SparkFun Holds Costume Contest Product: SparkFun Costume Contest SparkFun Electronics, a provider of parts, knowledge and passion for electronics creation, is celebrating Halloween by hosting its first ever costume contest. The company will reward three lucky entrants with free SparkFun goods for demonstrating the most innovative use of electronics in their Halloween costumes. Skeptical about incorporating LEDs, sounds or animated effects into a costume this year? Don't be - e-textiles is an up-and-coming area of the embedded electronics world that invites people from all technical backgrounds (from true beginner to expert engineer) to fuse clothing, fabric or other materials with electronic bits and pieces. The rules of the contest are pretty simple. Participants should submit a photo or video of their costume in action, along with a brief explanation of what it is and how it works to SparkFun with the words "Halloween Costume Contest" as the subject line. Entries must be received by October 31, 2012 to be considered. Each costume must contain electronic components (the more, the better), but they don't have to be SparkFun parts. The winners will be chosen by a panel of SparkFun employees based on creativity and engineering execution. And -hey- as a start, you could incorporate the new Mega Stomp Panic from ThinkGeek (see article below). If you haven't yet incorporated electronics into a costume, it's easier than ever before! SparkFun's line of LilyPad products (link below) was created to ease users into the world of e-textiles. The company's resident e-textile specialist Dia Campbell has created a new tutorial just in time for Halloween, which details how to incorporate LEDs and simple circuits to add electronic effects to a costume. "What I love about LilyPad products is how much they lower the barrier-to-entry for advanced e-textiles. The jump from extremely basic LED circuits to Arduino projects can be really daunting to those who have no programming experience at all. LilyPad lets people who haven't had a lot of experience with microcontroller circuits start slow - learning how to build the circuit, use the pins and enjoy a cool animated effect - all without coding."- - Dia Campbell, resident e-textile specialist, SparkFun The first place winner will receive $200 in SparkFun bucks, second place will receive $100 in SparkFun bucks and third place will receive $50 in SparkFun bucks. Winners will be announced Wednesday, November 7, 2012. May the best costume win! -Geck0, GameVortex Communications AKA Robert Perkins Related Links: Dia's New Tutorial on LEDs and Simple Circuits for Costumes Tutorials from Dia and SparkFun The Official SparkFun Website LilyPad Products on SparkFun's Website SparkFun Halloween Costume Contest on SparkFun's Website 9 Things To Sound Like This Halloween