Love Life, Love Fancy Dress.

If ghosts and ghouls are not your thing you don’t have to give up the seasonal opportunity to dress up.

One of the year’s most exciting party themes is to build on the wonderful combination of historical authenticity and visual style of Mad Men. You don’t have to work at Sterling Cooper or take up smoking but its a great opportunity to relive the 1960s - pre-Austin Powers

As Halloween approaches again here are some new ideas that we have seen about . . .

The Haunted Car

We saw this one last year and it works beautifully with trick or treaters. The Prankster dresses up as a skeleton, zombie or vampire and lies in a darkened car at the site of the road. Occasional groans or sobs can be put onto a CD (Free Halloween Sounds) and played in the car (cover the car CD player lights with black tape to keep the car really dark). As the passers by look in rise up slowly moaning or sit up suddenly in full costume. You can be lit by a powerful torch in the car or position it so your face is lit by the streetlights.  For extra dressing up the car can have blood splattered in the windows inside - or perhaps just cobwebs. One of these lying on the dashboard or parcel shelf would really add to the effect! It worked brilliantly when I saw it!

This is a great Youtube video about how to make a Halloween pumpkin

1. That you can make your own costume and it will be great - Yeah - sure! Maybe it was true in the days of sticky back plastic and smug presenters showing some rubbish contraption and saying “Here’s one I made earlier”
2. Its cool to turn up as yourself - well no it isn’t! You don’t have to stick to a theme or 100% bought in outfit - but you do need to do things properly. For a laugh you can be you favourite Celeb by buying the right sort of wig and make up from an online fancy dress shop but you still need the right stuff.
3. You need a unique theme if you are running a Fancy Dress Party. Not true! There are lots of classic themes. Leading event organizers Carnage UK have regularly run “Doctors and Nurses” or “Angels and Devils” Fancy Dress parties for students all over the country for the last six years - trust the experts! For a more traditional fancy dress event Goodwood Revival “Chaps” and their lady friend dress up in 1940s and 1950s gear (or period attire) for the Goodwood Revival. The event, at Goodwood motor-racing circuit, centres on mid twentieth century aviation and motor racing and revives the spirit of Goodwood in its heyday, which was the late Forties to the mid Sixties.

One of the great sets of new ideas that we’ve come across out and about partying has been the Wild, Wild West Theme. This allows really dark victorian and goth themes, cowboy and snappy dressing to be combined with a retro technological fancy dress theme. Tell us here if you have any ideas based around the theme!

We did a quick poll of which fancy dress FM shoes are definitely leave-on shoes and came up with these

Devil Shoes

(With red hold-ups)

—

Ribboned Fairy

(with bare legs)

Sexy Witch

(with black fishnets)

Bijou Boutique Shoes Clear Slide S/M

Tell us is you have any leave-on favorites of your own!

LoveFancyDress.com have just added over five thousand new products to their range (5785 to be exact) - taking it to over twenty thousand products. Here are some of our favourites

Scarlet Vampira Fancy Dress Only £43.99 - Click here to find out more now!	Sexy Vampire Fairy Fancy Dress Only £44.99 - Click here to find out more now!	Sexy Elvira Fancy Dress Secret Wishes Only £39.99 - Click here to find out more now!	Sexy Elvira Fancy Dress Secret Wishes S Only £39.99 - Click here to find out more now!
Sexy Elvira Fancy Dress Secret Wishes M Only £39.99 - Click here to find out more now!	Contessa Fancy Dress Only £15.29 - Click here to find out more now!	Halloween EVA Masks 4 Asst 48 per box Only £1.18 - Click here to find out more now!	Halloween Horror’s Costumes Only £82.25 - Click here to find out more now!
Halloween Horror’s Costumes Only £82.25 - Click here to find out more now!	Halloween Dr Costume	Halloween Dr Costume	Halloween Costume Only £82.25 - Click here to find out more now!

I Love Fancy Dress, on the corner of Avenue Road and London Road, Westcliff, was partially destroyed in the blaze, which closed the A13 in Southend for hours.

Owners Donna and Sammy Nesnas have now begun the clear-up effort and are already looking for temporary premises while repairs are carried out at the shop.

Mrs Nesnas, 39, said: “We have been here a year and two months and built it up from nothing. When we first came here everyone said nothing had worked in this shop and that it could never work, but it has been brilliant.

“Even in a recession we have tripled our business.

Came across a great site this week called Army Fancy Dress specializing in military fancy dress. With the Goodwood Revival coming up this might furnish an alternative to the tweeds and knitted cardigan look for the 1940’s theme.