‘A Walk on The Wild Side’ is Today’s Fancy Dress theme as great excitement in London today in 1828 as the Zoological Society, founded two years earlier, opened purpose-built gardens in North London which would eventually become known as London Zoo. Although the members themselves had collected many specimens, the collection was helped when it was agreed to move the Royal Menagerie of exotic animals, then sited near Windsor Castle, to London. Of course the strange exotic animals from all corners of the world being displayed were incredible novelties in those days and visitors were under strict restrictions: Gentlemen were told not to carry whips and women were asked to refrain from trying to poke animals with sticks through the bars!
Under the circumstances we thought a ‘Walk on the Wild Side’ theme could work today.
Apart from the obvious range of animal costumes & masks that you could wear for this costume theme, we also thought you could wear the following costumes:
Safari Costumes
Tribal Costumes
Zoo Keeper
Tarzan & Jane
Insects such as butterflies (we stock ladies costumes and a great range of butterfly wings)
With Easter coming at the end of this week, we thought it would be apt to have an animal themed fancy dress party. Animal costumes, notably chicks, bunnies and possibly March Hares if you are having an Alice tea-party may be much on your mind.
Given that today in 1881 the Natural History Museum opened in South Kensington, London, now would be a good time to take an overview of animal outfits. At the top level are the ‘big-head’ mascot costumes. These larger-than-life characters certainly make an impression at any event but there are several issues relating to their use. Firstly, whilst they look great, most of them are hot and heavy to wear, so we do not recommend their use at parties or events where space is at a premium. Even at an outdoor event there is a need to be cautious: Not only is the wearer’s vision restricted (so having a ‘minder’ is a good plan) but even outside, the wearer will get hot and may need to have rest-breaks at a location where they can ‘break character’ out of sight of the public. (Even the ‘professionals’ with their air conditioned suits and electronic aids, follow these basic rules!). Next are the costumes with overhead masks. These retain the look of the animal being portrayed but, not being so padded and rigid as mascots, are easier to wear. There have been more of these coming on the market recently and Props n Frocks has an excellent range available. There are still problems with a limited field of vision in most cases, and simple things like eating, drinking and speaking so you can be heard are still difficult – again taking the head off in public is a no-no! Next level down is the suit and balaclava approach which leaves the face free. This can be good for interaction with your ‘public’. The animal look is portrayed with face-paint or make-up according to enthusiasm and/or ability (although some animals such as horses provide a challenge!) Even if you are not too confident on this aspect, we at Props n Frocks can help with advice and materials and there are plenty of instructional videos on YouTube and the internet. At the simplest level, for children and those who do not want to play with face-paint, animals can be portrayed with appropriate fur tabards, ears, tails etc., and the animal look can be enhanced with the widening range of animal ‘face-bobs’ available. Some of these even come equipped with appropriate sound-effects!
Props n Frocks also manufactures Mascot style costumes, so if you need one for your work , charity or business, contact us and we can give you some more details.
Last day of March and Spring is in the air (or so they say). When it comes to this time of the year we certainly seem to get several requests for animal costumes. The most popular ones tend to be chicks and rabbits (must be something to do with Easter) but animals of all types can be in demand and given that many such costumes are made of fur fabric, now’s a good time to be fur-clad: If the weather’s not playing it’s part, you won’t be too cold and at this time of year it is not too hot for a fur costume to be uncomfortable. Not that the heat factor puts people off – we have had people in Gorilla suits doing pub-crawls in mid-July and despite the risk that the weather might actually do what it’s supposed to when it’s supposed to. The enthusiasm for our furry costume friends does not fall off markedly during the summer months. Never let practicality and comfort get in the way of a good idea!
If wearing a full animal costume does not appeal to you, why not take a look at our huge range of animal overhead masks or animal face bops and noses to get you in the animal mood.
Today’s fancy dress theme suggestion is animals, and the reason behind this is…
Hooray, it’s Groundhog Day!
For those unfamiliar with this 1993 film, in which a weatherman keeps reliving the same day over and over again (until he finally gets it right!), the undoubted star of the show (aside from Bill Murray and Andie McDowell) is Scooter the Groundhog, who played Punxsutawney Phil. Now, we don’t have a Groundhog costume (and we’re not even sure if anyone makes one, plus it’s a bit of a one-trick pony or should that be Groundhog?), but we do have several animal costumes that you might find in movies.
Now before, you get really creative and start thinking of specific dog breeds, unusual creatures you’ve seen in films and other animals to test us, perhaps we’d better give you a few film suggestions that we can do.
Scooby Doo the Great Dane is an obvious one, as is a Dalmatian (which naturally complements Cruella de Vil). Both of these are cartoon based, and cartoons of course feature a wide variety of animal characters. If you start looking at the amount of films there are based around an animal theme the list can be endless. There are farmyard films such as Babe or Chicken Run, domestic animals such as Cats and Dogs, and films based around an assortment of wild animals such as Madagascar, Ice Age and the Jungle Book.
At Props n Frocks we stock a wide range of animal overhead masks that are ideal to help you to create an animal costume – all you need to do is wear a long sleeved top and trousers in the relevant colour of the animal you are portraying. We also stock a great range of animal face bob masks. These masks are ideal, especially for children, although adults can wear them as well. The wearer has full vision and can easily speak whilst wearing a face bob mask, we have found them to be very popular for school plays.
in North London which would eventually become known as London Zoo. Although the members themselves had collected many specimens, the collection was helped when it was agreed to move the Royal Menagerie of exotic animals, then sited near Windsor Castle, to London. Of course the strange exotic animals from all corners of the world being displayed were incredible novelties in those days and visitors were under strict restrictions: Gentlemen were told not to carry whips and women were asked to refrain from trying to poke animals with sticks through the bars!
