Should Guests Follow a Fancy Dress Theme?

Posted on June 24, 2012 by admin

Continuing yesterday’s fancy dress theme on how far you go to impose/enforce a costume dress code. Obviously we have to declare a bit of a vested interest, but most would agree that if you have gone to the trouble of putting the event together, you would expect people to show a bit of effort themselves.

We have all heard the excuses ‘Too busy to get anything sorted’ or ‘Couldn’t get what I wanted from the Internet in time’ (did they come to us?). Sometimes the hosts have foreseen this eventuality and have a few spare costumes and accessory items to hand for the benefit of these busy and/or disorganised people. Then there are those who brazen it out with ‘I don’t do fancy dress’ (but seem quite happy to do the party thing). Non-participation is always a problem at fancy dress parties, but if enough people have entered into the spirit and made the effort, those who do not dress up will be the odd ones out and, hopefully, will be made to feel suitably shamed. On the other hand, we did hear of a medieval themed event, where forfeits were demanded from the plain clothes party people and a pair of stocks prop was put to good use.

When it comes down to it, in most cases, the invitees are your acquaintances, so you are in the best position to judge how you treat the dress code – strict rules to be enforced or just general guidelines?

What do you think? should guests honour the theme, or should they turn up at the event in ‘normal’ clothing? Please let us know your thoughts…

Organising a Fancy Dress Party?

Posted on June 23, 2012 by admin

Facebook

Are you organising a fancy dress party? If yes, then the general idea is for the function to be a success, you require most, if not all, of your guests to wear the required theme.

Some themes so require more work than others, and some require your guests to really ‘think outside of the box’. It is always worth considering the following points:

What age range will the guests be? A more general theme, or an era may be better, yo need a theme that has a broad range of costumes for all ages and sizes.
What time of the year is the party going to be? Unless you do not mind having the heating turned up full in December, an Hawaiian party may be better suited to our warmer (do we have any?) months.
Is it a work event? If people have to work in their outfits, the theme must be suitable so that they can!

We have a full section on this website that looks at many various costume themes, it even gives you costume ideas, and songs to play during the event. It would be well worth taking some time to look at these themes to help you decide on a suitable costume theme for your party. We would also suggest that you give your guests either the link to the site, share it on Facebook, or just print off the costume suggestions, so there really is no excuse for not trying to join in with the theme. We always try and give some ‘easier’ options as well!

Top Tip
whatever theme you choose, make sure you always have a few ‘spares’ in hand for the people who try and attend without joining in on the theme.

If you are organising a themed event such as a party, how strict should you be in expecting people to enter into the spirit? When you have made the effort to put things together with appropriate costumes, decorations, food etc. you probably expect those who have been invited to do the same but… unfortunately not everyone plays the game. A few weeks back we heard of a tearoom up North which had gone all patriotic for the Jubilee, with suitable décor and themed menus. The problem arose when, as part of the daily routine, they were playing the National Anthem at 3.00pm and expecting their patrons to break off what they were doing to stand up and join in. Apparently some customers refused to do so, even talking through the Anthem, so the owners asked them to leave. Excessively authoritarian or an example of putting thematic enthusiasm (or patriotism) before profit?

Why Dress Up In a Fancy Dress Costume

Posted on May 12, 2012 by admin

Facebook

Why is dressing up in a fancy dress costume still so popular? I think one of the reasons is that nowadays, we really do not ‘dress up’ for much, with everything being ‘smart casual’. Fancy dress gives us all a chance to step outside of our day to day lives, and become someone, or something else.

Main reason fancy dress works:

Creates a great atmosphere straight away
Allows guests to circulate away from their own small group – great for work networking, engagements & weddings.
Everyone laughs all night long
Cheaper than going out and purchasing an entire new outfit
Great Pictures, great memories

We are now asked for fancy dress costumes, or accessories for all manner of things including:

Dressing up days at school for children, teachers and parent helpers
Stag Nights
Hen Nights – look at our large range of hen night novelties
Engagements
Weddings – Medieval / Tudor remaining the top wedding themes
Wedding Proposals
Work Networking/ Team Building

Dressing up in a fancy dress costume is definitely more popular than it ever has been Today, ‘just up the road’ (well, Cambridge actually) we have CamCon, one of the new fan conventions generated by the rising trend of enthusiasm for ‘cosplay’. This is ‘dressing-up’ but with reference to the Japanese comic-book styles of manga and anime and the wider field of video and on-line gaming. As we were saying recently in connection with some ‘Assassin’s Creed’ costumes we had seen, here at Props & Frocks we have enough fun dealing with the complexities of day-to-day mainstream costuming without getting too involved in these more specialist areas. However, as CamCon and other such events demonstrate, there is a loyal and dedicated fan-base in this growth area. Because of the increasing amount of ‘cross-over’, chances are we may find ourselves becoming more involved as people look to seek out costumes of suitable quality, to match their requirements.

Celebrity Fancy Dress

Posted on December 30, 2011 by admin

Facebook

Today, on the eve of New Years Eve, & one of the busiest days in our world of fancy dress, we thought we would take some time out to consider the small matter of celebrity fancy dress. These are the people who populate our TV and tabloids, earn big money and are the role models for many. Yet when it comes to dressing up, Fancy-Dress seems a great leveller – despite their supposed wealth and (in some cases) style advisors, many of them still manage to fail to pull it off. There are some honourable exceptions who do make the effort – Sir Elton John and Jonathan Ross, for example – and for others such as Lady Gaga and Katy Perry, costume couture is a way of life, but for the most part – oh dear! Take the Manchester City footballers’ party earlier this month, which for some reason received wide media coverage. A Power Ranger, a Chicken, Iron Man, Avatar (but using a cheap blue body-suit and an overhead mask) and ‘Where’s Wally’ (although some BBC pundits thought it was a ‘geeky pirate’). All that money and they are in costumes which can be found in our (or indeed any) high-street costume shop. Obviously this is one situation where you can dress like the stars as opposed to the usual dressing as the stars! Take a look at some of our famous people costume ideas

However, those of you in the public eye should always be aware that although considered a ‘laugh’ some costumes are just not suitable for those in the public eye (remember the furore when Prince Harry dressed up as a Nazi, and the more recent sacking of the conservative MP Aiden Burley who was on a Nazi themed Stag do). What do you think?

Why Fancy Dress parties are great!

Posted on November 28, 2011 by admin

Facebook

We love fancy dress! and although that is probably obvious, we deal with many of our customers who really do not like dressing up in costume at all! A little time ago, our attention was drawn to a newspaper piece in which a certain automotive celebrity ‘JC’ was not at all complementary about fancy-dress and fancy-dress parties. He illustrated his point (we think) by featuring another celeb dressed as Poison Ivy and said that it was something people should have grown out of, and that on the occasions he was invited to such events, he went as himself (possibly the best way of making sure he had an outfit that looked like who he was supposed to be).

When it comes to fancy-dress, obviously we are a little biased, but not wishing to give a knee-jerk reaction response, we have taken a few weeks to consider the matter and realised a problem. It’s not that his attitude reflects a current trend towards cutting back on costume costs by ‘doing it yourself’ – we can handle that, but it’s more that because he is a celeb, and there are an increasing number of photo-style cardboard masks on the market (including one of him), he risks the hazard of all those who buy in the mass-market – that others will turn up to a party looking the same as him. A terrifying prospect, some might say!

One of the nicest things that can happen is when a customer comes into our fancy dress shop (in Battlesbridge) and says that they have been invited to a fancy dress party, they have left it until the last minute, because they really, really do not want to go! As we have such a huge selection of costumes (over 5000 hire & 5500 products to purchase we can usually find them something that they are comfortable in, and off they go! So what’s that nice about that, apart from having a customer who has been found an outfit that they are happy in? Well, it’s when they come back, full of the party, how much they have enjoyed it, and the icing on the cake is when they say that their next party is going to be fancy dress! Okay, it doesn’t happen all the time, but it does happen very often.

Look how much fun these customers are having in their new Morphsuit fancy dress – okay, Morphsuits are not for the feint hearted but a great way to make friends!

Why have a fancy dress party?

Your guests will mingle from the moment they walk through the door
Your guests will be laughing all night long
Guests can do as little or as much as they feel comfortable with
The pictures are fantastic, the memories even better!
It’s cheaper for the ladies (just think how much a complete new outfit costs nowadays!)

We’d love to hear all about your fancy dress parties, good or bad, and remember send us in your images and you could be in with a chance of winning £25.00, just like these Morphsuits did.