Bikini Competitor Amie Behave details the costs to prepare for and enter a bikini competition in the UK as well as the sacrifices you'll have to make and the impacts on your lifestyle.
I've been asked by a couple of people to do a video about the cost of bikini competitions. I've done one show and I will tell you what it cost me to do it and hopefully that will give you a little bit of a heads up into how much it's going to cost you.
It does cost a lot, there are a lot of commitments when it comes to deciding to do a show. One of them is financial commitment. Most preps are around 16 weeks on average. I ended up doing 24 weeks but I'm going to calculate what it takes to do a normal 16 week prep and how much money you're going to have to pay out for it.
The first thing you've got to consider is a gym membership, you need to be a member of a gym and gyms can cost anywhere between £20 to £50 a month. I'm going to go with £30 as that's what mine cost. We're going to go with 16 weeks, which is four months. That would be about £120 for your gym membership for 16 weeks.
I would highly recommend getting a coach. Coaches can range anywhere from £50 a month to £500 a month. I paid £150 a month for my coach. When you are selecting a coach don't do it based on the price, don't just go for the cheapest coach because you get what you pay for most the time. My coach was £150 a month, times that by 4 months if you were doing a 16 week prep and that would cost you about £600 in total.
Another thing you've got to consider is posing sessions. You can do all the work in the world and look freaking amazing and you have stuck to your diet but when you get on stage if you can't pose and you can't show off all the hard work you put in, that would not be good. So I highly recommend getting a posing coach. I did a one on one posing session per month and that was £50 each time. If you're going to do that for four weeks, that's £200 for a 16 week prep.
Next would be Food. You're gonna have to feed yourself, this will vary for everyone depending on what you're going to be eating but roughly mine was about a £130 to £150 per month. This includes all of my food, snacks, drinks etc. For 16 weeks, that would be a total of £600.
You will also need to register for the show so depending on which one you do and which Federation you go with etc. I went with PCA they required a £35 registration fee to enter a show. Some shows you have to pay a yearly registration fee and you also pay for every show you participate in. It could be £20 or £50 depending on the Federation but mine was a one time fee for £35.
You would then have to consider makeup and hair. You don't have to have this done professionally but my advice is if you can afford it, get it done professionally. This will help take the stress off of yourself and to make sure you've got actual stage makeup on because it's very different to your regular makeup and hair.
It's like a photoshoot style makeup. Most shows will have a hair and makeup section available where you can choose to have that done. My hair and makeup was just under £100 for both.
For Tanning, you can do this yourself but especially if it's your first show I would not recommend doing it yourself. Unless you are a Pro and have competed before then that's fair enough. Pro’s will know what they're looking for because they are experienced, but if it is your first show, do not do your tan yourself because you have to get a mahogany brown leather color look. I did mine professionally and that cost me £70.
You also have to consider what suit you're going to wear. You're not gonna want to wear a regular bikini, it's not a bikini that you wear to the beach. It is a proper stage suit. The price can vary from £100 to £600. You can get second hand ones if you like, which you can probably find them for around £150. If you're going for a brand new suit that will cost more. I went all out with mine, it was an encrusted patterned, customized one and it cost me £400.
You have to get shoes as most Federation's and shows will have a specific type of shoe that they want you to wear. I paid £50 for my shoes which I think is not too bad but it’s still an expense that you've got to incorporate into your budgeting.
There are also other things such as petrol, getting to where you're going for the show. We went up to Birmingham it cost me about £40 in petrol but you could be competing in Wales or abroad so you need to implement travel costs into your plan.
Accommodations are another expense on the list. I got a house to share with friends and family and it cost us about £30 each but if you're going to go stay at a hotel that could be from £50 to £100 a night. You may end up staying there for two nights, if the show is far away. If your show is local, you might not have to say at all.
You might go up in the morning and back the same day but if I were you I would go up and stay close to the venue and check in the night before so make things easier in the morning.
So, based on my calculations from what I’ve paid for a 16 week prep would total about £2,125. It's not cheap, so if you're going to do a show you're going to have to be financially prepared for that.
I'm super committed because that's a lot of money to waste if you don't stick to a plan. All in all, that's the basic financial sacrifice you have to make.
