As promised, I have a few tips for you Twilight Convention virgins based on my experience from last weekend’s convention.  Follow these suggestions and you’re sure to have a vampy time!

1.  Only go with friends who are at your OCD level – even if they’re Team Jacob!  (no one else will really enjoy it)

2.  Plan in advance and buy the Gold Package – its so worth it!  It guarantees you good seating and includes all your autographs, Friday night concert and Saturday night Vampire Ball.  At our event there were 9 rows for Gold Package tickets and we were in row 8 on the center aisle.  This didn’t mean much to us until Saturday afternoon when all the day ticket people were wayyyy behind us.

3.  Buy the breakfast ticket – its totally worth it for meeting the celebrites up close and personal at your table! And the auction that goes along with it is for a great local cause.

4.  Play the trivia games for big prizes – winners won big $, plus the vampire ball makeover, plus a dance with one of the wolves.  OH YEAH, that’s worth showing off your Twilight knowledge to win!

5.  Visit the vendors a few times before buying because you never know what cool stuff you’ll see the next day

6.  Bring $$ and give yourself a budget (because you’ll be shopping!)

7.  Visit Kimbra Hickey, the Hands of Twilight – because she’s so sweet and you own a book with her hands on the cover

8.  Pack to be comfy and appropriate – you’ll be amazed at the outfits some people wear for general sessions.  Please choose wisely (and bring a sweater or buy a hoodie while you’re there because the rooms will be cold)

9.  Share the photo ops with a friend to save money, and plan ahead for what you’ll wear so you can coordinate colors (without being cheesy)

10. Scope out local restaurants and bring snacks & water with you because eating in the hotel will be expensive

11.  Be sure to bring your items for autographing so you don’t have to rush around trying to find a Borders to buy your New Moon calendar (that one’s for my sis – love ya!)

12. FOLLOW THE RULES – especially at the ball and breakfast. When they say put your cameras down and sit at your seats, do it – or you’ll miss out on seeing your faves up close and personal at your table (or worse, make a fool out of yourself trying to grab them while yelling “you need to hug me!”)

13.  If the actors you planned to see have to cancel and someone fills in for them, don’t cancel your trip – believe me, you’ll be grateful you had the chance to meet some others you may not have expected to see.  (like I was after meeting Catherine Hardwicke, Gil Birmingham and Edi Gathegi)

14.  Write down what questions you want to submit for the Q&A sessions – and make them both coherent and logical.  Like “what cologne do you where” is not nearly as interesting as “what did you enjoy most about filming X, Y, Z?”  And believe me, they’ve been asked a MILLION times what its like to hang out with Rob, Kristen and Taylor (so don’t ask it).

15.  Mingle and meet your fellow fans – you never know what cool people you will meet from all over the place.

And the last tip for the Twilight Convention virgins – take a deep breath, relax and have fun!  These actors are people just like us, they really do put their socks on one at a time like us. . .they just happen to have different jobs than we do!

Who’s in for Arlington, VA, April 2010?  I’ll see you there!