Packing for Cosplay: What to Bring (Part 1)

Packing bags is difficult - for me I guess. I have this tendency to fill up my bag with things I don’t necessarily need for the day: a pen and notebook in my bag (on non-school days), a plushie, and some random thing. There’s this thing between me and a big bag that makes me want to fill it up. I don’t know. Maybe I’m a robber in my past life. Anyway, this post is about packing bags for cosplay events. This post will be very useful to cosplayers who have to commute to conventions EVERY SINGLE TIME.

I attended the Hetalia Philippines Day lat Saturday. It was the perfect chance to take pics for this particular post. So, yeah, hello Taiwan costume.

Rule Number 1: The Bag

Aside from your costume, you have to bring along other stuff that you’ll use for the day. The key is choosing the right bag - something small and handy, preferrably a sling bag that matches the color of your costume. Why a sling bag? It’s easier to lug around while posing or taking photos. It also enables you to freely access your things - that is, if you are not wearing heavily detailed armored costumes like Iron Man or something. Imagine Iron Man with a sling bag.

Since I don’t have a white or pink sling bag for my Taiwan costume, I just grabbed the only white bag we have at home. Fortunately, it met the small and handy standard:

A Liz Claiborne Bag

Rule Number 2: Pack Light

Now that you have a (small) bag (that limits your packing powers, lol), its time to pick out the thing you’ll put in it. Here’s a short list:

• Wallet (money, LRT/MRT cards, and an ID)
• Cellphone
• Make-up (basic stuff: foundation, colcealer, eyeliner, lipstick, some eyecolor, and a blush)
• Toiletries (tissue, a small amount of cotton buds for make-up mishaps and alcohol)
• Pen
• Camera (if any)

I tell you, that’s all you need.

You should have a smaller bag for your make-up to keep all of them in one place. I go by the doctrine of keeping your make-up simple, so I just have at least my liquid liner, pressed powder, and tinted lipgloss. This depends on the character you’re cosplaying though - some characters need more detail on their face. Like this.

Edea Cosplay from Cosmania. Look at that make-up detail. Awesome. (taken from cosplay.ph)

Rule Number 1.2: Paper bag/foldable bag

I think you should have a separate bag for your costume. I prefer using a sturdy paper bag for my costumes since it keeps them from getting crumpled on my way to conventions. Meanwhile, a foldable bag is also perfect since you can just fold it and keep it in your bag when you already have your costume on. A perfect example is that huge bag I used for my ‘cotton candy hair’.

Maru from xxxHolic. Cotton Candy Hair.

Carrying this ‘wig’ was like carrying a huge pillow (in a huge bag) on my way to Megamall.

Part 2 in a bit!