She's a winner!

Alicia has gotten into cosplay and has gone to 3 events. Her character is the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland. We scoured the thrift shops and got her an outfit and then purchased a few accessories online or at the party store.

While purchasing her rabbit ears, we saw a steampunk hat with rabbit ears that she liked. I kept that in mind, and for her birthday, I bought it for her. After that, we went thrift shopping and found clothes that would fit. She went to Poly-Con and got quite a few compliments.

We learned there was a steampunk costume contest at Tampa's Renaissance Fair so we made plans to attend. She dressed up and we took her little sister with us.

Not long after we got there, she lost a little "claw" which was part of her costume. She was devastated -- kept walking the path from where she last saw it to the place where she realized it was missing. It took awhile but she calmed down, put the other "claws" into Boppa's backpack, and  put on her second glove.

We found the stage at which the contest would happen and she sat there while we got lunch and drinks. Quite a few people showed up but not all the steampunk people entered the contest. Alicia was the second contestant.

 Amazingly -- she won third place (a t-shirt)!!! Later that afternoon we ran into several people who told her they (voice) voted for her. People were stopping and asking for a photograph. She also made friends with some older guys (probably 20s) who were dressed in Harry Potter steampunk! We bought some decorative gears to jazz up her costume. Tampa Comic-Con is in August!