Completing our short series regarding school costumes, today we look at one last section, the school play!

School plays tend to happen just before the break up for Christmas, or just before the break up for summer, and it is another time when the poor parent is met with a costume suggestion from the teacher!

From our experience, we often find that teachers, and we don’t want to seem nasty, really have got no idea when it comes to advising what each child needs to be wearing. The poor parent is despatched and spends hours worrying about where they are going to find a specific costume from.

A lot of schools also advocate that the costume must be made at home (well, going from the harassed parents that we help in our fancy dress shop), there are not that many parents who have the time, or the skill to do this sort of thing.

One thing that teachers do forget is that kids costumes are governed by very strict guidelines in law (find out more here), and this is why most of the kids costumes you will see stocked will tend to be generic and not specific. So a generic costume will need to be adapted by adding, or taking something off of it to create the desired effect. This is when a good old fashioned fancy dress shop, as opposed to an on-line store wins hands down as these businesses are filled with people who have the imagination, and knowledge, to help you. Some on-line companies, like ourselves, encourage customers to ring up for advice, but a lot of others will not provide a contact number, and sometimes an email just is not answered in time!

Enough of the rant, back to the school play!

Key things to think about when arranging for a child’s school play costume:

• Can they see clearly – they may have to walk up steps, be on a stage or do a dance. Good vision is essential. We have found our animal face bops to be very popular for school plays. They cover a wide range of animals and some birds without impeding the vision in any way at all.
• Is it too hot. School halls get very hot.
• Make sure the costume is not a trip hazard. Long dresses are better to stop at the ankle.
• Why not look just for some accessories. The child can wear their own colour co-ordinated clothing with an accessory or two to create the look.

Take a look at our range of childrens costumes, if you can’t find what you are looking for, give us a call, we are here to help!

History records that on this day in 1956 the IBM RAMAC 305 became the first commercial computer to use magnetic storage. Remember magnetic storage? The thing that eventually became the hard-drive in every computer whose speed of operation was explained as ’being like travelling at the speed of sound a few inches off the ground, although the clever bit was counting all the grass-blades as you did so’. Coincidentally it was on this day in 1998 that Google was founded, which in its own way has revolutionised access to information. Now it’s all down to flash drives, clouds and social media and here at Props n Frocks we like to think that we’re making ourselves as accessible as possible by every possible means using the various technologies and media available. Even as we speak/write we are putting finishing touches to an upgraded website and improved information resource system to showcase our many products and services better – just in time for the autumn season!