Thousands of dollars can be spent just for one child in one pageant. It costs a few hundred dollars to enter your child in the pageant depending on what type of pageant it is. There are a few types of pageants, City, State, National, Winter, Summer... Then you have to decide what divisions you want to enter your child and what you want them to be judged on, hair, facial beauty, outfits, formal wear, talent... Each of those divisions costs extra so get out your calculator.

Next there's the outfits and you cant go target or Walmart, you might be able to get away with JC Penny or Mervins, but then your child might not win the prettiest dress division. Instead you have to go online and buy a dress but it can't be an ordinary dress, no it must be something covered in lace, beads, sequence, appliques,or even sparkly jewels, and dresses like that do not come cheap. Then depending on the pageant you might have to buy a few different outfits for different categories, such as; play wear, dance wear, formal wear, and a few others. All the outfits must be flashy if you want to win. And don't forget shoes, and jewelery for every outfit, and most of this stuff your child will never wear ever again.

Second but equally important is hair and makeup, now if your an expert in cosmetology you have no problem, but if not you might want to hire a hairstylist. You will want your stylist to be at the pageant, so they can fix any problems and make adjustments that are necessary during outfit changes.

Now if you have an endless supply of time and money and don't mind paying for something like this or putting forth the effort it takes to prepare your child for such a pageant, all the power to you, and I wish you and your child the best of luck. But another thing you might want to put into consideration before you decide is your child and if your child is ready for something as competitive as a beauty pageant. You have to remember you are putting your child in front of a bunch of judges, who will be watching your child and judging them on hair, facial beauty, personality and of course their clothes. Now what kind of parent would want their child to be judged by a perfect stranger who is only interested in judging your child on their outer beauty. Now unless someone on the judges panel was a talent scout for some sort of fashion magazine, I personally wouldn't care what the judges had to say about my kid, unless its positive.

So after all the preparation and money spent, the actual performing on stage and judges making their decisions, its time for the trophies, tiaras, sashes and awards. Your child may walk away with winning big they might even win a tidal such as princess or queen or they might not win anything, that is the name of the pageant game.

Learn more about this author, Jaime Porter.
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