for the place of second runner up 
so it’s a tie between these two. Jaylyn Ellis submitted an awesome costume as the hooping Indiana Jones. I absolutely love the creative and successful use of a simple, black infinity collapsible hoop as her whip. In fact, after seeing this photo, I started seeing other Indiana Jones hoop costumes popping up, proof that is was so good it inspired some imitation.
Tied with Jaylyn is Grace Riemer as a hooping Steam Punk doll. I love the use of her altered hoops to look like gears and her makeup is fabulous!
The first runner up is Randi Boisen as Tina from Bob’s Burgers. This costume was so original, so well crafted, and uses the hoop so creatively as Tina’s tray.
And now, the grand prize winner is a perfect example of thinking outside of the box. I thought this costume was so imaginative and uses custom made hoops as an integral part of the costume not to mention the impeccable craftsmanship. Congratulations Kelsey Pippin for coming up with the winning design: “Atom” & Eve! 
Thank you to everyone who entered in the contest, I loved seeing all the costume ideas! Please comment and let me know what you think about 2015’s Hula Hoop Halloween costumes.