We look forward to our Halloween costume contest all year, and once again we’re excited to announce the winners of this year’s contest.

Without further ado, here’s the winners’ list:

Grand Prize Winner

(Chosen by a Petful judging panel)

Bugg and Louise as Pup-N-Stein and The Bride

Last night, Cinzia told us a little about these pups: “Louise, half chihuahua and half Boston terrier, is from Wright Way Rescue in Morton Grove, Illinois. She just turned 3 in September and weighs in at a whopping 5 pounds. Her favorite activities are sleeping and play wrestling with her sister.”

“Bugg was rescued by a friend who found her in an abandoned apartment in Florida,” Cinzia says. “We think she’s about 3 years old and possibly a chihuahua/pug mix. She’s amazingly sweet, and her favorite activities are escaping her crate, eating and removing squeakers from her toys.”

The Grand Prize includes:

• $1,000 donation to the registered 501(c)3 nonprofit animal rescue or shelter of the winner’s choice (Cinzia has chosen Rancho Relaxo as the winning recipient of the donation.)
• Featured article here on Petful about the nonprofit
• $100 cash award

The Grand Prize winner was chosen by an official 4-member Petful judging panel. “It was incredibly tough to choose just one Grand Prize winner when we had 68 outstanding entries,” says Dave Baker, publisher of Petful.

“We chose ‘Pup-N-Stein and The Bride’ as our Grand Prize winner because everything seemed to come together: a classic Halloween theme, creative costumes, an amazing background with lots of cool things like test tubes and pops of bright green, and the intense look on the dogs’ faces.”

People’s Choice Awards

(Chosen by voting on Facebook)

Dogs Category: Dollie as Minnie Mouse

Cats Category: Pedro as a Pumpkin

Other Pets: Bunn Bunn as a Chicken

All 3 of our People’s Choice Award winners get:

• $275 donation to the registered 501(c)3 nonprofit animal rescue or shelter of each winner’s choice
• Featured articles on Petful about those charities

To view all of our entrant photos, see the app on our Facebook page. Thank you to everyone who participated in and spread the word about our Halloween contest this year!

Halloween is a great time to test your creativity and make the perfect costume for your pet.

I get festive with my pets each year, with costumes ranging from cute to scary. This year, I decided to make a S’mores costume for my dog, Flea. Follow these steps to replicate this DIY project. There’s still time!

Supplies

• Scissors
• Cardboard box
• White fabric (I used an old T-shirt)
• Marker
• Hot glue gun
• Brown fabric (optional)

Directions

1. Prepare your materials.

Start by cutting the sides off the box until you have 2 squares set aside. Cut the fabric into strips while you heat up the hot glue gun.

2. Decorate the cardboard squares.

If you are recycling a box like I was, use the blank side of the 2 cardboard squares you created. Draw a dashed line down the center of each square, and add rows of 2 dots on each side of the dashed line. This should start to look like a graham cracker.

3. Connect the graham crackers.

Using the white fabric strips you prepared earlier, hot glue straps to the inside of the cardboard box squares. Make sure your glue dries and cools completely before placing it on your pet to check the size. I added 2 straps, but you can add more if desired.

To add to the appearance of a Hershey bar in the center, you can use brown fabric to make your strips.

If you would like to make the costume more secure, loop an additional strip around the strap that will be closest to your dog’s neck. You can slip your dog’s collar through this strip so the costume will stay on.

4. Add marshmallow filling.

Hot glue strips of the white fabric you prepared earlier to the outside of the graham crackers. The “marshmallow” filling should appear to ooze over the dots on the graham crackers.

5. Try the costume on your pup.

Once the hot glue has completely dried and cooled, place the outfit on your dog’s back. If you added an additional loop of fabric to the top strap in Step 3, loop your dog’s collar through and readjust the placement of the costume. Your pup should look like a S’more!

For safety, always supervise your pet when using DIY costumes or toys. Here are a few more important Halloween safety tips for pets in costume.

It’s time to vote in our Halloween costume contest!

Head over to the app on our Facebook page to vote for your favorite costumed pets. People’s Choice Awards voting begins today and will end Oct. 30, 2017, at 11:59 p.m. EST. All winners will be announced on Halloween, Oct. 31, 2017.

Your vote counts! Here are the prizes for each winner of the People’s Choice Awards:

[{“title”:”Witch”,”points”:”0″},{“title”:”Ghost”,”points”:”0″},{“title”:”Clown”,”points”:”0″},{“title”:”Princess”,”points”:”1″},{“title”:”Pirate”,”points”:”0″}]Show considerable attitude about their food and care.

[{“title”:”Witch”,”points”:”0″},{“title”:”Ghost”,”points”:”0″},{“title”:”Clown”,”points”:”1″},{“title”:”Princess”,”points”:”0″},{“title”:”Pirate”,”points”:”0″}]Do a “binkie” or sideways jump, followed by a midair spin. Rabbit acrobatics at their best.

[{“title”:”Witch”,”points”:”0″},{“title”:”Ghost”,”points”:”0″},{“title”:”Clown”,”points”:”0″},{“title”:”Princess”,”points”:”0″},{“title”:”Pirate”,”points”:”1″}]Be on the lookout for adventures. Peter Rabbit wasn’t the only one with an eye for a garden ripe for the picking.

[{“title”:”Witch”,”points”:”0″},{“title”:”Ghost”,”points”:”1″},{“title”:”Clown”,”points”:”0″},{“title”:”Princess”,”points”:”0″},{“title”:”Pirate”,”points”:”0″}]Get a little spooky sometimes. You suspect your rabbit does a little dream-walking some nights.

[{“title”:”Witch”,”points”:”1″},{“title”:”Ghost”,”points”:”0″},{“title”:”Clown”,”points”:”0″},{“title”:”Princess”,”points”:”0″},{“title”:”Pirate”,”points”:”0″}]Fix the evil eye on the other bunnies when they aren’t obeying your rabbit.

Every year, Petful runs a contest asking readers to send in photos of their pet dressed to impress for Halloween.

Members of the Petful team put their heads together to pick the winners — but let me tell you, it’s not easy. An incredible amount of creativity and thought go into some of these costumes. Even though not everyone can win, so many deserve a shout-out.

With that in mind, I took a look through last year’s pets who entered but didn’t win a prize — although they did win our hearts. Here’s my personal list of 2016 honorable mentions.

1. These pups crack me up. Odie and Klo are representing the best kind of packages … although I have to say, they don’t look entirely thrilled with it. Perhaps they should have been sent first class?

2. This entrant went all out. Casanova decked himself out from muzzle to tail and everywhere in between. All he needs now is a ghost rider.

3. Our next honorable mention goes to D.J. from California. He decided that there’s a new sheriff in town — him! Maybe Casanova would be his “Horse With No Name”?

4. Beautiful Beatrice Ticketyboo from Ohio stole the show as an operatic diva. Judging by the look on her face, she’s either about to hit a high note or has just seen a mouse in the audience.

5. These adorable pugs have decided to dress as either ladybugs or Poké Balls. If they are dressed as Poké Balls, would that make them Poké Pugs?

6. Who doesn’t love the Olympics? Princess from Florida does, and she’s awarded herself the top spot. She deserves it — look at that face.

7. Californians Herman and Olive collaborated to come up with an inventive and creative way to gain control of the household while pretending they were just dressing up for Halloween.

8. Supercat Tony is looking for just the right phone booth to change back into his mild-mannered alter ego.

9. There’s no such thing as too much gossip. The more sordid, the better, thinks Tennessee gal Cleo.

10. And last but certainly not least, this honorable mention goes to Disney fan Mila Mouse, from Louisiana. Could there be a cuter Minnie lookalike anywhere?

If you haven’t entered your pet our 2017 Halloween costume contest, featuring more than $1,900 in prizes, there’s still time. Read all about it here.