Halloween Costumes

Posted on August 28, 2012 by admin

August is a great time for the fancy dress shop to get ready for Halloween. As we mention

Vampire Accessories

a bit further down this post, this time of the year is ‘normally’ very quiet in the fancy dress industry, and it is a great opportunity for the Halloween costumes & accessories to take up prime position in the fancy dress shop.

Keep an eye out for some ‘early bird’ Halloween offers, and grab your Halloween outfits, & accessories before the mad Halloween rush.

Well, we are back at work today and raring to go after our bank holiday rest day yesterday. Some schools may have already gone back, but for many, this is the last week of the school holidays and it represents the last week of freedom for many, before the routine of the school year once again kicks in. Parents up and down the country will no doubt be checking that everything is prepared for the new school term. For those in the fancy dress trade, school holidays can be an interesting challenge. August can be notoriously quiet, but this year because of the Olympics (and prior to that the Jubilee) we think fewer people have chosen to go away during the summer (or perhaps took their main holiday earlier in the year?) and instead have been holding parties. This is obviously good for business, but can be an interesting challenge in ensuring we have the right costumes for the right evetns at the right time, particularly when we find that any pre-planning elements have flown out the window.

This week is also the time when people start thinking about the next bank holiday. Naturally, this will be Christmas. We have already had some firms who have started booking costumes for the staff Christmas party (yes, some businesses still have them. However, Christmas is just under four months away and two months prior to that we have Halloween. New Halloween stock is arriving daily and if you want to ensure you have the right outfit for you, take a look at some of the items we have available.

10 Most Popular Halloween Costume Ideas

Posted on October 17, 2011 by admin

Facebook

With two weeks to go until the 31^st, we thought we would give you a brief run-down of our top 10 most popular Halloween costumes from recent years.

10. Devil – Despite the general consensus of the Devil being male, the majority of devil costume requests tend to come from females. This isn’t to say that there aren’t many male devil outfits, (although some masquerade under other titles such as Lord Lucifer or Beelzebub (typically devious)), it’s just that there are a greater number of female costumes, many in the short and sassy style. No need to lead you into temptation here – you can probably find it for yourself. We also stock a wide range of devil accessories, everything from devil tails, horns & tridents to help you to complete your Devil costumes.

9. Grim Reaper Costume – A Halloween outfit with a bit more edge. For those who want to go beyond the standard skeleton outfit, this has proved popular in the past, especially following the dramatisations of some of the Terry Pratchett Discworld books featuring Death. The outfit uses a hooded cape, mask and scythe, and even if Prachett’s Death was seven foot tall, size isn’t everything. This Halloween costume is ideal if you do not want to do too much. Wear your normal clothing underneath so you can remove your costume at a later stage of the evening. .

8. Pumpkin – One of the more traditional Halloween costumes, being based on a simple foam-based body in most cases. Great for kids and adults.

7. Skeleton – A mainstream Halloween outfit, this has been on the back-burner for a few years, but was resurrected last year, with a twist, as the Voodoo Lord of the Dead. The Lady Gaga ‘Born This Way’ video has also helped. Watch out for information on another variation – the Skeleton Zombie costume– coming later this week, and we’ll also have info on how to spice (or sugar) up your impression soon.

6. Cat – A witch’s familiar and symbol of luck, the head to toe black feline look can prove quite the cat’s whiskers for the scary season. See our Blog for October 11^th for further advice and information.

5. Witch (or Wizard) – Witches are always popular at Halloween (if only for a short spell) and with the departure of Harry Potter & Co. we are waiting to see how the wizard market holds up. We stock a great range of witch costumes & accessories, whether you choose to wear a sexy witch outfit, or stick to something a bit more traditional.

4. Zombie Costumes – There are, of course, plenty of ‘off-the-peg’ zombie outfits available, and the new range of ‘professional’ zombie outfits have been flying out (‘Here to die, gone tomorrow’). For those on a budget, the zombie outfit has the benefit of being able to be thrown together from almost anything. We also stock some great zombie scars and zombie skin (or liquid latex) which is brilliant at helping yo to create a peeling skin look.

3. Beetlejuice – A costume from the Tim Burton stable. This popular character is not too scary and the black/white striped ill fitting suit is a great visual concept not only for Halloween, but also for 1980s and Movie parties.

2. Corpse/Dead Bride – A bit of a sleeper hit last year, especially as the film itself was released a few years ago, but they say you can’t keep a good bride down – even six foot under! This is a costume that you can utilise any white bride costume and add some liquid latex and fake blood to get the best gory bride look you can. We have a Corpse Bride Costume on special offer, add some fake blood and you have a unique looking Halloween fancy dress costume.

1. Vampire – Thanks to the ‘Twilight’ series and ‘First Blood’ the Vampire look has been ‘in’ for the past few years. Traditionally Dracula has been the Vampire and with our fantastic selection of capes for sale, this is an easy look to recreate. Using white and black make-up (which is available for purchase) for an unnatural pallor and the sleepless look, add our fangs for that vampire look and away you go. The range of coloured contact lenses we stock are also great to give that bloodthirsty stare. Take a look at our huge range of vampire accessories

Halloween Costumes

Posted on October 1, 2011 by admin

Facebook

Just 30 days to go until this year’s Halloween – have you decided what Halloween costume you are going to be wearing yet? Our Halloween stock is starting to shift, so don’t leave it too late before you buy or hire your costumes. We have a fantastic selection of items for this year’s Halloween. So, whether you want to be a Zombie, Vampire, Vampiress, Dead Bride, Werewolf, Skeleton, Grim Reaper or any of our named characters such as Jason, Freddy, Beetlejuice, etc., come and find how we can help your Halloween be Spooktacular.

There are still some early bird specials going, so take a look at our vast Halloween range of costumes and our massive range of Halloween accessories with all what you need to either put your own costume together at home, or to complete a purchased costume. Our Halloween accessories include:

Bloody Weapons
Fake Blood
Capes
Vampire Teeth
Werewolf Shirts
Zombie Flesh
Zombie Shirts
Halloween Wigs
Halloween Masks

To celebrate what will be Disneyland, Florida’s 40^th birthday today we thought we might also suggest a Disney Halloween party. After all one of Mickey Mouse’s early films was Fantasia, so why not combine the supernatural, Disney and Halloween?

Halloween Costumes

Posted on September 6, 2011 by admin

Facebook

Now the kids are back to school, our attention really focuses on Halloween. Take a look at our ‘Early Bird’ offers available on facebook (join us here) and Twitter and make sure that you get the costume and accessories you want before the massive rush at the end.

Take a look at our huge range of Halloween costumes & Halloween Accessories

The start of the new school term is now well underway and even if you don’t have children, you probably appreciated the quietness of the streets during the school holidays. The holiday season is now over for many, unless of course you are not restricted by the school timetable and can jet off at any time of the year. As routines get back to normal (“Have you done your homework?”, “Mum, where’s my PE kit?”, “You’re going to be late for school”, etc) or new routines have to be learnt, it’s a time of new beginnings – hopefully not quite as radical as that of the Pilgrim Fathers who set off in the Mayflower from Plymouth on this date in 1620 – but nonetheless a time when people turn their minds to planning new projects to work on as the evenings close in – possibly even something to do with Halloween or Christmas. As always, we’re here to help at Props n Frocks.

Halloween Costume Ideas

Posted on August 19, 2011 by admin

Facebook

Halloween costume ideas may be a strange blog for the middle of August and at propsnfrocks our minds are already turning to Halloween. This is not necessarily to do with all the fabulous costumes and accessories we are introducing for this year’s season, but also because we are playing the usual guessing game as to what’s going to be hot for Halloween 2011. Some think that Vampires could be ‘in’, particularly as the film Fright Night starring Colin Farrell as a Vampire is released in the US today (UK general release September 2nd 2011). Whether this remake will live up to or be better than the original film from 1985 remains to be seen. Aside from Colin Farrell it also stars the former Dr Who, David Tennant.

Vampires have of course been big over the last few years, what with the Twilight series, etc., so it may be that people will want to go for something more traditional such as zombies, werewolves, ghosts, etc..

Vampires tend to be popular Halloween costumes as you can very easily put a costume together at home. We stock some great vampire capes and vampire fangs to complete a nocturnal look.

Whatever your take on Halloween, why not think about booking your costumes early? The best ones tend to go fast here at propsnfrocks.

Look out for our Special Early Bird offers, available all through august on selected Halloween items.

Early Bird Halloween Special Offers

Posted on August 3, 2011 by admin

Facebook

Halloween is only a couple of months away & we’d like to offer you some great discounts for all early bird bookings (on line).

Take a look at our facebook page and if you ‘like’ us you will be able to get free postage and special discounts on Halloween fancy dress. You will also be able to pre-order this year’s top Halloween costume Morphsuits at fantastic prices – have you seen the new Halloween range yet?

Also today…

…we celebrate the 200^th anniversary of the birth of one of those men who has made a small but significant contribution to modern life, Elisha Otis, inventor of the elevator safety brake and the man whose name is on a huge number of the lifts in use today. He started his career making a machine to make metal bedsteads more quickly but whilst clearing out a factory to make more beds he invented a safe method of using the hoists whilst clearing debris from the various floors – creating not just the hoists but the all-important braking safety system. He dramatically demonstrated his invention at a World’s Fair Trade Show by having a hoist rope deliberately cut whilst he was on a platform in mid-air and sales immediately rose dramatically.

Today’s fancy dress theme? What Goes Up Must Come Down, which can take in anything from costumes to do with flight to an event with a balloon-based theme.

Horror Fancy Dress Costumes

Posted on July 19, 2011 by admin

Facebook

Now you make think Horror is an odd fancy dress theme to be thinking about in the middle of July, but here at Props n Frocks it tends to be on our mind a lot during the summer, as we contemplate what new stock we may need for this year’s Halloween. Just as the fashion industry has its seasons (have you ever tried buying a swimming costume in mid-winter?), so does the world of fancy dress. However, unlike fashion retailers we are always ready for requests for unseasonal costumes. For example, around June 24^th we are often asked for Father Christmas outfits (something to do with Christmas in Australia!). The fantastic thing about fancy dress is that you never know what costumes or theme events might crop up next.

The reason why we mentioned horror today is that July 19th marks the birth of one Lizzie Borden. For those unfamiliar with her story, back in 1892 aged 32, Sunday school teacher Lizzie Borden was tried (and controversially acquitted) of the gruesome axe murders of her father and step-mother. Some of you may recall a childhood rhyme about the case, but the truth of whether she did it, or not will probably never be known. Still, if you are looking for a costume for a horror event, whatever time of year, whether it’s an axe-murderer, zombie or vampire, or any named characters such as Freddie Krueger, Jason, Sweeney Todd or even Lizzie Borden, you know where to come.

Take a look at all of our Halloween costumes & look out for some special ‘early bird’ offers that we shall be promoting very soon.