Spoticus Suit Guidelines
There are three suits available:
- Large (5'8" to 6'1")
- Medium (5'4" to 5'8")
- Small (5'1" to 5'5")
Providing Spoticus at any event requires two individuals:
- One to wear the suit
- One to serve as Spoticus handler
Important tips to know when wearing the Spoticus suit or being the handler:
- Spoticus can wave, high five, fist bump, dance, and pose for photos!
- Spoticus does not talk!
- The handler can explain who Spoticus is to guests. It's great for the handler to have a roll of Spoticus stickers to hand out to kids as a memento. The handler should prompt children to give Spoticus a high five or ask if they want their photo taken with the mascot.
- The person serving as the Spoticus handler must stay with Spoticus at all times, to talk for Spoticus and inform Spoticus when children and families are approaching.
- The suit impairs the wearer's vision. When wearing the Spoticus suit, the wearer has little peripheral vision so guidance is REQUIRED.
- If the suit wearer has long hair, it is recommended that you pull it back with a cloth headband to keep hair and sweat out of your eyes.
- The new suits have an adjustable chin strip/head piece that you put on before the head. It is important to get it adjusted correctly or the suit head will not sit properly, may wobble around, or may tilt too far in one direction (making it difficult to see). This is especially true if you are dancing, jumping, or moving around a lot.
- Spoticus has a tail that seems to invite being pulled and can tip Spoticus over. The handler will need to watch for tail pullers and redirect inappropriate behavior.
- The handler should also let Spoticus know when a child is frightened by the suit, to avoid approaching that child.
- It is recommended to wear the suit in 15-20 minute increments only. When outside in hot temperatures, longer than 15-20 minutes may cause physical stress or harm.
- The suits come with cold packs. On hot days, consider bringing an ice chest/ice to cool down the packs to help with heat.
- Do not wear the Spoticus suit outside if the wind speed is over 20mph as the head may fly off or spin, even with the chin strap.
- Never take any piece of the Spoticus suit off where kids might see, make sure you are out of sight of guests. Have a plan for where Spoticus can suit up and take breaks, as well as an exit strategy.
Note: When requesting Spoticus on our OES catalog, you are requesting the suit only. Outreach is not staffed to provide a person to wear the Spoticus suit and the Spoticus handler. When you do not have enough staff to use Spoticus on your own, you may request Outreach assistance and it will be provided when we have availability for the time and date requested. Volunteers may also wear the Spoticus suit if they are briefed on the guidelines!
Please make sure you pack Spoticus into the bags to be transported back home or to his next adventure. You may want to air out the suit before closing the bag. Take care to pack the suit gently.
Please report poor condition of Spoticus, such as stains/rips/cosmetic issues. We will get these problems addressed before his next appearance.
Additional Resources
What size suit should I request?
Remember that suit sizes can overlap, if wearer is not at the end of the range you might be able to use the adjacent size if the one needed is unavailable.
In the photos below, the mascot head extends past the wearer's head. The wearer is eyelevel at the Spoticus mouth.
Large (estimated to fit wearer from 5'8" to 6'1")
Joey (right) is 6'1" and Andrew 6'1" (left) has about 1-1.5 inches to spare on the wrists and ankles. Suit might extend to 6'2".
Medium (estimated to fit wearer from 5'4" to 5'8")
Paige (right) is 5'5" and Kristin (left) is 5'3", pretty much the perfect height for the medium suit, but has a little room to spare.
Small (estimated to fit wearer from 5'1" to 5'5")
Paige (right) is 5'5" and Abby (left) is about 5'1" with 2-3 inches to spare. The extra fabric isn't too noticeable and might be okay with someone 5' but probably no shorter.