Costumes and Customs

[furtech]

Hi-- I'm a costumer living in the United States (Los Angeles, California) and I have a lot of questions about how to navigate Canadian Customs smoothly.  

Can someone write up an FAQ about this?  I have only attended a few Canadian conventions, but I still vividly remember the terrible experiences I had shipping things to the Worldcon in Winnipeg (1994) as well as equally difficult car-crossings into Vancouver (from Seattle) with costumes for other conventions.

Ideally this FAQ would cover:

• basic customs issues, both Canadian and US (returning with costumes)

• how to ship costumes (and merchandise, for dealers/artists)

• car-crossings

• flying in with costumes/merchandise

• how to deal with prop weapons (from realistic prop guns to fantasy weapons and Steampunk-type guns)

If anyone else has things to add to this list, please join in!

Thanks!

[gypsy]

I can't answer all your questions, but I do know that Canadian Customs are VERY serious about weapons, even props. I simply do not cross the border with them. Have documentation to prove that you made them not bought while in other country. I keep my costumes in the trunk when I go by car. I try to keep most everything in the trunk, I think they prefer that, the driver doesn't have instant access to it making it safer for them to check so they may not pull you over.

Contact the boarder agencies by e-mail to clear things before trying to cross with something. They don't like surprises.

Hope this helps.