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fancy dress party and costume ideas

PARTY IDEAS
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At Fancy That fancy dress we are always asked about ideas for party themes, picking the right theme can create not only a successful party but also generate loads of fun people will have planning and leading up to the night.

At one time fancy dress was restricted to children's birthday parties and rowdy hen and stag do’s.

Now people from all walks of life are discovering the fun at spending their weekend dressed as a pirate, cowboy or fairy and letting yourself go.

Whether you are partying at your local pub or club or in are the privacy of a house party, fancy dress is a superb way to have a memorable night that you can remember and talk about for years to come.

Whatever the budget there are loads of options available to you from a complete costume with all the trimmings, to a self made costume using accessories to create your character from things you already have, either way with fancy dress you will always have an enjoyable evening.

You can either go with a general fancy dress party and wait and see what turns up or create a theme and encourage people to do a bit of research to pick costumes or characters,

Here's a few favourite party themes and ideas that often crop up:

           Letter of the alphabet,A-Z party

  

 

  • This theme is great as it gives people scope to apply creativity,
  • Either use a letter that means some thing to you like your first name initial or ask people to come as a character using their own initial,
  • Once given a gentle nudge even the most uninterested fancy dressers get involved.
  • link to A-Z ideas page

 

Superheroes party

  • This always works well and usually brings out the real party in even the quietest aunt or uncle.
  • From Captain America to Zorro, we all had our own childhood superheroes,
  • A lot of superheroes have their alter egos which can be good fun for couples from the obvious Clark Kent / Superman to Granny Smith / Super gran, or He-man.
  • Why not encourage people to invent their own super hero based around their own jobs or hobbies i.e. taxi man, train spotter man, Psycho nurse etc.

 

Boogie nights 70’s 80’s theme

  • Turn your front room into seventies / eighties nightclub for retro disco party
  • You will be amazed how everyone has their own different idea of how things were Disco’s, Miami Vice ,Saturday Night Fever, Blondie to Adam Ant and ABBA the possibilities are endless,
  • This is a good theme to get people involved in and you rarely find anyone not dressing up

Wild West

  • This is one of the classics re-live the child hood games cowboys and Indians
  • A good theme for costume choice as most men have a pair of jeans and a checked shirt which with a hat, plastic gun and holster neckerchief and tin badge you have an instant cowboy
  • Cheap costumes and accessories available in abundance,

Vicars and Tarts

  • No real man will ever entertain dressing as a woman, until you mention a vicars and tarts party then look out.
  • Always hilarious to see the biggest hairiest pot bellied bloke usually making a superb job mincing round the dance floor in his mini skirt and fishnets convinced he has got it just right.
  • There is no gender rule that says the men have to be the tarts and the women have to be the vicars so the more reserved blokes can don the dog collar as well.
  • for a variation there are many other religious characters that could grace this party such asa cardinal or even the pope

What you wanted to be when you grew up

  • This a great theme with loads of options where you get to find out what your friends aspired to be when they were kids.
  • There's always a few obligatory firemen and nurses, however you are bound to see unexpected career goals like the solicitor friend who actually wanted to bin man, or the posh neighbour who secretly dreamt of being a circus clown
  • Another cheap and cheerful theme that most people have no problem joining in with.

Pirates

  • Another popular theme with loads of possibilities, from Pirates of the Caribbean to Treasure Island.
  • Loads of cheap costumes and accessories and an easy theme to create from your old clothes.
  • The opportunity for countless jokes and strange accents, from “Avast behind” and “pieces of eight” to “aaagghh me hearties” you’d be amazed at what you remember.
  • Sword fights muskets and inflatable parrots a good theme for accessories and another excuse to play with plastic weapons.
  • Why not bury some treasure and make some maps

Hollywood or Films Stars Party

  • Good theme for couples, from James Bond and Lara Croft to Fred and Wilma Flintstone it shows it doesn’t have to be screen couples.
  • The options for this theme are endless and with new films being released each week there's every reason to come up with a great costume

Romans Greeks and Egyptian parties

  • Plenty of variarions on each theme or combine them all and another idea that people will join in with.
  • Another easy theme loads of characters, Caesar,Cleopatra, Marcus Aurelius,Nefertiti,Spartans and Gladiators,
  • costumes can easy a toga can be done from as little as an old bed sheet,or are reasonably priced

Murder Mystery Dinner Party

  • Ideal for a smaller group of friends who like dinner parties,
  • Every one is given a character and a script to stick to they are usually cheap to put together
  • Easy to arrange and many are available to buy or rent in CD or DVD format.

Other good themes that don’t need much work to make successful are

 

Heaven and Hell (angels and devils)

Roaring twenties (gangsters and molls)

Goodies and Baddies (cops and robbers Austin Powers Doctor Evil)

Musicals ( Mary Poppins, Sister Act, Sound of Music, Blues Brothers, Oklahoma) hundreds of possibilities.

Jungle Book, you’ll all be jungle VIP’s but who will be the king of the swingers, (countless animals)

Circus party (ringmasters,magicians,acrobats,clowns endless possibilities)

Medieval party(king,queen,knights,damsels,jesters,monks and maidens)

Fairy tales and legends,nursery rhymes,panto's,  endless characters(Robin Hood,Buttons,Alladin, Sinbad, Alice in Wonderland etc.)