Too broke for conventions but too shy for walking the mall in costume? There is a middle ground.
Summer is packed with conventions, but with a hobby as expensive as cosplaying, it can get pricey to go to them, especially if they’re far away. To avoid the price, you could try mall cosplay, but that’s definitely not an experience for the timid. While it might take some digging, there are tons of events and gatherings out there for those who don’t want to or can’t pay for a convention, but still want to get their cosplay fix.
At the bottom of this article, you will see a list of resources where you can find casual meet-ups and gatherings.
Casual gatherings are way more relaxed, and sometimes even more fun, than conventions. There’s no real 
pressure involved. Just a group of friends or strangers or both meeting because of their love for the hobby.
Casual cosplaying often involves little more than a date, time and some means of transportation. If you live near any big cities, there is probably a gathering near you. And even if you don’t, it’s easy to round up a couple friends and create a gathering on your own.
Sometimes these gatherings are given other names, like picnics or parties. Often they take place at anime-themed stores, in parks or at well-known locations like amusement parks.
I recently participated two gatherings like this - one at an anime-themed store and one in a park. There were about 25-30 of us at each event, and by the end of the day all of us were friends. At the store in New York, 
Anime Castle, there were organized contests (complete with prizes). At the park event, it was even more laid back, with most people just relaxing and enjoying the extremely beautiful weather.
Check out both gatherings on my youtube page. Direct links are provided below:
North East Cosplayers Picnic 2009
Check out my youtube account ( http://www.youtube.com/user/tusense ) for more videos from casual gatherings.
Resources
cosplay.com - Probably the best and safest place to find these kinds of gatherings. In the “member events” section of the forum, people are constantly posting ideas for gatherings.
Your local con’s forums - Whatever your “home town” con is, they probably have a Web site. Use it! Most cons have Web sites and forums and often the people who live closest to the convention plan gatherings in that area.
FYE - The store regularly holds “Animazement” events, and GEN’s own Mihoyonagi has been to one. Check out her article about it here.
Anime Castle - Located in Queens, NYC. They are a small store, but have a great calendar of events, including cosplay contests (complete with prizes).
Know places I missed? Have additional resources I forgot? Let me know in the comments!
June 6th, 2009 at 3:56 am
I didn’t realize FYE was still in existence. I guess they’ve really had to get creative to keep some business in the downloading age.
Depending on the genre you’re into there other online resources. I’ve found LiveJournal and Yahoo Groups to be excellent for steampunk and Serenity/Firefly gatherings even though I have only been able to make it to one so far; as you said, travel can add up.
Speaking of Serenity costuming, the annual Can’t Stop the Serenity events will be starting in the next few weeks. From simple screenings of the movie to full blown costume parties, different cities do different things.
June 6th, 2009 at 11:41 am
Brittany Walloch and company run the So Cal Cosplay gathering out here. The most recent one just happend a couple weeks ago! LOTS of fun. http://www.socalcosplay.com
June 7th, 2009 at 12:19 pm
I didn’t know all these secret events in NY went down. I’m from NY, but I don’t have any cosplay costumes and I definitely don’t know how to sew. X3