Our family of five just returned from a week at the America's National Teenager Scholarship Organization (ANTSO) pageant.

Two of my three daughters competed and I know firsthand how stressful and crazy it can be for a family at a national pageant.

We drove 8 hours to Philadelphia for the pageant and I wanted to share some tips with you that made our pageant life a bit easier this week.

Tip 1: Fill one suitcase with food. Put the food in a large suitcase for a couple reasons. First, it looks more professional than a bunch of plastic bags when you're checking into the hotel; and secondly, things won't fall out as you're taking them into the room.

My pageant food list is instant oatmeal, vacuum packed tuna, raisins, plain almonds, peanut butter, whole wheat/low sodium crackers, energy drink (Ocean Spray Cranenergy low sugar/low calorie) cases of bottled water, plain Cheerios, Goldfish crackers, and snack pack of prunes.

Except for the water, I pack this even when I fly. This food doesn't require refrigeration and will fill in the gaps with protein and complex carbs when you don't have time to eat at the restaurant, or when a restaurant isn't close enough to the pageant sight. When I drive, I also bring under ripe fruit like bananas and peaches. Trust me. You'll save yourself time, money and stress by bringing some of your own food.

Tip 2: Make sure you have AAA or some auto plan before leaving home if you're driving to the pageant. Dead batteries, flat tires and locked in keys happen more often than you think. Also, take about $200 in cash for toll roads, fast food and other misc. expenses that don't take credit cards, or if their computers are down.

Tip 3: Get food for contestants while they're in rehearsals. If you don't bring food with you, then get carry out food while the contestants are in required activities. This is a great activity for husbands, dads, boyfriends or other family members who are there to support you. That way when the contestants break, they can eat and relax a bit in the room before they start activities again. Always have bottles of water with you. You don't want the contestants to get lightheaded or get a headache due to dehydration.

Tip 4: Buy a box of gallon and quart sized storage zip lock bags to take to the pageant. Use these to organize everything from jewelry to wardrobe malfunction kits. I put all parts of each competition into a separate baggie and labeled it. You see, no one was allowed backstage at the national pageant. The contestants had to be completely self reliant and organized-even the nine year olds. Baggies will save your sanity.

Tip 5: Put some safety pins, double stick tape, tissue, and moistened towelettes in a baggie to send back stage with your contestant. Stuff happens. But if you're ready for it, the stress is almost non-existent. I always have a small sewing kit with me too.
Tip 6: Pack a small rolling suitcase, one lightweight hanging bag and extra hangers for each person that is going to the pageant.

This way, each person can handle their own luggage. Even a small child can pull a small roller bag and wear a back pack.

Write an inventory list of what is in each suitcase so anyone in the family could pack or unpack the contents to make sure nothing is left behind or forgotten. I even use to take a picture of the contents of the suitcase for my kids when they were little and couldn't read. All they had to do was look at the picture of everything that needed to be in the bag, and they could pack themselves.

Tip 7: Buy a makeup carrier that can organize and hold all of your makeup in one place. Set up your makeup area by the window in your hotel if you can. Natural light is the best source for you to get the right amount of color on your skin.

Tip 8: Consider two hotel rooms if you have young children or a large family. Contestants need time and space to prepare and get ready. If baby Sally is getting tired and fussy, dad can take her to the other room so mom can finish getting Susie ready for the competition. Or if dad wants to watch TV, he can do that and let Susie practice interview or talent without the distraction and noise. If you only have one room, then have a second adult available to take the other children out of the room to do something while your contestant is getting ready.

Tip 9: Allow extra time for elevator congestion. If your pageant is in a big hotel, you need to allow extra time to get on and off the elevators. When everyone is trying to get to the same place at the same time, this creates a problem. At pageants, you don't want to be late. When the production crew or directors say "be here at 10AM", they mean 10AM. It's better to be early than late. 10 minutes early is considered being on time. 

Tip 10: Do your complete hair and makeup for the day before you leave your hotel room. Allow for touch ups for remainder of the day. Many times in pageants there is very little time in between events. If you think you'll have plenty of time to completely do your hair and makeup before the show, think again. The only control of time you have is the early morning before the pageant schedule starts. Plan accordingly.

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Rhonda Shappert is an expert pageant coach and an iPEC trained personal development life coach. She created Winning Through Pageantry™, to partner with pageant contestants and their support people to provide complete pageant preparation and achieve winning results in life through pageantry. She was Mrs.Ohio America 2005, and has held multiple titles at the local, state and national levels. Rhonda graduated Cum Laude with a Bachelors degree in Musical Theater from The Ohio State University and has performed on stage in 15 countries on the Asian, European and American continents. This mother of three home educates their children and has been married 21 years to her husband Stephen, is the former mayor of her community, and serves on the Board of Trustees for the Ohio Virtual Academy. She and her husband perform original contemporary Christian music. Their music CD entitled Cana is available through www.cdbaby.com/cd/shappert or on her website. For more information on Rhonda, visit www.WinningThroughPageantry.com.

Packing for your pageant can be overwhelming and a major STRESS FEST if you wait until the last minute. Do yourself a huge favor and begin packing two weeks before you leave so you can focus your attention on bigger and better things. Following are some tips I use when getting ready to go to a pageant.

Organizing your paperwork for the pageant

Buy a brightly colored 9 1/2” x 12” folder with three metal clasps in the middle, and a package of clear plastic sheet protectors. You’ll want to have a dozen or so sheets to organize all your critical pageant paperwork and information.

Include the following information in the folder:

• A copy of your judge’s bio.

• Printouts of flight information, rental car details and directions to the hotel.

• Phone and confirmation numbers for the hotel.

• Phone numbers to the Pageant Directors or Staff.

• Pageant schedule.Important contact information of people at home.

• Add some blank paper for note taking and some extra protector sheets to hold receipts or any other paperwork you need to keep track of when you’re at the pageant.

The goal here is to have a lightweight, easy to carry folder that has all your pageant information at your fingertips. Its bold bright color will make is easy to distinguish it from the pageant clutter that will grow and multiple within your room.

Organizing Your Pageant Wardrobe

1. Start with one outfit at a time. Lay the outfit and everything associated with it on your bed and mentally get dressed in that outfit. Include undergarments, hose, shoes, jewelry, hair accessories, and any other props that you need to complete the outfit.

2. Now grab your clear Ziploc bags. Put your hose in one bag (pint sized), jewelry in another (snack sized), undergarments in another (quart) and any other small items in another bag.

3. Label each bag, for example, interview-jewelry. Put a hole just big enough to slip a hanger through in the corner about 2” down from the zip closure of a gallon sized bag and label the bag (interview). Now put all the smaller bags into the gallon bag. I like to put my shoes in a separate gallon bag.

4. Hang the outfit on a hanger. Slip the Ziploc bags over the hanger and cover the entire outfit with a heavy plastic garment bag (the kind of bag a man’s suit comes in from a nice clothing store).

5. Do this for each competition outfit you have. If you’re driving to your pageant, just lay the bags flat in your vehicle or hang them if you have room. If you’re flying, pack all the individual pieces in your luggage so you can assemble your bags at the hotel.

6.  

Organizing Your Beauty Items

I bought this makeup bag at Walgreens and love it. It has a number of sturdy clear zippered bags that can quickly and easily be removed providing fabulous flexibility for different situations. I have a separate bag for each of the following to save time, keep everything organized, and to keep things from “walking away” in the dressing room:

• Face- foundation, cover up, bronzer, powder and blush.

• Eyes- shadows, liners, mascara, eyelashes and glue

• Lips- liners, lipstick, sealer, gloss

• Sharp stuff- tweezers, small pair of scissors, small sewing kit, safety pins, nail file

• Applicators- sponges, brushes, Q-tips

• Body- medical tape (creating cleavage), butt glue, lotion, self tanner

• Hair- hairspray, teasing comb, brush, hairpieces, extension cord, hot rollers, hot iron, etc. This needs to be a bigger bag for obvious reasons.

I also put a wet washcloth from the hotel room into a baggie to take with me to the dressing room. As you get done with one bag, put it away. It’s never a good idea to leave your things laying out in the dressing room.

You can also use baggies to categorize your beauty items too. I also have a quick touch up bag put together that has some oil blotters, gloss, and cover up. Pack up all your personal care items, and use it for a couple days at home to discover what you’re missing and what grouping works for you. With all these details taken care of, you can avoid several panic attacks that myself and others have experienced over the years.

Beyond The Pageant

Learning how to organize and pack your personal belongings for trips is a skill that will pay you back over and over again. When I was 19, I traveled around the world for two years and lived out of two medium sized suitcases. I learned a lot from my European friends about what items are essential and what extra baggage will just weigh you down and make the trip miserable. As with all things in life, K.I.S.S.- Keep it simple sweetie! Less really is best.

Rhonda Shappert is a pageant expert, personal development life coach, and owner of Winning Through Pageantry™, a business she created that not only helps her clients achieve winning results in pageants, but helps them Succeed From The Inside Out™ in their lives. In the pageant world she has held multiple local, state and national titles. Rhonda graduated Cum Laude with a Bachelors degree in Musical Theater from The Ohio State University and has performed on stage in 15 countries on the Asian, European and American continents. This mother of three who has been married 20 years to her husband Stephen, is the former mayor of her community, and is on the Board of Trustees for the Ohio Virtual Academy. She and her husband perform original contemporary Christian music. Their music CD entitled Cana is available through www.cdbaby.com/cd/shappert or on her website. For more information on Rhonda, visit www.WinningThroughPageantry.com.

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