As a mother, I’ve always found it extremely valuable that my children get out into the world and have experiences. Each experience is eye opening and a teachable moment for me. We learn so much from our experiences and the value of adventure bringing about a sense of fulfillment.

With this philosophy in mind,  I try to plan something special for the kids during the year. Sort of like a “vacation” but I’m not a big “vacation” person. I’d rather create some small budget friendly adventures instead. These adventures can range from a Saturday afternoon trip to the library to a full blown “let’s get in the car and drive to a new landmark we’ve never been to.” It always depends on how much extra money we have because let’s be honest, we are ALL on a budget.

This now brings me to our adventure into the subculture world of Science Fiction. So before you go running back to your teenage pop culture, hear me out: what exactly happens when you give creative freedom to 60K People?

I’ve read about these Sci-Fi people who dress up once a year like Star Trek characters, Aliens, Dragons, Tim Burton creatures, etc. I’ve always kind of felt they were a little strange. I mean, do you really have to dress up in costumes to enjoy your sci-fi, geeky life? Then I started thinking about how they role-play, which just made everything even creepier. After much consideration I decided that research into this sub culture might actually help shed some light on what it’s about. And to do this investigative research I needed to leave my judgment at the door.

Over the summer I began my research project into Dragon*Con. What I found was a sub culture of pretty impressive people. The festival started in 1987 and has grown extensively over the last couple of decades with 2014 roughly bringing in 60K people.  In 1987 the inaugural Dragon*Con took place at the Piedmont Plaza Hotel Atlanta, drew 1400 fans and featured Guests of Honor Michael Moorcock, Lynn Abbey and Robert Asprin, Robert Adams, Ultima creator Richard “Lord British” Garriott, co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons Gary Gygax and Toastmaster Brad Strickland.

Most of the people mentioned above I knew little about. However, what was so shocking was that most of the people participating do not get paid. It’s voluntary. Also impressive was how fast it grew and how much support came from the film industry. So, I continued my research.

By 1989, it drew 2,400 (many to see Guest of Honor Anne McCaffrey), and the event had moved to the Omni Hotel and Convention Center. In 1990, the convention had doubled again, added a Comics Expo, hosted the Origins convention, this time with Guest of Honor Tom Clancy, and expanded to include the Atlanta Sheraton hotel. In 1991 the first “Robot Battles” robotic competition event was added to the list of events, making it the second oldest robotic competition event in the world.

By 1995, when Dragon*Con hosted the North American Science Fiction Convention, attendance had grown to over 14,000 fans, and Dragon*Con was also hosting the International Starfleet Conference. In 2002, Dragon*Con began hosting a parade through downtown Atlanta, which ran from Centennial Olympic Park to the Marriott Marquis, and featured thousands of costumed participants. In 2005, Dragon*Con raised USD $20,000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Foundation. At the convention’s 20th anniversary in 2006, there were 22,000 attendees, and the convention continued to grow, drawing 27,000 attendees in 2007, 40,000 in 2010, and 57,000 in 2013.

The explosion of growth blew my mind. There has to be something to this event? I needed to know more, though. How do we attend? What do we do? Will the kids enjoy or barely survive the heat of a Hotlanta weekend?

So, it turns out Dragon Con is a 4-day event comprising approximately 3500 hours of panels, seminars, demonstrations, and workshops, with over 30 specialized programming tracks (forum discussions) Yes! There’s inside stuff going on so we don’t melt. The tracks included writing, alternate history, art, anime, gaming, Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature, comic books, costuming, space, science, online media, independent film, robotics, podcasting, ect. And you don’t have to attend all 4 days. And there’s a parade Saturday morning that is FREE. I also found out that my kids were FREE. Triple awesome!

I bought tickets and on August 29, 2014 I packed the car and we headed for Atlanta.

So what does happen when you give creative freedom to 60K people? WOW!!!

First off, it was a bit of sensory overload for my husband, two children and myself. I’ve been to Disney a handful of times and it’s overwhelming because of the parks and seeing everything but this is a different kind of overwhelming. Every time we turned around there was another character. “There’s Jack from Nightmare before Christmas!” “Omg – I want a picture.” “Greg, Who’s that one?” “Where’s that guy from?” “Dude, who’s that?” “Omg – Seriously, that costume is made of Ego Waffle boxes.” “Kids, Look it’s the Disney’s Brave, Queen Elsa, Anna, and Tinkerbell!” “GREG! – grab your daughter before she attacks them!” “Greg, where are his legs? What a clever costume.”

Gandalf and hobbits and elves … oh my!

Avatar folks.

Marvin and Sully

To say the least, we had a good time. Of course, with anything that overwhelming the kids had their ups and downs emotionally, but it was well worth the experience.

Dragon*con is a magical place where people come together in creative expression. A place where you can be anything you want to be, free of judgment or stereotypes. You don’t have to “make the cut” like Idina Menzel or Demi Lovato to be Queen Elsa from Frozen. You can be Queen Elsa because you want to be. Creative Expression in one of the powerful human gifts we have – It enriches lives in meaningful ways.

It was an eye opening adventure – and I’m grateful that my family was able to be a part of it.

So many kind and creative individuals.

Christina

Christina is a palm tree-loving, barefoot, beach bum wife and mother of 2 who is devoted to cultivating a family life where gratitude, self confidence, contribution and love rise above. She seeks alternative parenting methods where she can help to cultivate and guide the spiritual, emotional, and physical needs of her children. In 2013, she resigned from a corporate job in the financial industry to pursue her greater role as a parent and artist.  Since then, she has begun to pursue a career as a parenting and wellness coach. 

This year the fam decided to join in the cosplay fun, but with our own little twist – we brought a toga party to the con. We decided to represent different pop-culture/sci-fi/literary genres while donning a bed sheet in a crowd that probably topped out at over 60,000 during the Labor Day weekend.

From left to right The Toga Revolution: Doctor Who, A Ninja (but you probably can’t see him), Elle Driver from Kill Bill, A Steampunk Lass, Darth Vader, Wonder Woman, and Effie Trinket from the Hunger Games.

I’m always so fascinated by the creativity and techniques used to put the costumes together. Because I am always wondering what they used and how they did it, and because though I went to art school, I am the least “crafty” person on Earth, I thought I’d walk you through how I made my costume this year.

So I was Effie Trinket from the Hunger Games: Catching Fire.

IMAGES: Cathay-Keris Films

I began with the hat. I had collected these craft butterflies from Jo-Ann’s, Hobby Lobby and an online craft store for the extra-large butterflies. They already had wire on them, so I grabbed a piece of Styrofoam from the Dollar Tree to keep them in place.

Extra-large craft butterflies.

Their wires were a little flimsy and you can’t paint this sort of Styrofoam easily, so I used black artist tape. I wrapped the foam with two layers.

Styrofoam from Dollar Tree and black artist tape.

Then I poked the teensiest holes to insert the wire. The tape was thick enough to keep the wire in place. Then I hot-glued a hair clip underneath the foam so I would be able to attach the hat to my wig.

I had a Marilyn Monroe wig that I trimmed a bit to look a little more like Effie’s. I also sponge painted a pair of black lace gloves with ochre acrylic paint, and then I sprinkled some gold glitter on at the end so the gloves would glisten in the light.

Sponge painting my gloves.

For my collar, I used a piece of black fabric and had my mom actually teach me how to use her sewing machine so the edges would be clean. I used Velcro as the fastener. I hot glued the butterflies onto the choker and onto each other.

I didn’t want to spend the money on Effie’s paper eyelashes, so I used some Halloween stylized lashes from the drug store and cut them for my left lower lash and applied a full one to the upper right lash. I used the eyelash glue to attach the butterfly above my eye and to my body. I used Velcro again to secure extra butterflies to my belt and toga.

Ta-da!!! Done.

The finished look. I did get my hat on the wrong side, but overall I thought it was a nice little nod to the film.

As we were roaming around we ran into these other two Effie’s. Amazing!!! The girl on the left made her butterflies by hand out of orange poster board and Sharpie!!!

Two other handmade Effies.

So now I’ve written my first (and likely only) how-to blog post.  If you have any questions about any of our costumes, please send them my way! For instance, I was pretty proud of how we used drink koozies for Wonder Woman’s cuffs.

And if you were at the con, please share some of your favorite group costumes below. I would love to see them!

Growing up a theme-park-obsessed kid with a pension for all things fun and fantasy, immersing myself into a character is really not that far from immersing myself in worlds like Hanna-Barbera Land, Oktoberfest or Yankee Harbor back in the day. A convention like Dragon Con brings that side of me to the forefront all over again.  Movies that made me smile, books that engaged me, characters that meant something and themes that keep me going are all represented there. So no matter how much I’m dragging, or stressed about everyday things, I have a long weekend once a year guaranteed to set me right and to regain some perspective. Above all, it’s just so damn creative!

I went to art school and I see these amazing original ideas and characters being recreated by their fans and I feel so inspired. It’s also a great way to allow yourself to be silly, or goofy, or someone else for just a few days.  If you aren’t sporting a costume or at least some sort of geek/pop-culture related shirt, you are in the minority.

For instance, my family and I at least try to make a nod to the Geek culture each year. One year we were Clue characters. One year we sported “I’m With The Geek” shirts and tried to get our pictures with as many cool looking characters as we could. We try to at least throw our hats in the creative ring in some small way.

So in honor of a weekend that fills with me joy, here are a few highlights from past cons:

No idea what this is, but it is SUPER cool and awesomely done. One of my all-time favorites.

From left to right: Miss Scarlett, Mrs. White, Mr. Body, Mr. Green, and Mrs. Peacock. An ode to a great game.

The I Dream of Jeannie panel was amazing. Brabara Eden is still beautiful. Bill Daily is HILARIOUS, and Larry Hagman was my hero …

Geek shirts: a convention must-have.

Just one more great reason to attend a comic/pop-culture con: You’re guaranteed to make new friends.

Why do you attend comic/pop-culture cons? What are some of your most memorable convention moments?

My family owns our inner Geek, so Dragon Con has sort of become a family affair. The first time we decided to pull out all of the stops, it was decided we would cosplay as Austin Powers characters. Here we are:

The gang as Austin Powers. From left to right: Ms. Kensington, Dr. Evil, Felicity Shagwell, Austin Powers, Fembot, Foxxy Cleopatra

My younger sister was Ms. Kensington. Her Husband was Dr. Evil. My older sister was Felicity Shagwell. My brother was Austin. His wife was a Fembot. And I was Beyoncé as Foxxy Cleopatra (but I think that’s kind of obvious).

As outgoing as I can be, I will say I was pretty reluctant to dress up and parade around in costume. I was nervous. I thought I’d be judged, but as we walked around the Con, we felt like celebrities. People were stopping us everywhere to get a quick pic and throw compliments our way. We got to engage with people we normally would never had a chance to meet. I totally got why people do this all of the time! We even followed in our fellow cosplayers’ footsteps and struck a pose when the cameras were running. Because you totally have to have a pose.

So a quick throw-back, but a great one. It was a complete blast. I highly recommend anyone who hasn’t cosplayed, do so. I also suggest anyone who hasn’t gone to Dragon Con go. You have no idea what you’re missing, but that’s ok because I’ll be telling you what you’re missing over the next ten days.

If you have any cosplay pics or great Dragon Con stories, please send them my way! I’d love to share them.