Time to get Christmassy

It’s now one month until Christmas. I remember the days when the Christmas season began the day after Thanksgiving. My mom always hit the big After-Thanksgiving sales. She was up before dawn and off to the Del Amo Fashion Mall in Torrance, California, along with her partner-in-crime, my aunt. At about this same time Christmas tree lots opened up and Christmas lights were hung. It was tradition. These were the things that kicked off the Christmas season.

Nowadays I’ve noticed a change. Christmas things appear in stores on Halloween day. They can’t even wait for November 1st. I was in a store on Halloween day, and they had all their Halloween things on clearance and in their places were Christmas displays of all sorts.

At our retail costume store, we actually keep Christmas costumes out all year long. You wouldn’t believe how many people buy a Christmas costume to use as their Halloween costume. I don’t blame them either. The Christmas costumes are very cute and fun.

Even our mannequins have been eyeballing the Christmas costumes for the last week. So we dressed them up for the Christmas season. They are at the front of the store, ready to greet all who enter.


Now the BIG question:
What are you wearing to celebrate the Christmas season?? There are so many choices – a huge variety of Santa hats, super-sexy costumes for private parties, fun Christmas costumes for parties, Santa and Elf costumes for more traditional events. I always pull out my loooooong Santa Hat during this season. I had a necklace that was mini-Christmas lights that flashed. I loved that necklace, but alas, it bit the dust, and I never replaced it. Santa hats from a favorite sports team is always a good way to go. Or maybe just some nice Christmassy accessory.

Don’t be all bah-humbuggy this Christmas season. Find a costume or hat or something that works for you and have add a little merriness to your mon

That 70’s Party

There are birthday parties and there are BIRTHDAY PARTIES. Yeah sure you could just put together a list of friends of the Birthday Guy or Girl, have them all show up and serve food, drinks and cake. Throw on some music and maybe folks will get down a bit. I’m sure it will be a fine time. People will dance, talk, drink and laugh. What could be better??

I’m glad you asked. Make that party a theme party and that “fine” party goes way past being just fine. Just add a theme and your birthday party can be off the charts. Friends of mine just had the best time at a birthday party – with an 70’s theme. She sent me some pictures and they are all the evidence I need to prove my point.

Let’s hear it for big hair, long moustaches, silky, sparkly, polyester shirts with loud patterns. You just have to love the way the shirts are unbuttoned to show that manly chest hair. And who can forget those bitchin’ bellbottom pants! And if you are going to do the 70s right, you just have to have some cool platform shoes so you can strut your stuff under the disco ball. Blast some Bee-Gees or Donna Summer over the stereo and you’ll have a birthday party everyone will remember for ages.

Want that kind of fun? Plan your own 70's theme party!

The Buzz about Bees

The weather is changing and I feel fall creeping its way back. I’m missing spring - you know, the whole birds and bees thing. I’ve always thought this Busy Bee Costume was pretty stinkin’ cute so I thought I’d take it out for a spin and have my own personal springtime. I also thought it would be good to see what I thought of it as a wearer instead of just a spectator.

Some costumes look one way on the model (cute and quality) and entirely different on you. Well, I have good news to report. This costume isn’t one of those – it rocks. It is super comfy – the stretchy spandex tube dress is as comfortable as wearing a workout shirt. The tube part (the upper half of the dress) is cut sort of long – this makes it work for both people with long torsos and those of us with a more condensed midsection. I just tucked the extra into the skirt, and you can hardly tell. If I would have pulled the top to its full length, the skirt would have started at about my thighs. So there’s plenty of costume for you tall girls, but it can easily work for someone my size (about 5 feet tall, on a good day). On top of being comfy and versatile, the costume feels really well made. Roma has a habit of making really high quality stuff for a good price and this one is a prime example.

As you can see, the straps that hold the wings on are out for the world to see, since I don’t have long hair like the model. Accessories could do the job of hiding those straps, if you wanted. Most obviously, you could wear a long wig. Or you could throw on a boa to cover those straps.

While we are on the subject of accessories, there are a ton of little ways you could tweak the look of this outfit, just by adding little extras. Let’s start with the shoes. I wore black boots, but you could do black pumps, black fairy tale shoes, or even the bumble bee shoes (that are totally cool). Raise the look another notch by adding fishnet pantyhose or some yellow and black fuzzy striped leg warmers. What fun!

Now we’ve got the creative juices flowing. How about a petticoat underneath? Just a little touch, adds lots sexification to the costume. While you’re at it, you might as well throw a matching Honeybee purse.

Make yourself the Queen Bee by accessorizing with a yellow boa and a crown. Some elbow length gloves would be a nice touch as well. A yellow afro or short and sassy wig with this costume would be a fun combo too. Let your imagination go wild, and accessorize.








We carry quite a few different styles of bee costumes, some even come with antennae! And they are all made by either Roma or Leg Avenue, both of whom are known for making a high quality products. All the bees in our hive are fun and happy, with just the right amount of pizzazz to make them sexy. Heck, since we're on a roll here, why not have your favorite pooch join your hive with her own bee costume.

Costume Fusion

We’ve got fusion in music, fusion in cooking, and it seems only right to have fusion in costumes. Costume fusion, like any other type of fusion, is creating something new and unique (in this case, a new and unique costume idea) by blending, mixing or joining aspects of different costumes.

I love this idea!! It solves two problems at one time. First you are pretty much assured that no one else is going to show up in your costume. Don’t you just hate it when you think you’ve got a great costume idea and then you get to the party, only to discover that you are one of 50 other Batmans.

It also solves the problem of deciding between two great ideas. Just put them together!

My favorite recently is the Hello Kitty Darth Vader.

Or maybe it’s the Princess Vader.

Then there is always the Elvis Trooper.


As you can see Star Wars costumes seem to fuse well with other costumes. But I think it’s time for costume fusion to happen with other costumes as well.

We have our Miss Sister Contest going on right now and I think I will submit a nun fusion costume. I’m thinking Nunder Woman (a much-needed superhero nun) or Twisted Sister (80s hair band nun). Imagine that! I’ll post pictures in a bit.

What are some costume fusion ideas in your head? Share them in our comments section.

Miss Sister Pageant Is ON!

Have you heard the horrible news? The Miss Sister Pageant has been called off! I KNOW!! Devastating news! Nuns everywhere are in deep, mournful, mourning. They finally get their chance of a lifetime – a chance to show the whole world how hot and sexy . . . --- ooops, my bad! Disregard that, I meant to say, how beautiful and attractive nuns are (of course, with the main emphasis being on inner beauty – wink, wink).

Apparently the brains behind Miss Sister 2008, Father Antonio Rungi feels that maybe his intentions were misunderstood. He insists he never intended to have nuns on the catwalk. Basically Father Antonio got all sorts of negative feedback – from his catholic bosses and the community - and wussed out.

I know many of you out there were getting your habit together and planning your photo shoot. So I am now going to open up our blog for all those of you anxious to compete for the title of Miss Sister. We won’t even require that you be a real nun, or even a female. Just send us your photo in your best nun outfit. No bio, no proof of great acts of philanthropy, heck, you don’t even need to know all the books of the Bible.

We’ll post all the good submissions we get on our blog on September 12, 2008. So that gives you just under two weeks to get into your best looking habit or other fancy, schmancy nun apparel. Send a jpeg submission to sales@scavengeinc.com. Then we'll pick Scavenge's Miss Sister and crown the winner.

Viva La Fiesta!

Hola Amigos! Okay, that’s it for my lame Spanish, for the moment. But, be warned, since I am of Mexican descent, and since I am in the Fiesta mood, random Spanish phrases may be blurted out without warning (and possibly without making any sense).

Of course the reason for the foreign greeting is that it is just about Fiesta time here in something-fun-always-going-on-Santa-Barbara! From July 30 through August 3, we celebrate Old Spanish Days here. Olé!

Honestly though, most people aren’t really thinking too much about honoring and preserving our grand old heritage of the early ranchero days. What’s on their minds are all the fun and festivities going on. And we’ve got plenty going on! Here are my Top Five Fiesta Favorites:

1. Confetti Filled Eggs
2. Music
3. Food
4. Strolling Mariachi
5. People watching

Where in the world do they get those eggs? How long does it take them to stuff all those eggs with confetti? Is it their only job? Regardless of whether or not I ever find the answers to those three deeply disturbing questions, the fact is you just haven’t done Fiesta unless you’ve smashed a confetti egg (cascarone) on a friend’s unsuspecting head. So don’t miss out. Extra points if you do this to a total stranger.

During Fiesta, the nights are filled with music from local and not-so-local bands. It’s free, it’s loud, and it’s a great way to spend a summer night. It does get a bit crowded and some people’s dancing looks more like they are trying out their new mixed martial arts moves, but just go with it and be ready to put your hottest dance moves to work.

The food!! For some folks, this is IT. This is what Fiesta is all about. Tacos, tortas, tamales and churros . . . the smells alone are enough to have you drooling. So many food vendors (more than 40 in the Mercado), it’s just so hard to pick which one to visit. Lucky for us, Fiesta goes on for five days. We’ll have time to try out a bunch.

I love the strolling mariachis you see up and down State Street. They just wander about serenading people as they eat at the restaurants or they just stop on the street corner and play for whoever may pass by. I wish this part of fiesta lasted all year long.

The people-watching opportunities are vast, enumerable, and never ending. Okay, that may be a bit of an exaggeration, but with all the events, parades, music and food, people are everywhere. And . . . well, let’s just say quite of few of them are going to drink and thereby making for even better people watching.

Here’s the way to enjoy Fiesta to it’s fullest - - get into the spirit. You just gotta dress up. The bare minimum is a nice big sombrero. Please don’t go any more basic than that. Plenty of people are arrested each year at Fiesta and the number one offense is “Failure to Dress for Fiesta.” Don’t let that be you. In fact don’t even take a chance, take your Fiesta look up a level by adding a serape or poncho and a nice mustache.

If you are hitting any of the musical events or parties on State Street, you should really do it up right and show up as a Sexy Senorita or as the most everyone’s favorite Spaniard Zorro.

Whichever way you choose to celebrate Fiesta, just get out there and do it. Andalé, muchacho! Visit our store on Helena St., get into your costume, and get into Old Spanish Days. Adios!

The Man Burns in 43 Days!

It’s that time again! Time for the gathering of more than 48,000 in the dessert to form their own experimental community for one week of what some might call pure craziness. It’s Burning Man time, of course. Seven days of radical self-expression, seven days of self-reliance, seven days of art, costumes, music, themed camps and giving. And that is just barely scratching the surface of the Burning Man experience.

Whether you are a Burning Man newby or Burning Man regular, I offer some ideas for you to make the most out of your experience. It could well be the experience of a lifetime.

First and foremost you’ve just got to spend some time getting all edumacated about all things Burning Man. Go to their website. It’s fricken amazing. I was amazed all the tons and tons of info they have out there for you. Here’s a few things that struck me – it’s going to be hot so bring water. When they say self-reliance, they mean it. There's so many other important things to know about this whole self-reliance gig, beside just water. Go read the Survival Guide.

Read about the Theme Camps and make plans to join one. And joining one, means being ready to be an active part. I think going to Burning Man as just a spectator would be a colossal waste. If you are going to go, participate. Not just a little. Go all out. Burning Man is all about throwing off the inhibitions, the arbitrary rules we all live by in the “real world” where most of us spend our time being anything but our real selves.

Every year there’s a theme at Burning Man. This year’s is “American Dream.” It’s a great idea to have your costume, your art, or your themed camp show off this overall theme in some way. This could include celebrating America and the good it has done, the admirable traits it has, or its history. It could also be a time to dream about America – what your hopes are for this country, what new direction it might take, or your own personal American Dream. You could also work within this theme by showing what you think of the “American Dream” – where it has fallen short, what makes it all ridiculous, what is a mockery. Whatever direction you choose to go within this recommended theme, or doing whatever theme stokes your own personal flame, you’ve just gotta go big with it.

Body paints, make up, and costumes . . . whatever. And I mean WHATEVER. It doesn’t have to make sense to anyone but you – and not even to you, when it comes down to it. Body paint and liquid latex always seems to find their way into the mix. (While these aren't available in our online store, we do have them at our retail store in Santa Barbara. So swing on by.)

In case you didn’t know this, Burning Man is held in the desert. And this makes total sense when you think about it. Would you want at giant party, with over 48,000 folks attending, going on for a week in your neighborhood? Uh, no!

So to the desert we go! And, well, how can I say this gently? It’s fricken hot in the desert at night and a tad chilly in the evenings. With that big secret out in the open, it seems obvious that you might want to choose your costumes accordingly. So body paint and liquid latex are big, since it allows you to go naked without being totally naked.

Crazy, wild sunglasses or goggles, wigs and hats are a must, no matter what your costume. Just find a way to squeeze them in and you’ll be glad you did.

Just 43 days until the big man burns. Make your plans now and GO BIG!

To the Funk Zone

Last year, after a busy, exciting Halloween season, Scavenge closed its doors on State Street after more than 10 years of being a favorite fixture in downtown. You know the story – rising rents on State Street were just too much. So the doors closed, but Scavenge was still out there in cyberspace – shipping costumes and lingerie and everything in between to customers all over the country.

We’re Back!! Oh yeah, it’s the Return of Scavenge! Our store has found a new home. We did not return to State Street, but we’re within spitting distance. Our new home is in the Funk Zone and that is a perfect fit for our offbeat, way-cool store. Our doors opened this week giving Santa Barbara back it’s only year-round, downtown costume shop.

We’re back and better than ever. Come check out the new store at 52 Helena St. For all you Santa Barbarians out there, Helena is that little street that comes right up off Cabrillo (which runs along the beach) between Rusty’s Pizza and Wheel Fun Rentals. Our store has got a new look, complete with purple floors. While the store may seem smaller, our selection is still just as big, maybe even bigger than before – we have a large warehouse that is holding tons of costumes and lingerie for you.

This means you can get those all the costumes you need for those summer theme parties, for your 4th of July celebrations, and the lingerie you want to spice up those hot summer nights. Check out our online selection --- it’s huge, it’s vast, it’s fricken humongous. We have so much more than we could fit in the store. Make your life easier by ordering it online and arranging for in-store pickup.

Keep your eyes on the Independent for special Grand Re-Opening announcement. It will look something like this:

Bring the ad with you and get a free gift. Sorry, can’t tell you what the gift is, but I’ll tell you this – it’s something you can use with a costume everyone should wear at one time or another.

I Want to Feel Like a Woman

I have become a Biggest Loser watcher. I didn’t start until just about 3 weeks ago – with only a few episodes left. I am just floored every single time I watch this show. I’ve even cried a couple of times – that’s saying a lot since I’ve only watched the show three times. I amazed at the determination, the heart, and the progress of these folks. When they show clips of the contestants from the beginning of the series and you see the person now – WOW! They look totally different. Some of them have lost well over 100 pounds – they have lost more than my entire bodyweight. It’s like they had been living their lives with me hanging around the neck or waist. They just carried around that load of extra pounds everyday of their lives.

So last night, they showed a clip of one of the final two women contestants. At one point several weeks earlier, she said she wanted to lose weight so she could wear dresses, heels, pantyhose, and feel like a girl. She kept re-stating that – she wanted to wear clothes that made her feel feminine, like a woman, pretty.

Isn’t it amazing the power that clothes have on our minds? Wearing certain clothes can make us feel happy, silly, glamorous, sexy, or frumpy, serious, dark, or tired. If you wear baggy sweats, you probably are feeling comfy, cozy, and like lounging around, right? If you wear something snug fitting, with a low neckline, along with some pants cut in a flattering way, dressier shoes, all topped off with sexy panties, you probably feel a bit different than you did in the sweats. I am very aware of how the way I dress makes me feel and I use it on purpose. Feeling kind of down or low energy? Time to put on a goofy shirt. Want to feel sexy and “like a woman?” Slip into a fun, sexy bra and panty set, and then build from there. Pick out the shirt that shows off your best features, the pants that make your butt look just right, and so on. Then just watch – your walk changes, along with the look on your face, and the way you feel.

So, basically, you could say everything we wear is a costume in some way or another. We wear our work costume to the office. We wear our lie-around-the-house costume. We wear our I-just-want-to-be-happy-goofy-and-silly costumes. We wear our workout costumes for those fun and sweaty times. We wear our swimsuit costumes for our beach and poolside appearances. We wear our sexy costumes to make dates and bedroom time extra fun. Costumes, costumes everywhere, everyday. Each one works for us in a different way. Some we wear for others. Some we wear for the way it makes us feel. Think about the costume you are wearing right now. Now think about how you’d like to be feeling – and pick out a “costume” that makes that happen for you. That can be anything from underwear, to lingerie, to shirts, or the full-on, official costume.