Around The World Costumes

Posted on October 7, 2012 by admin

Why not host ‘An Around The World Fancy Dress Party?’

Coolie Hat & Chinese Moustache

Props & Frocks stocks a huge range of country costumes to suit all the family

Some of our country costume ideas include:

French Maids
Venetian eye masks – ideal if you do not want to do too much
Australian hat – another easy one to do
St. George – wear a knight costume for the patron saint of England
Wear a kilt for Scotland
Leprechauns for Ireland
Skier for any Alpine country
Matador, or Flamenco dancer for Spain
Canada – wear a Mountie costume
North America – a Pilgrim Fathers style costume, or Native Indian
Indian – Bollywood style
Mexico – what about one of our Mexican ponchos and a sombrero
Any Arab country – men wear an Arab Sheik costume, ladies a belly dancer costume
Egypt – wear an ancient Egyptian costume
Italy – wear a gangster or ancient Rome costume such as a gladiator or Caesar costume
Hawaii – an easy costume to put together with our large range of Hawaiian accessories
Japan – Geisha is probably the most popular costume for a lady
Jamaican – wear a colourful shirt, dreadlocks and fake weed. Complete the look with a giant spliff

Sad times over in Munich today as this year’s Oktoberfest comes to an end. This annual celebration of beer and/or wine, commonly associated with Germany but also ‘adopted’ by places such as Belgium and Prague, started on September 22^nd this year and comes to its grand climax today. Germans tend to have a rather staid image but they certainly know how to have a party, with the festival occupying vast beer halls (usually specially erected marquees) in the park areas around the city. Because the Germans (and, for that matter, much of Europe) do not have as great a costume-hire culture as we have in this country, special pop-up costume outlets are set up to help those who feel the urge to dress up to drink. In fact many people make and reuse outfits for this special occasion, and a jolly good time is had by all, so far as they can remember. Because the Germans protect their best beer like their best wine, a quality celebratory brew may not be easy to come by, but we are sure you can improvise something to mark the occasion. Prost!

Arabian Nights Fantasy Theme

Posted on August 10, 2012 by admin

Why not host an Arabian Nights Fantasy Night?

Arabian Night Costume Ideas include:

Belly Dancers
Snakes
Camels
Arabian Men
Sheiks
Genie
Aladdin
Sinbad
Sultan
Snake Charmer

We mentioned a couple of years ago that on August 10^th 1876, Edward Lane died. He was a translator of the 1001 Arabian Nights, a collection of Middle Eastern folk tales, said to be used by one Princess Scheherazade to ‘entertain’ her new husband Shahryar. Because Shahryer had a habit of having his wives executed after a night or so, Scheherazade became the master (mistress) of the cliff-hanger ending, refusing to reveal the ending of stories until the following night, and then starting another with a similar undisclosed finish. Thus she managed to stay alive.

For most, the best known of these ‘Nights’ tales are Aladdin and Ali Baba, through their pantomime versions, but recently one of the major TV networks has been showing a new series based on the voyages of Sinbad the Sailor. There have previously been a few Sinbad feature films – you can catch the early work of Jane ‘Solitaire/Dr Quinn’ Seymour and Patrick ‘Dr Who’ Troughton in ‘Eye of the Tiger’ (1977) and the voices of Brad Pitt and Catherine Zeta-Jones were amongst those involved in the 2003 ‘Legend of the Seven Seas’ animated version – but this new series might reawaken interest in all things Arabian.

London Fancy Dress Theme

Posted on July 27, 2012 by admin

London 2012 starts tonight, so let’s have a London themed fancy dress party! Celebrity Masks

London Costume Ideas:

Beefeater costumes
Kings & Queens – including Henry VIII & his many wives, Queen Victoria
Our present royal family
Lord Mayors of London, from Dick Whittington to Boris Johnson
UK Prime Ministers – we have celebrity masks for Tony Blair, Margaret Thatcher, David Cameron
Werewolf costumes – American Werewolf in London
London Underground Station- checkout our Tube costume Ideas

And so it begins! After months, nay years of build-up we have the Opening of the Olympics! Even if you are not particularly into sport, most people get caught up in the patriotic fervour and besides, tonight is about the spectacle of recreating Britain’s green and pleasant land, with all the ingenuity the best creative minds can muster. Regardless of this, some will be making their own plans for entertainment – we have heard of one group organising a Paralyticlympics, but they are going down to France – obviously upset at not being able to get tickets and drowning their sorrows as a result.. Given that Paris lost out to London as hosts of the Games, they may be in good company.

Around The World Fancy Dress Theme

Posted on July 21, 2012 by admin

Around The World is our fancy dress theme today as the world gets ready to compete at the London Olympics.

Some of our country costume ideas include:

French Maids
Venetian eye masks – ideal if you do not want to do too much
Australian hat – another easy one to do
St. George – wear a knight costume for the patron saint of England
Wear a kilt for Scotland
Leprechauns for Ireland
Skier for any Alpine country
Matador, or Flamenco dancer for Spain
Canada – wear a Mountie costume
North America – a Pilgrim Fathers style costume, or Native Indian
Indian – Bollywood style
Mexico – what about one of our Mexican ponchos and a sombrero
Any Arab country – men wear an Arab Sheik costume, ladies a belly dancer costume
Egypt – wear an ancient Egyptian costume
Italy – wear a gangster or ancient Rome costume such as a gladiator or Caesar costume
Hawaii – an easy costume to put together with our large range of Hawaiian accessories
Japan – Geisha is probably the most popular costume for a lady
Jamaican – wear a colourful shirt, dreadlocks and fake weed. Complete the look with a giant spliff

Today is the National Day of Belgium, a country supposed by some to be boring but which has brought us comic-book author Herge and his creation, Tintin the boy detective; Adolph Sax, the inventor of the saxophone and Renee Magritte, the surrealist painter, best known for his floating bowlers hats. The Belgiums are also good at food and drink – their abilities with chocolate are well-known, they also do an interesting line in variations on waffles and go totally over the top when it comes to beers. Not only do they have a wide selection of beers made from a range of unusual ingredients, they also produce a wild and wonderful set of different drinking vessels from which to consume these drinks – some with their own special stands. Obviously not so much a case of being boring, but rather, having quirky hidden depths of creativity. Being the weekend, today is perhaps a good excuse to cultivate your own creativity – with the next few weeks being wall-to-wall sport, you might find yourself having to make your own entertainment.

Canadian Themed Costume Party

Posted on July 1, 2012 by admin

Our fancy dress party today is based on Canada as it’s Canada Day, when the people at the top of the North American continent The Matrix Fancy Dress get to celebrate – mostly that they are not Americans. (They will have their day on July 4^th). There a good number of things for which Canada is famous – Mounties and Maple Syrup spring to mind, but only one of those really offers a costume opportunity. Far better to look at a few famous Canadians in the Entertainment field and their claims to fame

Canadian Costume Ideas:

Pamela Anderson – Primarily known as a Baywatch Babe, she has now taken to starring in panto’s!
Jim Carrey – Skilled actor with so many roles to his name, notably The Mask and The Grinch.
Celine Dion – She once represented Switzerland in Eurovision, but is best known for her Titanic tune.
Natasha Hestridge – Model who has made her mark in ‘Species 1 & 2’ and other horror films.
Kristen Kreuk – One time Lois Lane in ‘Smallville’, but she has also featured as Snow White in a made-for-TV movie before the current rush started.
Avril Lavigne – Independent pop idol/icon who performed the theme for Burton’s ‘Alice in Wonderland’.
Alanis Morrisette – Another pop star, but she also has movie form, playing God in ‘Dogma’, for example.
Mike Myers – Talented actor with a range of classic characters from Wayne (in Wayne’s World) to Austin Powers (we’ve some great Austin Powers costumes) and Doctor Evil.
Keanu Reeves – Another actor with a host of memorable roles, although Neo in ‘The Matrix’ is possibly the best costume-wise. (Carrie-Ann Moss who played Trinity in the films is also Canadian). Take a look at our Matrix costumes
William Shatner – The alter-ego of Captain James T Kirk (we stock Star Trek Outfits) and patrolman TJ Hooker. He also sings!

Eurovision Fancy Dress Party

Posted on May 19, 2012 by admin

With Eurovision next week, now is the time to plan an Eurovision Fancy Dress party. Love it or loathe Around the World Fancy Dress Ideas it, Eurovision is a definite one to watch on the telly. See how you do in the quiz at the end of this post.

Easiest way to look at this type of party is maybe to give each person coming a country (or area) that they have to dress up as, you could even ask them to bring some food from that country to add to the buffet.

If all of that sounds too difficult then just have an Around the world party and ask your guests to come dressed up as any country of the world.

We have stocks of a huge range of country costumes and we also stock a wide range of hats, wigs and other accessories so you can get your country’s theme without having to purchase an entire costume.

This time last year we were mentioning the fact that the song ‘Happy Birthday to You’ would be celebrating its 100^th anniversary in print this year. We cannot find an exact date for its publication and by all accounts it existed in verbal form back in the Victorian era, but we thought we should mention it as it has become a major part of world culture, having been translated into many languages. Talking of other cultures this time next week we will be in the throes of the Eurovision Song Contest which this year is being held in Baku, Azerbaijan. We have found over recent years that this particular event is not attracting as many requests for fancy dress costumes and accessories as it once did. Whether this is because the competition is now in its 56^th year and has become a bit of a farce, or perhaps people have just lost faith inBritain actually winning again. What is your opinion on Englebert Humperdinck, theUK entry this year? Also can you name all five British winning entries, without looking them up? It will be great to receive your comments.

Answers tomorrow.

Around The World Fancy Dress Theme

Posted on May 5, 2011 by admin

Around The World is today’s fancy dress theme suggestion as, today we celebrate the birthday of one of Britain’s jolly good chaps, Michael Palin. Originally best known for his comedy Country Costume Ideas
work, especially with Monty Python’ Flying Circus, he has since graduated to becoming something of a globetrotter and author, with his various travel programmes being regularly repeated on one channel or other almost every week. In a few days time (on the 8^th May) it will be naturalist Sir David Attenborough’s 85^th birthday, so countries, animals or even a non-PC circus theme could be good today.

Props n Frocks has a great range of country costumes for all the family – in fact if you use this link, it will give you loads of information regarding which costumes will be suitable for various countries. You may also want to have a look at some of our other blogs regarding Around The World Costume Ideas

Some other costumes that you could use for a Country Theme include:

Panda Costume – China
Hawaiian costumes & accessories – Hawaii
Native Indian costumes – North America
Belly Dancers or Camel Costume – use for India, Egypt, Turkey, Morocco
Cleopatra costume – Egypt
French Maid – France
Leprechaun costume – Ireland
Kangaroo Costume – Australia
Christmas Costume – Christmas Islands
Gangster Costumes – Italy
Roman Costumes – Italy

‘Around The World’ is such a huge subject, it basically covers everything. You may also want to think about major landmarks, animals, names of capital cities, or events that have happened. Let us know your thoughts…