With summer in full swing, I was wondering how you clowns deal with the heat/humidity. Any special gear you
wear or take with you to gigs? Do you have a winter costume and a summer costume?

Let's share some tips!

I just sweat and deal with it. I do have a small battery-operated fan that I use in between if I get a minute to myself, but otherwise I just hang in until the end.
Haven't heard of anything special except maybe wearing shorts.
Jubilee

Plan as many indoor events as possible.
Outdoors, schedule breaks and keep cold water on hand so you don't get dehydrated, and try to plan for some shelter from the son, ie a tent cover or umbrella for face painting.

There are many things you can do to keep cool in your costume. First keep cold water with you. A water jug filled with ice will last all day. Or if you don't want to carry around anything that big, fill regular water bottles with water and put them in your freezer the night before. Make sure you put them in on a angle or the water will crack the bottles when they freeze. Put in different amounts of water in different bottles to freeze then finish filling them up with water before you leave, that way you have cold water to drink all day and not just blocks of ice waiting to melt.
You can buy little plastic ice packs for coolers and keep them in your costume. They are made to stay cool for hours.
A cold wet washcloth wraped around your neck can do wonders for keeping you cool, every half hour or so just pour some cold water on it to keep it cool.
If you are at an event where they are serving drinks, dip you hands in the ice water that the drinks are being keeped in for a few seconds.
The idea is to cool down your pulse points, wrists and neck especially. This is where your blood moves closest to the surface and cooling these areas will quickly cool down your entire body.
Keep Cool
Looney Ballooney

Do a seach on Ebay for a cooling vest. They look promising. It is a vest with insulating material in in and pockets to hold ice packs. It maintains a temp of like sixty-five degrees. Kind of pricey, but cheaper than heat stroke. What I did was to sew a patch on my shirt right betwwen my shoulder blades . It is actually a pocket big enough to put and icepack in. It helps, doesn't solve the problem but it does help.
A clown friend of mine makes a cooling thingie that you tie around your neck. They help considerably,If anyone is interested Email me and I will give you her email. If it is really hot I wear a vest instead of my patched up tramp coat,and roll my sleeves up. Tramps can get away with that though because "skin" is part of our look.
In the winter I add thermal underwear. I want to get the traditional red "longhandles" for a comical look.
Good luck!
Scruffy

Hey guys hsve you tried using a cooling vest? they work really well keep you cool and comfortable for about 3 hours,. they are exspensive though. there is a manual that shows you how to make a cooling vest though at http://www.keepingmecool.com

It is really good[/code]

Carry a mister bottle. If make up is applied properly it won't hurt it to spray your face. When I have had to be out n the heat, it saves my life. Also wear a lightweight COTTON under shirt (sleeveless style) and long leg cotton underpants (for the ladies). You won't believe it, but it works to wick moisture away from the body and keep it cooler. I do use lighter costumes in the summer, and the above still applies. Rainbow

I have a cooling vest and it works very well for a couple of hours then you need to change out the cooling elements.

They are not cheap but they do work extremely well.

Live in a country where hot days are rare. :p

This past weekend was BRUTAL her over 100 one day and heat index of 112- 120 the next 2 days. A friend of mine turned me on to thermal tabs. They are salt pills that are supposed to help replenish the electrolytes in your body to keep you going on hot days. I am going to test them out this week and my next fair and will report back. Right now we are in an extreme heat advisory and the weather people are saying we need to stay in the air conditioning and out of the sun, think I'll go play at the fair grounds :)

Today was a hot one... four hours at a farmer's market. The market closed an hour early to avoid the afternoon heat. The shade of a tent helped, and fortunately there was a bit of a breeze. Staying hydrated is very important on hot days. I would rather see a clown go without a wig/hat and wearing shorts than see them pass out. Maybe I am just getting used to the hot weather, because there were days at the beginning of June that felt hotter (maybe they were just more humid).

I did an outdoor BIKE SHOW today here in Florida. I freeze kids juice drinks the Capri sun cause they flatten and put them in my big pockets and that helps me keep cooler and when they melt I drink them! also use a battery fan and a misting fan. I always bring water no matter the event (I've been told drinks provided and then not a drop for me learned my lesson) hard working outside here in the heat but I tell myself that I make in 2 hours that I used to make a whole week working as a home health aide. Then I get home and I look like that dog in that commercial that froze up the dudes a/c unit spread our in front of it.

I used to think that I had to follow the old clown rule that all of your body parts had to be either covered with clothing or with make-up. Well, forget that when it's 100 degrees out. I wear short sleeves in the summer, which helps tremendously. I also find that once I get get busy and involved with my clowning that I forget about being hot.

Great advice, everyone! I had two back-to-backs yesterday. One in-doors and one out. The T-shirt instead of the long sleeve one I usually wear helped a lot – although I have the same issue as you Pickles. And I did end up shedding the hat outside. They had also set up a canopy for me to work under. (For once I had a "roadie" set up for me pre-show!) The kids also had a giant water slide to play on at the party. I sure loved getting wet hugs and having wet kids sit on my lap yesterday! Thanks again, everyone for the great advice!

I once did an event in the heat with two other clowns that had the cooling thing Scruffy was talking about that you tie around your neck underneath your clown collar. It helped me tremendously and I totally recommend it. I hope to purchase one soon. It seemed to last a long time as well.

i have a long sleve shirt for the winter and a short sleve shirt for the summer that are the same color.

for the neck ties, check out wal-mart. our local one several years got them, and had them in sporting goods, same thing I bought at a convention and pretty cheap. Around $5. And you reuse them, only thing it, I think it's feel with the same stuff as slush powder and it can get a little slimey feeling.

About covering all the skin with clothing. I also wear short sleeves in the summer but take long fishnet gloves to help with some cover up. They help cover the arms some and still are cool. It does look kind of strange if you get the tan lines though.
Sara K.

Whooo, baby!

<whistles>

this is my hubby Groovy's summer outfit.
I made the tie (about $5)
the shirt came from of all places the grocery store inthe clearance baskets for $4
the shorts were from the thrift store for a couple bucks
the socks orang and blue strupe clown supplies $10
blue suspenders from thrift store

econimical, cool, and cute

http://www.clown-forum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=2168&stc=1&d=1311960555

Groovy's summer-wear looks pretty darn groovy!