January parades are rough on costume seams and foam props. Most failures are not dramatic; they are tiny misses that stack into distraction.
Pre-call checklist
- Warm gloves and shoes in the vehicle before wardrobe change.
- Tape backup for every elastic point on the costume.
- Nose adhesive tested once indoors and once outside.
- Keep one dry towel and one microfiber cloth in the go bag.
- Keep a four-suit cue card in the pocket so resets still work with cold hands.
What improved this month
I started logging failure points immediately after each set. In two weeks, pattern tracking cut emergency fixes by more than half.