This is a sponsored post. All opinions are 100% mine. My daughter has always been a nerdy girl. We embrace her geekiness because it is a huge part of her personality. She reads and writes fan fiction, attends a S.T.E.M. high school and is on her school robotics team. She watches shows like Doctor Who, Sherlock and Supernatural. We I learned there was a Supernatural fan convention nearby, I got tickets. We had never been to one of these before and wasn’t sure what to take. I learned there are must have items to make your fan convention a success. Here they are:

Ten Essentials You Need To Make Your Fan Convention Successful

• Tickets: Many cons have different levels of tickets. General Admission seats are always in the back and you cannot see worth a flip. These are the tickets that are going to be available while the con is going on. If you can, spring for seats closer to where the talent will be. It is worth it to have a bird’s eye view of your favorite television or movie star!
• Comfortable Shoes And Clothes: Our fan convention took place at a large resort. The walk from the ballrooms to the food court was almost 1/4 mile! In one day, you can walk 10,000 or steps or more. If you aren’t wearing comfortable shoes, you will get blisters. That makes the rest of the weekend painful. The temperatures in convention rooms run the gamut. It is best to dress in layers. You can always add or subtract items as the temperature dictates.

• Photo Ops And Autographs: Many cons offer photo ops and autographs with the featured guests. If you can afford it, I recommend buying at least one. This is what memories are made of, trust me! Caitlin had five photo ops and two autographs. She was on cloud nine the whole time!
• A Binder Notebook And Inserts: The Jensen Ackles photo op for Caitlin was $160. That is an quite an investment. The last thing I want to have her do is bend it. We keep plenty of inserts in a 3-ring binder. This protects her photos as well as her autographs. We also kept our schedule for the weekend in our binder. This way, it was accessible and kept us on track.

• Costumes: Many people cosplay or dress up for fan conventions. For our Supernatural convention, Friday night has a theme. Caitlin dressed in her best Steampunk gear. She also packed shirts that had special meaning for each of the guests she had her photo ops with. Be sure you are able to carry your clothing and accessories with you. If you are staying at the hotel, you can drop off your bags. If not, you are stuck carrying everything with you for the entire day.
• Food and Drinks: Many cons are in a hotel or a convention center. The hotel food is usually pricey, and if you are at a convention center, onsite food may not be available. We brought fruit, nuts, pretzels, beef jerky, energy bars and sandwiches. For dinner, my husband drive over from the hotel and brought us food. It was a fraction of the cost of the food at the hotel. Bring a water bottle you can refill. This is not only convenient, but cost effective as well. A bottle of water at our hotel was $4. Yikes!

• A Good Camera: This is a must. I have two lenses; one for normal shots and those farther away. Although we had great seats this year for SPNNash con, they were not as close as I would have likes. Thankfully, I had my telephoto lens and was able to take nice photos. I take between 500-1,000 photos and edit from there. Too many options is better than too few! I mean, how can you get too many photos of that good looking pair of guys?
• First Aid Kit: I am a klutz, so I get hurt regularly. It is best to keep a small first aid kit with me at all times. Nothing fancy, just a few items. I have band aids, Pepto, Tylenol, Visine, hand sanitizer and an immune system supplement like Vitamin C or Airborne.

• Entertainment: There is a lot of down time for most fan conventions. You will find yourself waiting in lines, waiting for a panel to start or waiting for your ticket number to be called for a photo op or autograph. We brought books, cards, smartphones and tablets. We played a lot of “Heads Up” on Caitlin’s iPhone while waiting for karaoke to start. That line was three hours long!
• A Large Backpack: You will want a nice backpack to carry your stuff around all day. You want something a good size so it can hold everything but not so large that it’s going to get in the way when you’re sitting in your seat or when you stand in lines. Think something appropriately sized to fit under your chair in the hall. I brought the Guidi 18″ Laptop Rucksack from Sydney Paige. It was perfect!

I love our canvas Guidi 18″ Laptop Rucksack from Sydney Paige! It is lightweight, durable, spacious and good looking! It offers a large main area with drawstring and magnetic closures, a padded, fleece-lined laptop sleeve, padded back and shoulder straps. Even when we packed it to the top, it was comfortable to carry. With it’s reinforced bottom and quality construction, I had no fear of it coming apart. It also features one front, and two side accessory pockets with metal zippers and leather pulls. This style retails for $90. Backpacks for younger folks retail from $40 fro preschoolers, $55 for elementary kids and $65 for tweens.

Another reason I love the products from Sydney Paige is they give back to those in need. Sydney Paige is a Buy One | Give One benefit company. They give children in need quality backpacks and school supplies. These donations help these precious children help to learn and thrive in school. Currently, they are working with Rainbow Pack, founded by Riley Joy Gantt when she was just ten years old. This initiative will donate TWO premium Sydney Paige backpacks for every ONE purchased. These bags will be filled with each child’s own ‘homework’ supplies. Isn’t that wonderful? Be sure to stay connected with Sydney Paige on Facebook and Twitter.

Have you ever been to a fan convention? I would love to hear about your experience and the essentials you brought!