Desert Island Fancy Dress Theme

Imagine the scene. The sun is high in the sky, the waves lapping at the white sand, palm tree swaying gently in the wind… Cue, a brilliant fancy dressHawaiian Fancy Dress Ideas theme to get us all in the mood for a long hot summer…

Desert Island Costume Ideas

  • Castaway – tatty clothing, beard, wild hair
  • Sun Bather
  • Palm Tree
  • Tourist – look at the Tacky tourists in the image (what fun!)
  • Take your inspiration from Desert Island Discs to see what celebrities have wanted on their own Desert Island
  • Hawaiian Costumes or accessories
  • Tropical Bird costumes or overhead masks
  • Witch doctor Costume
  • Scuba or snorkel gear
  • Pirate costumes – opens up a whole range of costumes
  • Monkey Costumes
  • Shark Costume

A great chance to take theming to the limit.

  • Why not have steel drums playing
  • Sand delivered
  • Use scene setters to turn any room into a tropical oasis
  • Cocktails
  • Sun Loungers

Today in 1719, author Daniel Defoe published his book about Robinson Crusoe, based on the real life experiences of one Alexander Selkirk. Defoe did rather embellish the actual events surrounding Selkirk’s adventures (why let the truth get in the way of a good story?), including the bit about the cannibals. Which is why, nowadays, the story (and spin-off pantomime) may be considered a little un-‘PC’. Rather more PC is that today, in 1961, a Mr Robert Noyce patented a semi-conductor-based circuit, which would become the basis of the computer chips that help run almost every aspect of our world these days. That said, with the exception of a few outfits which have embraced use of LED technology and some of the more hi-tech outfits available following  the TRON remake in 2011, the mass costume market has yet to realise the full potential of the technology available. We put it down to the same problems that are dogging a viable electric car – the batteries are always a bit of a problem.

Desert Island Fancy Dress Theme

Today,we thought it would be a great idea to have a Desert Island Fancy dress theme as it was on this day in 1719 Daniel Defoe published his novel ‘Robinson Crusoe’ based on the realHawaiian Accessories experiences of one Alexander Selkirk who was castaway on a desert island in 1704. Many will be familiar with the story as it lives on not only as a book but also a pantomime, albeit with changes.

The main differences were that Selkirk was not shipwrecked, he actually asked to be castaway because he had no confidence in the captain of the ship he was serving with (rightly, as the ship, The Cinque Ports, was sunk shortly afterwards). Secondly he did not find he was sharing a island with cannibals – he just existed as a self-sufficient wild-man until he was rescued. The cannibal element makes for extra drama but is one of the reasons the pantomime is not performed frequently – Crusoe may have got all his work done by Friday, but it wasn’t very Politically Correct, with hindsight!

So what costumes can we suggest for this costume theme?

  • Hawaiian Costumes or accessories
  • Tropical Bird costumes or overhead masks
  • Witch doctor Costume
  • Swimwear
  • Scuba or snorkel gear
  • Pirate costumes – opens up a whole range of costumes
  • Monkey Costumes
  • Shark Costume – take a look at our Man Eating Shark outfit
  • General castaway (tatty and dirty clothes), men can wear fake beards