Are you organising a fancy dress party? If yes, then the general idea is for the function to be a 
success, you require most, if not all, of your guests to wear the required theme.
Some themes so require more work than others, and some require your guests to really ‘think outside of the box’. It is always worth considering the following points:
- What age range will the guests be? A more general theme, or an era may be better, yo need a theme that has a broad range of costumes for all ages and sizes.
- What time of the year is the party going to be? Unless you do not mind having the heating turned up full in December, an Hawaiian party may be better suited to our warmer (do we have any?) months.
- Is it a work event? If people have to work in their outfits, the theme must be suitable so that they can!
whatever theme you choose, make sure you always have a few ‘spares’ in hand for the people who try and attend without joining in on the theme.
If you are organising a themed event such as a party, how strict should you be in expecting people to enter into the spirit? When you have made the effort to put things together with appropriate costumes, decorations, food etc. you probably expect those who have been invited to do the same but… unfortunately not everyone plays the game. A few weeks back we heard of a tearoom up North which had gone all patriotic for the Jubilee, with suitable décor and themed menus. The problem arose when, as part of the daily routine, they were playing the National Anthem at 3.00pm and expecting their patrons to break off what they were doing to stand up and join in. Apparently some customers refused to do so, even talking through the Anthem, so the owners asked them to leave. Excessively authoritarian or an example of putting thematic enthusiasm (or patriotism) before profit?