The Reddit Renaissance Festival FAQ

Im very excited and couldnt wait to show this off! Its actually not as much of a heat trap as it looks lol

So my friend wanted a set of braces for her wood elf ranger character. This was my attempt. All told, pretty happy with how it all turned out. As always, tho, please give thoughts and critiques on how I can improve. Tha ks for checking it out!

Pics from 2 weekends ago :)
1st and 2nd were taken by the phenomenal Allen Castillo

My Geralt armor needs some adjustments but what do we think of the new look?

My wife and I are heading up to Kenosha this weekend for the Bristol Faire. It’s definitely our favorite, so we’re going Saturday and Sunday.
Hope to see you there!

While my season is practically at an end, I’d like to get some thoughts and opinions on what to add to my costume to make it stand out a little more for next year. I also plan on wearing a winter variation of this to C2E2

It was so much fun, can't wait for next year!

Working on building a pirate outfit for the MD Ren. Everything so far is sadly Amazon besides my hat, rune belt, and rune bracelets. Working on finding some rings and some necklaces. My group is planning on doing a goblin theme this year so I guess I'll be green as well. Any suggestions to make this better besides the obvious buying of better quality gear from actual artisans?

I had some scraps of belt blanks, and an empty bottle with a stopper instead of a screw top, and a desire to make something with a clasp for the first time, so... here we are! Simple, but I think it turned out pretty cool. Thanks for checking it out!

My little mushroom squish did NOT appreciate her costume though 🥲

But loved the tiny broom she picked out hahaha

Thanks to MDRF for a day of revelry, family, and great fun!

HELLLOOOOOOOOOO! I am notoriously kinda lame with costumes, but want to change that this year for fantasy weekend!

That being said - does anyone get what I’m going for here?? If yes, which version do we like the best? Anything I should add?

(Note my fair (Ohio!) is gonna be hot as a mother.)

TIA 💜🐱

A concept I'm working on. How can I improve it other than adding a belt and sword. I may change the hosen. I'm still 2 months out but I get to see everyone's cool photos so I want to share some more of mine

Another bag ready for the weekend. We love a weird medieval lil guy. <3

Ok so because some people reacted defensively to my other post, this post and its comments are just people's own experiences and opinions and not everyone has to be aligned!! Just because someone doesn't like something that you like, doesn't mean they hate you, are upset, or find you inferior, or whatever!!!

Anyway.

I've gone to two ren faires within a week; one in the States (Michigan Renaissance Festival) and one in Canada (Oxford Renaissance Festival in ON, Canada) and noticed vastly different approaches to trinket trading.... And one mildly concerning common thing.

Despite being in literally different countries, I noticed that trinkets at both faires consisted of a lot of random plastic figurines. Specifically, plastic translucent coloured ducks??? I saw them everywhere at both ren faires, which is weird because it's so specific! Last year, it was plastic bones.

I try not to judge trinkets, because to me, it's meant to be a cute little practice to add some whimsy and joy. But I guess it's a little disappointing when, from my understanding, trinkets used to be more unique, handmade, and/or thoughtful even if it's low effort and cost. But these plastic little things that have no meaning or connection to the person giving them out just feel a little.... Hollow to me? Or am I over-romanticizing?

It's kind of like going out to collect labubus versus collecting magnets from places you've visited. I can totally understand the fun of the mere act of trinket trading for the sake of it, just like I can understand the fun of going out and hunting down a new trendy collectible. But it just has less sentimental value, I guess.

Or maybe it's just not that deep.

How do you guys feel about it? I've seen a lot of negativity about trinkets in this sub as of late, and I still stand by what I've previously said about not raining on someone's parade if they're excited about random plastic figures. However, I'm definitely starting to understand that negativity more.

ETA : my husband and I lean more towards favour giving than trinket "trading", but when we started going to ren faires, "trinket trading" was the term we heard most often, and we were under the impression that despite the name, a trade isn't actually mandatory.

I've also had some negative experiences being literally swarmed by trinket traders. One experience that really turned me off was that I was trying to give a trinket/favour to a specific person and the literal second I pulled it out of my pouch, I immediately got swarmed by four other people all going "omg do yiu trade trinkets????" 😭

It's killing me that my bracer is backwards but I have two more tips this season to get it right lol

Walking around in this thing from 10:30AM to 6:45PM will have you missing a thing or two.

We had a blast, so happy to have been here for the 50th!

As a vendor, a good chunk of my wardrobe is pieces for the faire now lol

I like to mix and match between thrifted, bought, and handmade by myself a lot to create unique looks for each faire. Trying to get better at wig styling but usually it’s too hot for one!

Shoutout to my $300 rabbit pelt caplet for being such a good mainstay piece!

Hi all. Ok so tbh this isn’t going to be my first fair but the bodices that I wore last yr are not going to work (weight gain 😢 also I dont think I have time to make a stomacher for it) so I bought a new bodice but I don’t care for the black lacing it came with. What lacing would you guys recommend — i m worried ribbon wouldn’t be strong enough and I would have an outfit malfunction — hahaha. Twill tape? Experiences or suggestions? Also I think it is a bit bigger than what I need so the pic is a different way than I would normally lace it and recently read that it might be better to have the lacing start from the top and tie at the bottom? Thoughts experience or knowledge on this type of lacing would be much appreciated! Thank you for all who respond!

Had a decent time at the Oxford Ren Faire this weekend but man, that parking situation was brutal. Finally finished the pirate booze staff too!

This is a long shot and I do realize this as this was a while a ago now — I was in the Guild of Saint Cuthbert — we did opening parade (opening song and banners then lunch and closing parade song). Does anyone remember a leather worker that made roses? And other vendors and if they are still making goods and keepsakes — just very curious to see as I am having a hard time finding similar style pieces — leather roses, ribbon Faire favors, tails, silver spoon rings, and bells to attach to my belt.