Comp Prep Guide

How Much Does Competing Cost? + Some Ways To Save Money

June 09, 2017

Bikini Competitor Katie Warren breaks down the costs to compete in a Bikini or Figure Competition, including Suits, Hair, Heels, Tanning, etc


Hi guys, welcome back to another one of my videos. I've had some people message me asking about how much money you spend on average to compete in a bikini competition. 


It is important to know these things before going into competing. They can get very expensive and that is something you need to know ahead of time so you can decide if competing is for you. 


If it's something that you really want to do, then this video is basically going to be a breakdown of what I spent on my show and ways I found to cut money and save a little bit. 


We're going to start with the fees that you have to pay in order to do an NPC show. This is a video just about NPC because I've never done any other show besides NPC. I don't know the price range for other competitions like OCB or WBFF so this is just strictly for NPC.


To compete in NPC shows, you have to have an NPC card. Once you get the card it is good to use for a year and you can do multiple shows in that year but you have to have this card to be in any show. This card is for USD $125. 


You will also have a registration fee of $40 for the competition and then you have to also pay for your classes that you're competing in. I do recommend, if you're a first-time competitor you can do three classes and I recommend taking advantage of those three classes because you can only do that once. 


You can do ‘True Novice’ which means you've never competed before. You can do ‘Novice’ which is just another class that shows you're new and haven't won anything yet. 


Then you do your class which is based on your height. I'm in class C, because I’m 5 foot 5 inches. Classes go from A, B, C and D, with A being the shortest in terms of height and D being the tallest. 

You have to pay per class that you choose to compete in and it ranges from $80 per class but the more classes you do the cheaper it gets. 


When I did my show this time I did two classes because I already competed in ‘True Novice’ for my last show and you can only do that once. Do take advantage of doing ‘True Novice’ because it gives you another opportunity to win, so why not give it a try. 


When I did my show this time, I only did ‘Novice’ and my class which cost me $140 to do both of those classes. This is just a breakdown of the price that you have to pay just to register, get your card and for your classes. 


As a girl this is more expensive for us because we have all the technical stuff like hair, nails, make-up and all that lovely stuff we have to do.


Next we'll go into Tanning which is a huge, huge, huge part of competing. You want to have a really good tan. 


When I did my first show I went with the tanning process provided by the competition which was a good experience. I really liked having them there, waking up at 4:30 in the morning and getting your tan before other competitors.


There are boys and girls in the same room so be prepared for that, everyone sees everything, we are all naked. 


I remember my first experience I was drying myself by having to stand straight and not touch anything and just wait for the tan to dry because you're so sticky and this is all naked and some guy walked right past me and I couldn’t move so this is very awkward. Besides that it was a good experience. That tan cost me $135 dollars. 


This year I got the tan done at Salon Sole in New Jersey. I did the Double Black tan. Make sure you ask for the Double Black, this is a one-day process. If you do Ultimate black, that’s probably a three-day process. The Double Black came out plenty dark, I literally didn't need to be any darker whatsoever or I would look more crazy and it only cost me $48. 


The only thing that was weird was that I had to get into the car to go to the hotel and had to make sure it didn't get messed up. A trick when youre wearing your seatbelt is to have someone else drive and keep your seat back so it's not touching you. 


If you don't want to spend $135, go to a local tanning salon and see if they do competition spray tans. 


The one I went to was Salon Sole and it was for only USD $48.50. I will link it here for you guys to check out: salonesole.net/tanning


General Comp Prep Cost Prep Guide For Beginners