Today’s fancy dress theme is Space, past, Present & Future. It’s a chance to let your imagination run wild. This type of theme always overlaps with sci-fi, which then incorporates our superhero costumes as well.
Hippy Costume - wear wacky weed, smoke a fake spliff, and go as ‘spaced out’
Space – just wear black circles and go as a Black hole, or space itself
Morphsuits – make a great spacelike costume – we stock a huge range all year round
And here are some of our moon costume ideas…
Dark Side Of The Moon – wear all black
Eclipse – this gives a chance to wear a Twilight character costume
Walking On The Moon – What about wearing a Police outfit (get it?)
Werewolf costumes
Fly Me to The Moon – wear a pilot’s costume with a ticket to the moon
Harvest Moon
Moonpig – wear a pig costume carrying a moon
It was fifty years ago today that the first US rocket, the Ranger IV, landed on the moon. It was, of course, a major achievement for its time, but the event was not a total success. Whilst we say that it ‘landed’, it actually crashed into the surface on the dark side, and because of an electrical failure soon after the launch, the plans to have the probe taking pictures of the moon surface could not therefore be achieved. Nonetheless, this was the starting point of the project to get a man on the moon, which was, of course, accomplished only five years later, so following on from yesterday’s Fantastic Future theme, today is the day to celebrate Space, past, present and future (cue the Star Wars music).
We had to have a space themed fancy dress as it was on this day in 1972 the last mission to the Moon - Apollo 17 – returned to Earth. Of course the Moon isn’t the ideal party environment – no atmosphere – but nonetheless we thought this was an ideal occasion for a celebration of our nearest natural satellite with a space-orientated event.
If you confine yourself merely to the Moon, there are several astronaut outfits on the market, including the inevitable ‘mooning’ version. For some more unusual space-fashions, two Gerry Anderson series’ featured personnel based on the Moon: ‘UFO’ with the purple haired ‘moon-girls’ and space-fighter pilots stationed at an early warning facility; and ‘1999’ where the Moon and Moonbase Alpha are blasted out of Earth’s orbit by a nuclear explosion. The Moon and its inhabitants subsequently go on a tour around the universe to encounter strange races, parallel time-line planets, etc. And we mustn’t forget that Wallace and Gromit also visited the Moon in one of their early adventures.
And here are some more wacky moon inspired costume ideas…
Dark Side Of The Moon – wear all black
Eclipse – this gives a chance to wear a Twilight character costume
Walking On The Moon – What about wearing a Police outfit (get it?)
Werewolf costumes
Fly Me to The Moon – wear a pilot’s costume with a ticket to the moon
Harvest Moon
Moonpig – wear a pig costume carrying a moon
If you choose to take a wider view on the Space theme, needless to say the outfits you will find from us here at Props n Frocks are out of this world and they don’t have an astronomical price-tag. Why not take a look at our space costumes which you will find in our sci-fi range of fancy dress outfits
We celebrate the anniversary of the start of Star Trek on September 8th 1966. Although the series is now legendary and spawned several spin-offs and movies, it almost didn’t make it to the screen – not only did Gene Roddenbury, its creator, have to make two pilot shows (the TV executives were unhappy with Spock’s devil-like ears) but he also had problems creating the ‘look’ of the programme: Props people weren’t sure how to create sufficiently futuristic flora, fauna and buildings, and when it came to aliens, whilst screen testing the green-skinned Orion Slave Girl who featured in the early test episodes, the technicians in the film lab turned her ‘pink’ again because they thought there was a fault on the film.
Unfortunately because Star Trek is a franchise with licensed costumes, only outfits from the most recent ‘relaunch’ film are available, (although there is a sequel in the pipeline, due out next year). Take a look at our Star Trek Costumes. Not that we or our creative clientèle are going to let a little thing like that get in our way – we have plenty of space-wear for both earthlings and aliens, so there’s no excuse not to boldly embrace a Space or Futuristic Fashions theme
Today we recommend a Space fancy dress theme as in 1980 on this date the second of the Star Wars films, ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ was released. We have done Star Wars, see our Star Wars Costume range, and Space, as a costume theme many times (see the red text panel on the right, and take a look at these space fancy dress costume blogs) and bemoaned the fact that Star Wars really only works for ‘boys’, there being a lack of female characters and costumes. Notwithstanding that the Star Wars films were set in a galaxy far, far away, we look at some of the ‘spacial’ effects for a futuristic party in the world beyond costuming, especially if the event is being held outdoors. For a start, there are some theme party suppliers who can provide props such as inflatable aliens, planet cut-outs and ‘Roswell Incident’ ephemera. You might also find that there are some ways to put Christmas fairy-lights to new use with this theme-area. Here are a few other ideas worth exploring.
Dry Ice: Although an effect more usually associated with the bubbling cauldrons of Halloween, dry ice (or solid Carbon Dioxide) may have a role to play (you can find suppliers on the Net), although there are handling, health and storage issues involved in the ‘real thing’. One can find vapour machines which create a similar effect without the associated problems, although such machines can be expensive to buy, so hiring may be a better option.
Glow-in the Dark Effects: Items in this category can range from the chemical glo-sticks which, once ‘broken’ and activated, can produce eerie light for a good period of time, to products which you ‘charge-up’ from an intense light source. There are also the increased ranges of solar-powered lighting products intended for garden use but some of which can be adapted for other uses. When it comes to glow-in-the-dark make-up (very useful for futuristic fashions and aliens), although this usually comes in intense neon colours and can thus work well on its own, it works best when subjected to an ultra-violet light source. Luckily these are increasingly easy to find – there are even hand-held portable units.
Balloons and Sky Lanterns: Between them, these two items have created a good number of ‘UFO sightings’ of their own in their time. Although the last few years have seen balloons with in-built LEDs on the market, the large latex ‘Rover balloons’ (named after the entities in the cult series ‘The Prisoner’) are most effective. The rising price of helium (so to speak) means these are best air-inflated and hung from fishing twine (as long as this does not create a health & safety hazard). Sky lanterns, although pretty, are also controversial because of their supposed lack of biodegradability and health-hazard potential to livestock. Although it rather goes against their purpose, tethering them so they can be recovered (and possibly reused) may be an option to work on.
Today is all about Star wars Fancy dress as somewhere, in a galaxy far, far away today is Star Wars Day (May the Fourth be with you) but we know that in that galaxy, there seem limited roles for female kind – Princess Leia of the original series Padme Amidala of the prequels and Ahsoka, the trainee of the Clone Wars series, plus assorted aliens. (Okay, we know that if we took the broader SW Universe beyond just the films, there are many others but we’re thinking of ones for which costumes are available). Props n Frocks has a range of Star Wars costumes for you to have a look at. However, we do understand that having a purely Star Wars Fancy Dress Theme is quite limiting, so you could broaden it out to include Space as a general theme.
However, regular readers of this blog will understand by now that Props n Frocks always looks at things in weird and wonderful ways…
Here in the real world we have a different type of Star Wars, with female pop divas trying to outdo each other in their outlandish outfits: Note the other-worldly ambitions of Lady Gaga and, more recently, Katy Perry has gone rather OTT in her ‘ET’ video.
Given that ‘Pop Stars/Idols’ is a regular costume request, the enthusiasm for Gaga, Perry, Jessie J and the like to go through several outfits in a single song’s video makes it difficult to nail down a definitive and/or contemporary look. However the situation has been helped a little recently by the fact that there is now at least an official Lady Gaga costume and accessories range on the market, and that a version or two of one of the Katy Perry ‘California Girls’ outfits will also soon be available.
Costumes suitable for Cheryl Cole have been available for a while now, and Madonna has provided a lot of costume inspiration over the years, but we are sure that you can think of some more. If you can, why not drop us a line to give others some inspiration?
Today we are looking into space with our fancy dress theme. Check out these blog posts for some greatSpace Costume ideas
Given that today is Easter Sunday, costume partying may be the last thing on your minds. However on this date in 1990, the Hubble Telescope was launched from the space shuttle Discovery and, after a few hiccups in which its ‘eyesight’ had to be fixed due to a problem with its mirrors and lenses, the telescope has since enabled us to marvel at the wonders of the far distant parts of the Universe. Very awe-inspiring and conducive to feelings of insignificance! Traditionally the Easter holiday marks the start of the ‘Summer season’ of outdoor activities (although a few theme parks seemed to have jumped the gun because the festival is late this year) so here’s hoping for a good few months when we can all get out and celebrate the amazing diversity of our environment.
We offer you the choice of 2 fancy dress themes today. A few days ago we remarked on the fact that there was over half a century’s difference between our two featured actors of the day. Today we go one better with Leonard Nimoy, Mr Spock in Star Trek also celebrating his 80th birthday (just four days ago it was William Shatner’s 80th) & Keira Knightly who will be only 26. The latter first came to the public’s attention in the film Bend it Like Beckham, and is now particularly known for her role as Elizabeth Swann in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, playing opposite Johnny Depp & Orlando Bloom. So, do you want to go for a space or pirates theme? The choice is yours.
If you choose a space theme, do not be surprised if you get a selection of science fiction costumes attend your party as well. If you do not want the odd Batman & Robin descending on your party, be very specific on your party invitation.
If you decide to go for a Pirates theme, you have a huge selection of pirate costumes and accessories to choose from. One of the reasons why a Pirate theme is always popular is that there are so many pirate accessories available to purchase, it is very easy to make your own costume at home without breaking the bank.
fi, which then incorporates our superhero costumes as well.
