A character. Or simply yourself.

Your character · The Influencer

You are documenting the entire evening for an audience that may or may not exist. Nothing is eaten before it is photographed.

• —Golden hour is a deadline, treat it like one
• —Refer to the resort as "this hidden gem"
• —Ask staff to take one more, but vertical this time

Start with these cues, add a signature phrase, habit, or accessory, and introduce yourself as the character. You are in contention for Best Dressed and Best Role Play.

Your character · The Wealthy Guest

Old money, older grudges. You have summered here since before it was fashionable and you would like everyone to sense that without you saying it.

• —Complain beautifully about nothing
• —Mention the boat. Never point at it
• —Tip in cash, folded, without breaking eye contact

Start with these cues, add a signature phrase, habit, or accessory, and introduce yourself as the character. You are in contention for Best Dressed and Best Role Play.

Your character · The Newlyweds

Married minutes ago, as far as anyone here knows. Unbearably affectionate, faintly exhausted, and already having your first disagreement about the registry.

• —Toast each other at unprompted moments
• —Call everything "our first" — our first dinner, our first torch
• —One of you loves it here. The other is being brave about it

Start with these cues, add a signature phrase, habit, or accessory, and introduce yourself as the character. You are in contention for Best Dressed and Best Role Play.

Your character · The Mysterious Traveler

Nobody knows how you got on the guest list, including you. You answer questions with slightly worse questions and leave every conversation first.

• —Be vague about your arrival. And your departure
• —Know one guest’s name you should have no way of knowing
• —Step away to "take a call" — there is no call

Start with these cues, add a signature phrase, habit, or accessory, and introduce yourself as the character. You are in contention for Best Dressed and Best Role Play.

Your character · The New Money

You bought the biggest boat on the lake last season and you have not stopped talking about it since. You are having a wonderful time, which the old money finds unforgivable.

• —Name the price of something unprompted
• —Invite strangers onto the boat. All of them
• —Be genuinely, loudly delighted by everything

Start with these cues, add a signature phrase, habit, or accessory, and introduce yourself as the character. You are in contention for Best Dressed and Best Role Play.

Your character · The Free Spirits

A couple who found each other at a music festival and never fully came back. Endlessly mellow, endlessly agreeable, and running about forty minutes behind the schedule everyone else is on.

• —Answer every question with "the universe kind of handled it"
• —Compliment a stranger’s aura, sincerely
• —Drift toward wherever the music is, mid-sentence

Start with these cues, add a signature phrase, habit, or accessory, and introduce yourself as the character. You are in contention for Best Dressed and Best Role Play.

Your character · The Texans

A couple fresh off a long drive from Texas, delighted by everything and briefed on nothing. You have never been to a lake resort like this and you have questions about all of it.

• —Call the lake "the pond" and mean no harm by it
• —Ask loudly what a course is when the plate is that small
• —Offer a firm handshake to absolutely everyone

Start with these cues, add a signature phrase, habit, or accessory, and introduce yourself as the character. You are in contention for Best Dressed and Best Role Play.

Your character · The Agents

A couple in resort wear that is somehow entirely black, insisting they are simply on holiday. You are watching something tonight, and it is not the sunset.

• —Sit facing the door. Always
• —Speak to each other in short, unnecessary code words
• —Deny being on assignment before anyone accuses you

Start with these cues, add a signature phrase, habit, or accessory, and introduce yourself as the character. You are in contention for Best Dressed and Best Role Play.

Come as yourself · What to wear

Your favorite resort wear. Your own personality. No character required.

Come as yourself in polished resort wear, with no assigned character, costume, or role-play expectations.

• —Linen shirts and tailored separates
• —Sundresses and relaxed evening resort attire
• —Polished resort wear, not a costume

You are eligible for Best Dressed, not Best Role Play. Enjoy the mystery and shared activities at your own pace, without performing a character.