Fancy Dress Ideas

Halloween Costumes 2010 - Dead Celebrities

2010-08-12T02:36:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I know we are still only in August and Halloween is still a few months away, but it does not harm to be well pre-paired by just starting to think of a few ideas as to what will be the best Halloween costumes for 2010 and this week we are looking into the dead and in particular dead celebrities!

Dead Celebrity Halloween Fancy Dress Party
For something a little out of the ordinary and possibly a little macabre (but hey that is what Halloween is about) dressing up as your favourite dead celebrity is an idea for Halloween 2010. In the past few years there seems there have been a large number of celebrity deaths. Most of the popular celebrities will probably have been eulogized through a costume. An idea would be to base your Halloween party around dead celebrities! Sounds terrible... but that means it is a great idea for Halloween!

Michael Jackson Halloween Costume: Probably as diverse and controversial as the man himself, Michael Jackson Halloween costumes can come in many forms, from those who want to make fun of the King of Pop, to those who want to celebrate him, to those who choose to focus on the controversy surrounding his death. Possibly the most popular Michael Jackson fancy dress costume theme is based around his famous thriller video which makes it easy to use him as Halloween inspiration.

UK Shoppers

Michael Jackson Costumes on Amazon.co.uk

US Shoppers

Michale Jackson Costumes on BuyCostumes.com

Michael Jackson Costumes on Amazon.com

Heath Ledger (The Joker Costume): Even though Heath Ledger died in 2008 and the Batman film: The Dark Knight is old news, the Joker costume is as popular as ever and this trend is set to continue for Halloween 2010. For more, take a look at my guide to The Joker Costume.

Elvis Costume: Probably the most famous of all dead celebrities, and there literally hundreds, if not thousands of Elvis costumes available. A great idea for anyone who likes to do their thing on the dance floor! For more take a look at my article on Elvis Costumes.

Marilyn Monroe Costume: If Elvis is the most famous, then a Marilyn costume is not far behind and definitely one of the most popular dead celebrity women's costumes. For more take a look at my article on Marilyn Monroe Costumes.

Gary Coleman: Is probably best known for his childhood role as Arnold Jackson in the American sitcom Diff'rent Strokes (1978–1986) and for his small stature as an adult. Unfortunately I have been unable to find any Gary Coleman costumes for sale, so this may be an idea for someone who is prepared to make and design their own.

Farrah Fawcett: The former fashion model and Charlie’s Angel will be popular among ladies looking to use Hollywood’s obituary list for costume ideas.

Other dead celebrity costume ideas:

Alexander McQueen
John Forsythe - Played Blake Carrington on the 1980s soap opera Dynasty
Infomercial pitchman Billy Mays
Political columnist Robert Novak
Television personality Ed McMahon
Ronnie James Dio - American heavy metal vocalist and songwriter. He performed with, amongst others, Elf, Rainbow, Black Sabbath, Heaven & Hell, and his own band Dio

Safari Costumes & the Safari Suit

2010-04-26T23:16:00.000-07:00

I was recently asked by someone if I could suggest a "uniform" type costume, that was a little different than usual and not your typical police or fireman fancy dress costume.

I had a little think and as I had recently returned from a wonderful safari holiday in South Africa, it came to me - a Safari costume!

The Safari Suit
I had a quick search on the web and sure enough there are plenty of safari fancy dress costumes available for men, women and children. The safari suit style seems to be the most popular, with an excellent Steve Irwin costume.

There are also other styles of safari Halloween costumes available including an Explorer costume that I guess is based on Indiana Jones.

Mens Safari Costumes
As mentioned, there are some great explorer fancy dress costumes available for men and boys. Look out for outfits that have over the top accessories included: Like leopard print hats, belts and even whips or if you are really going deep into the savannah, guns!

Sexy Safari Costumes
As well as standard womens safari costumes, there are a few that are far more revealing like the Sexy Safari Girl costume show that comes with the Khaki dress and safari hat with leopard print trim. Unfortunately the leopard print shoes are not included!

Where to Buy:

UK Shoppers
Safari Costumes on Amazon.co.uk

US Shoppers
Safari Costumes on Amazon.com

More Information
Aas I mentioned that I have recently been on a real safari, I thought I would pass on some links for some real safari stuff that I found useful:

Safari Wear - Clothing to wear on safari
Binoculars for Safaris - More important than your camera

Child Cinderella Costumes & Outfits

2010-01-20T21:53:00.000-08:00

Cinderella costumes for children

World book day 2010 is coming and parents are scrambling everywhere to find the best costume for their children. While some may wander out of the box with left field costume ideas, some might want to go with some classics, like Cinderella. Judging by the amount of outfits we sell, girls Cinderella costumes are very popular and are bound to be a favourite theme for World Book Day.

Disney Cinderella costumes
Many retailers offer different types of Cinderella costumes. They greatly vary in price and detail. Disney Princess Cinderella costumes come in two categories: deluxe and prestige.

The deluxe Cinderella Outfit is the more affordable of the two and consists of a light blue silky dress with a velvet-like bodice. It’s made of polyester, so make sure your kids are tolerant to it. The nice puffy nylon sleeves are complimented by a nice silver scroll print.

The Prestige version is a bit more expensive but is well worth the cost. This version is sleeveless with a metallic inset that goes from the top to the bottom of the dress in a grid pattern. Images from the movie are printed on the skirt’s nylon overlay.

But a true Cinderella costume wouldn’t be complete without the shoes. There are two types of Cinderella slippers: deluxe and regular. The deluxe slippers are transparent and the insole is covered with a nice silver colored coating. The regular Cinderella shoes are clear blue but don’t have the silver coated insoles. Both feature a cameo of Cinderella on the top of the strap but the deluxe version is surrounded by rhinestones and white beads.

You can’t go wrong with an official Cinderella costume. But if you decide to go for a generic Cinderella type costume, make sure you see the merchandise with your own eyes before making a purchase. Some online retailers sell cheap versions to unsuspecting buyers, so make sure you know exactly what you’re buying so your children can have their Cinderella costume for World Book Day…

Where to Buy Girls Cinderella Costumes:

UK Shoppers
Cinderella Costumes on Amazon.co.uk

US Shoppers
Cinderella Costumes on Amazon.com

More Information: Adult Cinderella Costumes & Outfits

Adult Cinderella Costumes & Outfits

2010-01-19T23:53:00.000-08:00

The many faces of Cinderella: which one will you be?

Since the Disney classic Cinderella was released in 1950, girls and grown women everywhere became enamored with the rags to riches story of Cinderella and her evil stepmother. Women's Cinderella costumes are amongst the most popular choices for Halloween or World Book Days. Let me give you a couple of different Cinderella outfits to help you stand out from the crowd.

Classic Disney Cinderella Outfits
First, you have your traditional Cinderella costumes. Disney releases their official versions and they’re the closest you can get to being Cinderella herself. There are children and adult Cinderella costumes and they’re available in a variety of sizes. I suggest you stick with the original versions if you want your costume to be as realistic as possible. They consist of Cinderella’s classic fancy dress complete with a nice headband and gloves. You can also buy different accessories such as a tiara and magic wand to add a personal touch to the costume.

Sexy Cinderella Costumes
If you’re more on the naughty side, there is a wide selection of sexy Cinderella costumes on the market. None of them were officially released by Disney of course, but most of them are still great quality variations of the original costume.

Sinderella costumes
If you want to take it up another notch, you can go for a Sinderella costume complete with fishnets and heavy make up. Sinderella and the golden brawas released in 1964 and was a sexy spin on the Disney classic. Instead of blessing Cinderella with a pair of glass shoes, her inebriated fairy godfather gives her a golden bra that she of course looses when she has to retreat in haste before midnight.

Where to buy Cinderella Costumes
Cinderella costumes will probably remain popular as long as Halloween exists. There are so many different types that I won’t have the time to showcase in this article, so don’t be afraid to explore the many options available and see which one suits your needs and personality the best.

Amazon have a huge range of Cinderella fancy dress and outfits for both adults and children:

UK Shoppers
Cinderella Costumes on Amazon.co.uk

US Shoppers
Cinderella Costumes on Amazon.com

More Information: Child Cinderella Costumes & Outfits

2 World Book Day Costume Ideas

2010-01-17T11:54:00.000-08:00

So your kids are getting ready for the 2010 World Book Day that will be going down on March 4th 2010 but still don’t know what outfit to pick? Well, let me facilitate your search for the perfect costume with these three original World Book Day ideas.

Lord of the rings costume

Peter Jackson’s adaption of Tolkien’s mythical Lord of the Rings saga was a masterpiece and there are so many costume ideas and outfits that you can draw from the movie. I mean, the possibilities are endless! You can pick up a fancy dress and change your girls into ladies of the Galadrhim. Why not dress your kids in little hobbits, or elves - there are plenty of hobbit and elf costumes available.

How about the ever popular Gollum? He has to be one of the most adored villains in the history of literature! Could you imagine the reaction of the crowd when they see a miniature Gollum enter the room? And most children just love to do Gollum impersonations, so that would make the Gollum costume even more realistic…

More Lord of the rings costume ideals include:

Legolas Costume
Aragorn Costume
Queen Arwen Costume
Ringwraith Costume

Buy Lord Of the Rings Costumes:
Lord Of The Rings Costumes on Amazon.co.uk

James Bond Jr Costume

Let your children live the exiting life of a secret agent for a day. James Bond costumes are fairly simple and inexpensive. You can accessorize your children with little walkie-talkies and give them missions throughout the day. Kids love role playing, so tell them that they will be Bond, (insert first name there) Bond for the day. Tell them they have to save the world from a manic dictator or something and let their imagination sail free. Adorn them with thick sunglasses and mock ear plug radios and give them code words for when its time to go. If you have daughters, you can dress them up as little bond girls with a fancy dress and faux pearl necklace. I’m sure that will give them a World Book Day they’ll never forget…

Where to buy James Bond Costumes
James Bond Costumes on Amazon.com

There are so many types of World Book Day costumes out there to choose from, but these two will be sure to impress your kids and World Book Day attendees. So enjoy the day with your family and why not get a Gandalf or Q costume for yourself and join the fun?

More World Book Day Costume Ideas:
For more inspiration, take a look at these blog posts:

Harry Potter Wands

2009-07-02T23:34:00.000-07:00

I thought that with Harry Potter mania sweeping the nation just before the release of the new Half-Blood Prince movie, I would take the time to write about some of the accessories to go with your Harry Potter Fancy Dress costume.

Harry Potter Wands
Probably the most important accessory of all if you are a wizard is the wand. In most wizard stories, it is the wand that chooses its wizard, due to the unique character of each wand, which must match that of the wizard. When trying out different wands, an aspiring wizard may cause some damage when he encounters wands that don't get along with him!

I am not sure if any will choose your little wizard, so you may have to do it for them!

There are a bunch of wands available and on Amazon I counted over 20 different types and so this is a great place to start:

Shoppers in the UK
Harry Potter Wand on Amazon.co.uk

Shoppers in the USA
Harry Potter Wands on Amazon.com

New Harry Potter Fancy Dress Costumes

2009-07-02T22:41:00.000-07:00

As most of you will know, Harry Potter is far more just about the J. K. Rowling books and films, there is a massive array of merchandise: Harry Potter Games, Harry Potter Pictures, Harry Potter calendar, Harry Potter figures, Harry Potter quizzes, Harry Potter toys... you name it, if man can make it, there will be a version of it with with this little wizard on it.

So what about Harry Potter Halloween Costumes and Fancy Dress? Plenty of that too, I wrote a blog post a while back on Harry Potter costumes, but with the release of the new Half-Blood Prince film, I thought it may be an idea to update things a little and see if there are any new Harry Potter fancy dress costumes available.

The good news (for parents) is that unlike football merchandise, and Superhero costumes, Harry Potters outfit does not really change every time a new book or movie comes out. As far as I can tell the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Costume will be the same as his others, this is great news if you already have one.

So if you or your child already has one, but you still want to get something to add to the costume, you are spoilt for choice, below are some ideas:

Harry Potter Costume Accessories:

Harry Potter Wands
Harry Potter Broom
Harry Potter Glasses
Harry Potter Tie
Hogwarts Banner
Harry Potter Scarf

If you don't already have the Harry Potter fancy dress costume, probably the best is the Premium officially licensed Harry Potter Gryffindor Robe Child Costume (picture in this post)

This premium deluxe hooded robe is made of luxurious black velvet and lined in burgundy satin with a front clasp and the Gryffindor Crest on the front. Perfect for Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, and any of their other members of the Gryffindor House at Hogwarts! It is available in child sizes: Small (4-6), Medium (8-10), and Large (12-14) and only includes the robe, you will have to buy the glasses, Wand, Scar Kit and School Tie separately.

Shoppers in the UK
Harry Potter Costumes on Amazon.co.uk

Shoppers in the USA
Harry Potter Costumes on Amazon.com

Transformers Costumes

2009-06-24T00:34:00.000-07:00

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
The new Transformers release date for the film is Friday 26th June 2009. The movie is also sometimes called Transformers 2 and is one that both big and small kids have been looking forward to.

Transformers Fancy Dress Costumes
As with all big films these days, there is always a bunch of official merchendise to go with it and Transformers is no exception. With everything from Transformers coloring books, Transformers games, Transformers toys, transformers masks, helmets and of course Transformers Costumes. The two main costumes available are for the two main characters: Bumblebee and Optimus Prime. These are available in both childrens as well as a few adult transformers costumes available.

Transformers Optimus Prime Costumes
Optimus prime is a great role model as is in the story of Transformers, he is the leader of the Autobots (The heroic Transformers). Optimus Prime and the other Autobots come from the planet Cybertron where they are constantly pitting themselves against Decepticons (The Bad Transformers) for peace in the universe. One of his famous quotes is "Autobots, transform and roll out!"

The fancy dress costumes (main image) are available in both adult and childrens sizes. The officially licensed Transformers Optimus Prime Deluxe Adult costume comes with a character jumpsuit, mask and sculpted chest piece. The adult vesion is available in one size only, but should fit most adults (42-46)

The Childs Optimus Prime Costumes are available in two styles, the Animated version as well as the movie version:

The Optimus Prime deluxe costume comes with a red, blue and gray jumpsuit, chest piece, toy arm weapon and face mask.

The Transformers Animated Optimus Prime Deluxe Child costume consists of a jumpsuit with attached foam chest and upper arms, two foam arm cuffs and a Optimus Prime mask.

Transformers Bumblebee Costumes
In the Transformers univese, Bumblebee is the "little brother" of the heroic Autobots, he is always trying to prove himself to the taller, stronger robots, especially his leader, Optimus Prime.

Like the Optimus Prime Costumes, the Bumblebee costumes are available in both adult and childrens sizes, in both the classic movie styles as well as the animated versions. The best costume is the Bumblebee Movie 3-D Deluxe Costume that has a black, gray and yellow jumpsuit with 3-D armor that looks like real robot parts as well as a robot mask that matches the costume and completes the look of an autobot. It is available in child sizes: Small, Medium and Large.

Where to buy Transformers Costumes:

Shoppers in the UK
Transformers Costumes on Amazon.co.uk

Shoppes in the USA
Transformers Costumes on Amazon.com

For those of you in the US, you can take a look at the Halloween 4 Costumes page on Transformers Costumes >>

Transformers vs Harry Potter Costumes

2009-06-23T22:24:00.000-07:00

Forget Alien vs Predator, the real battle this summer is Transformers vs Harry Potter.

Unless you have been living on a dark planet somewhere on another galaxy, I am sure that you are aware that both the new Harry Potter and Transformer films are soon to be released. What is exciting for me is both these movies offer an exciting opportunity for fancy dress with plenty of Transformers Costumes and of course Harry Potter Costumes available.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Also sometimes also called Transformers 2, The Transformers release date here in the UK is Friday 26th June 2009.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
This new Harry Potter (Harry Potter 6) film is due for release on the 17th of July 2009.

So like my previous posts of Battle of the Movie Costumes and the Sequel, Battle of the Movie Costumes 2, I have decided to pit the genius that is Harry Potter against those crazy robot car, helecopter, plane things to see who is more popular at the moment:

Google Insights: Harry Potter vs Transformers
Once again I have used Google Insights to see which film is being searched for more often (click image to resize):

And as you can see over the last three months, Harry Potter overall has been more popular, but just over the last few days, the Transformers have been fighting back hard, with both films gaining in popularity.

Harry Potter Costumes
I have already written an article on Harry Potter Fancy Dress Costumes that has links to where you can buy them both here and in the UK, which you can find here: Harry Potter Costumes >>

Transformers Costumes
With Transformers Fancy Dress, the most popular costumes are Bumble Bee and Optimus Prime costumes. Easily found in childrens sizes, but I have also seen an adult Optimus Prime costume. Read more about Transformers Costumes here.

Shoppers in the UK
Transformers Costumes on Amazon.co.uk

Shoppes in the USA
Transformers Costumes on Amazon.com

Scooby Doo Costumes

2009-06-05T23:40:00.000-07:00

For those of you who have been living on Mars since 1969, Scooby Doo is an animated cartoon staring Scoobert "Scooby" Doo who is a great dane.

Scooby Doo Characters
Scooby Doo is not the only character in the film, he is only part of the Mystery Inc. team that consists of Fred "Freddie" Jones, Daphne Blake, Velma Dinkley and Norville "Shaggy" Rogers.

Scooby Doo Costumes
Not only can you get Scooby Doo fancy dress costumes of Scooby himself, but also some excellent outfits for all of the Scooby Doo Characters, but lets start off with the main character:

Scooby Costumes are available in both adult and children's sizes:

Adult Scooby Doo Costume
This one size costume consists of a one piece fleece jumpsuit with attached headpiece and comes with the 'SD' dog tag.

As mentioned, the costume comes in one size and will fit a chest size 40" to 46", Waist size 32" to 38", Inside Leg to 32" and an ideal Height 5'10"

See links below on where you can buy the costume:

Kids Scooby Doo costumes
The Childrens Scooby Doo costumes are available in a number of different sizes, including Toddlers, small child Scooby costumes for ages between 3 and 4 years, a medium size to fit children aged 5 to 7 years and then a larger one for older kids.

UK Shoppers
Scooby Costumes on Amazon.co.uk

US Shoppers
Scooby Costumes on Amazon.com

More info on Scooby Doo Costumes as well as more places to buy Halloween costumes for all the Scooby Doo Characters in the USA can be found on Halloween4Costumes, check it out as it is an excellent resource on everything Scooby, with not only costumes, but the Scooby Doo soundtrack, Scooby Doo T-shirts and much more.

Star Trek Costumes

2009-04-30T07:30:00.000-07:00

With the new Star Trek film id due for release on the 8th of May, to be followed by a TV series, I thought now would be a good time to take a look at what Star Trek Costumes are available as well as delve a little into what the film is going to be about.

Star Trek Film
The film will chronicle of the early days of James T. Kirk and his fellow USS Enterprise crew members. There is a new cast of fresh faced actors including Hot Fuzz's Simon Pegg taking up the role of Enterprise engineer Scotty, the revamped outer space odyssey is already generating huge buzz among film fans. Star Trek, directed by JJ Abrams (Cloverfield and Lost), is certified 12A and runs for 127 minutes.

The New Star Trek Costume from the Movie
The only place that I so far have found that sell the new Star Trek uniform is BuyCostumes.com in the USA - They can however ship to the UK and they say you will receive your order within 2 to 4 days which is really good. The have the full range of mens Star Trek uniforms - just no female ones yet! (click on the banner below to take you to their shop)

Other Star Trek Costumes
As for the other uniforms, Amazon.com have pretty much the entire range, including all colours of the Next Generation Uniforms for the retro look, Star Trek Voyager costumes as well as the Deep Space Nine Costumes including a Deep Space Nine Commander Sisko costume and a Dr. Bashir Star Trek Costume.

Star Trek Costumes on Amazon.com

If you are looking for more information on then check out this comprehensive guide to the Star Trek Costume and Uniforms

Battle of the Movie Costumes 2

2009-04-30T07:06:00.000-07:00

Back in February, I wrote an article called Battle of the Movie Costumes, where we took a look at the popularity of films about to be released, using Google Insights and is based on the amount of people searching on the web for each film. I thought that with a few of the films having been released and a few about to be released, it would be interesting to compare them again and see if there have been any changes. In this way if you want to wear a fancy dress costume that has a current movie theme, you will know which is the most popular.

Films recently released that you can find fancy dress costumes for:

The Pink Panther 2 (Feb 13th)
Friday the 13th (Feb 13th)
Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li (Feb 27th)

And then a few about to be released:

X-Men Origins: Wolverine (May 1st)
Star Trek (May 8th)

Google Insights - The Most Popular films of 2009
Once again I used Google Insights to compare the search terms from February until today:

What is interesting is back in February, Street Fighter and Star Trek were neck and neck as to which was the most popular, with Street Fighter just edging it.

Street Fighter
Now we can see that there was a huge spike in the number of searches for Street Fighter, just before and then just as it was released on February the 27th and even though it was released over 2 months ago it is still more popular than the Pink Panther ever was - So a Street fighter costume is definitely cool.

Wolverine & the X-Men
This film is due for release tomorrow (May 1st) and whilst there was a spike in interest in early April and the number of searches continues to increase the closer we get to the release, it is never going to match Street Fighter. So a Wolverine Costume is still cool, just not Super Cool.

Star Trek
Next in line, just behind the Wolverine is Star Trek, it still has a few days before it's release and whist it is popular, It again is never going to reach the heights of Street Fighter. Check out the Star Trek Costumes on Amazon.com

Marvel Comics Superhero Costumes

2009-04-23T02:22:00.000-07:00

They're fast, strong and have groovy superpowers... superheroes you just have to love them and some of the very best have to be Marvel Superheroes. There is a huge range of fully licensed Marvel heroes fancy dress costumes available. With characters like The Hulk, Spiderman, Captain America and Iron Man.

Incredible Hulk Costumes
The Incredible hulk costumes are based on the story of Bruce Banner who gets caught in a gamma bomb blast, absorbing massive amounts of radiation making him transform into the Hulk every time he gets angry.

Iron Man Costumes
There are also officially licensed Marvel Iron Man Costumes available. This superhero costume is made up of a one-piece fancy dress jumpsuit, realistic looking foam padded chest, abdomen, deltoid, bicep and triceps muscles. The Iron Man is usually found as part of the Avengers and possesses powered armor that gives him superhuman strength and durability, flight, and an array of weapons.

Pimp my Iron Man Costume

Other Superhero Costumes
Then there are the old favorites of Batman, Robin and Catwoman who tend to have a love/hate relationship. Catwoman spent her early years helping out Batman fighting crime, but returns to her life of crime and becomes a true Batman villain. The Catwoman fancy dress costumes have evolved over the years, in fact Catwoman wore no costume or disguise at all in her first appearance. The current Catwoman costume on has a much more hi-tech look and includes a mask, jumpsuit, belt and boot tops. Unlike the Catwoman costume, Batman costumes have, apart from some details, remained consistent over the years.

Did you know that the image of a bat on the Batman fancy dress costume is there to frighten criminals... woo scary stuff!

UK Shoppers:
Superhero Costumes on Amazon.co.uk

US Shoppers:
Superhero Costumes on Amazon.com

X-men Origins Wolverine Costume

2009-04-15T02:02:00.001-07:00

With the new X-Men Origins: Wolverine film due to be released on the 1st of May, it makes for an excellent opportunity, if you are going to a fancy dress party, to dress up in a Wolverine Costume.

The Wolverine Costume
What is interesting is that the costume for the Wolverine has changed over the years and sometimes more often than a contestant on "America's Next Top Model". So what costume should you wear if you want to be the Wolverine?

I think the most iconic look, and the costume that most people think of, when they think of Logan (Wolverine), is the blue and gold costume. It is also the the Halloween costume that is most often sold by fancy dress companies. This Wolverine costume has a long history as it made it's first appearance way back in 1975, in the Marvel Comic Book Giant-Size X-Men #1. Logan was to wear this costume again for a long period during the 1990's and that is why I think this is the costume that most people think of, when they think of the Wolverine.

Other costumes over the years have included a brown and tan costume, a biker look with plenty of black leather, and in X-Force Logan wore a blue red and gold costume.

Where to buy the Wolverine Costume:
Shoppers in the USA:
Wolverine Costumes on Amazon.com

Shoppers in the UK:
Wolverine Costumes on Amazon.co.uk

Check out my previous post: The Wolverine costume, for the X-Men Origins: Wolverine Trailer and if you want to learn a little more about The Wolverine character.

If you are in the USA, you may wish to check out this page on the X-Men Origins Wolverine Costume

Tinkerbell Costumes for World Book Day

2009-02-16T03:12:00.001-08:00

About Tinkerbell
Tinkerbell comes from the Peter Pan book written by J.M. Barrie. In the story, In the stories, Tinkerbell is generally kind to Peter Pan, but she also has a slightly wicked side to her and can be a mean and vindictive fairy. In some ways Tinkerbell has almost a split personality, this is said to be because of Tinkerbell's small size which prevents her from holding more than one feeling at a time.

World Book Day costume ideas: Tinkerbell Costume
I think that a Tinkerbell makes an excellent fancy dress idea, especially as a costume idea for world book day for girls. The story of Peter pan is well known. Most children only know about Peter Pan and Tinkerbell because of the Disney film, but if by dressing up, you can also get them interested in the book, then so much the better.

Tinkerbell Costumes
Of all the fairy costumes, Tinkerbell costumes are the most popular, most Tinkerbell costumes for children are green in colour and she has wings and often a wand as well. Most Tinkerbell costumes will come with the fairy wings, but as with the way many fancy dress costumes are sold these days, you may find that you will have to buy the wand separately.

UK Shoppers
Tinkerbell Costumes on Amazon.co.uk

US Shoppers
Tinkerbell Costumes on Amazon.com

Related Posts:
Fairy Costume Ideas
Peter Pan Costumes
World Book Day 2009

Zorro Costumes

2009-02-12T04:19:00.001-08:00

The Zorro Fancy Dress Costume
Zorro is usually depicted in films and books wearing a black costume with a flowing Spanish cape and wearing a flat-brimmed Andalusian style hat. Zorro also wears a black face mask that covers the top of the head from eye level upwards.

For authenticity, you should use a rapier as the correct style of "sword" Zorro uses this to slash his famous "Z" as his mark. Most Zorro costumes come with the Zorro sword, or you can purchase it as a separate accessories. Zorro has also been known to use a bull-whip and some costumes come with one included. If you cannot find one being sold with the Zorro costume, you could check the accessories for Indiana Jones as their whips are similar.

Child Zorro Costumes - World Book Day Costume Idea
The Children's Zorro costume available is almost miniature replica's of the adult costume and for me makes an excellent fancy dress idea for World Book Day as not only has Zorro been featured in many books, but the costume is undeniably cool, which you know as well I do, is extremely important at school!

Why a Child Zorro Costume makes a perfect World Book Day Costume
Did you know that Zorro who was often called Señor or El Zorro in the original stories about him was first created in 1919 where he appeared in the serialized story of "The Curse of Capistrano" written by Johnston McCulley. The original story "The Curse of Capistrano" was reprinted by Tor books in 1998 under the title "The Mark of Zorro". ISBN 978-0-8125-4007-9 (see below for links to the books, DVD's and costumes)

Adult Zorro Costume

Of all the Zorro costumes, I think the official deluxe version is the best. The Zorro outfit comes with a one-piece black jumpsuit complete with a padded muscle torso, chest, bicep, triceps and deltoid muscles, that makes you look like you have spent the past decade in the gym! The costume comes with attached black knee-high vinyl boot covers that makes it look like you are wearing Zorro's boots. This costume also comes with the long black cape, Zorro's black Andalusian style hat has a 3D raised golden trim and Zorro logo. Finishing touches include a belt with printed decoration and Zorro logo and the Zorro face-mask.

To complete the look you will probably have to buy the Zorro sword and whip separately.

Other Zorro Fancy Dress Costumes
Other than the child and adult Zorro costumes, there are also infant Zorro costumes, Pet / Dog Zorro costumes and women's Zorro costumes (La Bandida) costumes available.

Where to Buy Zorro Costumes
To buy the adult, child, women's, infant and pet Zorro costumes, I would suggest the websites below:

UK Shoppers:
Zorro Costumes on Amazon.co.uk

The Mark of Zorro on Amazon.co.uk

Amazon have the adult men's and woman's Zorro costumes as well as the child and infant outfits. There are also the accessories like the masks and swords. As well as the books and DVD's!

US Shoppers:
Zorro Halloween Costumes on Amazon.com

The Mark of Zorro on Amazon.com

Like the UK site, Amazon.com have every Zorro costume that you could ever want including all the available accessories for sale.

Battle of the Movie Costumes

2009-02-11T08:33:00.001-08:00

Pink Panther vs. Street Fighter vs. Wolverine vs. Star Trek

In the next few months there are a few films due to be released that make perfect fancy dress costume themes:

The Pink Panther 2 (Feb 13th)
Friday the 13th (Feb 13th)
Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li (Feb 27th)
X-Men Origins: Wolverine (May 1st)
Star Trek (May 8th)

So if you are going to or planning a costume party in the next few months and would like to dress in a topical costume, that has a film theme, which one should you choose?

Most Popular Film Search on Google
According to Google Insights for Search, over the past 30 days, slightly more people are searching for Street Fighter than Star Trek. If you combine the searches for Wolverine and X-men, it shows that this film is pretty popular in as far as web searches, with the Pink Panther lagging a little behind.

I am not sure if the amount of people searching for the films on the web will have any bearing on the box office, or how popular the respective fancy dress costumes will ultimately be, but if you want to wear a popular film costume now, I'd go for either the Star Trek Costume, Street Fighter Costume or the Wolverine Costume. But if you are after pure comic value perhaps either the Pink Panther Costume or Inspector Jacques Clouseau costumes would be the way to go.

Children's Book Week & The World Book Day

2009-02-11T02:57:00.001-08:00

It seems as if there is some confusion as a few people have asked me if the Children's Book Week, is the same event as The World Book day. I have done a little research and as far as I can tell they are different events:

Children's Book Week
In 2008 the 77th Children's Book week was held in October which focuses on reading for pleasure amongst children of primary school age and is one of many campaigns aimed at getting children to read organised by the BookTrust. The Booktrust is an independent national charity dedicated to encouraging people of all ages and cultures to engage with books and the written word. As far as I can tell there is no link with fancy dress costumes and Children's Book Week.

World Book Day
World Book Day traditionally took place on 23 April (Shakespeare's birthday and St George's Day). In the UK this date clashed with the Easer Holidays and so to allow schools to take part, this was changed to the first Thursday in March. Many schools organise fancy dress days where the children can dress in a costume representing their favourite book character, so outfits like Harry Potter costumes, Peter Pan costumes, Wizard Of Oz Costumes, Alice in Wonderland Costumes and Snow White Costumes are popular.

For more, check out: World Book Day Costumes & Ideas 2009.

World Book Day: Peter Pan Costumes

2009-02-10T04:15:00.001-08:00

As an idea for a world Book Day costume theme, I think that any Peter Pan costume would make an excellent choice. The magical story of Peter Pan, written by J. M. Barrie, tells of a naughty boy who refuses to grow up and his adventures on an island called Neverland is a classic and one that every child should know.

The Peter Pan Costume & Look
What is interesting is the way that most of the Peter Pan costumes all look pretty similar to each other, even though the author never really described Peter's appearance in much detail. It was probably his intention to allow the reader to use their imagination.

Most of the Peter Pan costumes available on the web are green and consist of a fleece like shirt and darker green trousers. Most costumes also come with the hat and feather to complete the look.

Apart form the actual Peter Pan costume, you could also wear a Captain Hook costume, especially if you would rather dress in a pirate costume. Or as a girl, a Tinkerbell costume would also really work.

UK Shoppers
Peter Pan Costumes on Amazon.co.uk Amazon have a good selection of Peter Pan costumes, including Captain Hook and Tinkerbell costumes and so are worth checking out.

Peter Pan at Jokers' Masquerade - joke.co.uk also have an excellent selection of Peter Pan Costumes, as well as Captain Hook & Tinkerbell for both children and adults.

US Shoppers
Peter Pan Costumes on Amazon.com - Like the UK, Amazon.com have all the Peter Pan themed costumes for adults as well as children that you could ever hope for.

Check out this post for more World Book Day Costume Ideas.

Sexy Leg Avenue Costumes for Valentines Day

2009-02-09T03:27:00.001-08:00

Of all the manufacturers of sexy fancy dress costumes, Leg Avenue are not only the most well know, but probably the best. They have a huge range of sexy costumes that are just perfect for valentines day.

The Popularity of Leg Avenue Costumes
Back in October 2008, I wrote about the most popular searches on Google related to fancy dress, and the fastest rising search at the time was "leg avenue" indicating the ever increasing popularity of this small company operating out of LA in the USA. Leg Avenue started out in the hosiery to lingerie business, but quickly expanded into other areas including Halloween costumes and they now sell sexy woman's costumes as well as lingerie, shoes and swimwear.

Their designs mix fashion with fantasy, Leg Avenue Costumes are sexy and fun and as they say themselves: "Whether it’s feeling glamorous and sultry in our lingerie or fulfilling a fantasy in one of our costumes, our goal is to make each woman that wears Leg Avenue feel confident and sexy.", "No one does sexy costumes better than Leg Avenue."

Britney Spears wearing a Leg Avenue Pirate Costume
Because of the high quality of their costumes, many celebs have worn Leg Avenue outfits, including Alyssa Milano, who dressed in their fairy costume, Stacy Keibler who dressed in the Leg Avenue Rag Doll Costume and Vanessa Minnillo who wore the Capt’n Booty sexy pirate costume. A major coup for Leg Avenue was when Britney Spears was photographed wearing their sexy Pinky Pirate costume. (See Photo Below)

Sexy Costumes For Valentines
So if you are looking for quality sexy costume here are few of the many Leg Avenue costumes available, that I have found for sale on the web:

Sexy French Maid Costume
I guess one of the classic sexy costumes is a French maid outfit, Leg Avenue have 7 different French maid costumes in their catalogue, from the simple French Maid Garter Ruffle Bustiea costume, to the deluxe quality 5 piece French Maid costume that includes Underwire Bra, Puff Sleeves, Aprn Skirt, Stocking & Duster.

Sexy Nurse Costumes
For those of you that may be feeling a little under the weather on Valentines day, Leg Avenue have a whole host of quality naughty nurse costumes. One of my favourites is the deluxe 3 piece nurses costume that has a high neck top with stud popper fasteners to front, skirt with attached lace pinifore and headpiece. Both headpiece and top include embroidered badge and the skirt has an elasticated waist. Top and skirt includes spandex for a more 'stretchy' fit.

Shoppers in the UK:
Leg Avenue Costumes for Sale

Shoppers in the USA:
Leg Avenue Costumes for Sale

Related Valentines Posts:
Below are some other articles that I have written on valentines day costumes that you may find interesting:

Harry Potter Costumes

2009-02-03T02:59:00.001-08:00

With the popularity of all the Harry Potter novels written by British author J. K. Rowling and then the film and merchandise spin off's, it is no wonder that one of the most popular fancy dress costumes for World Book Day was last year and will probably be again this year a Children's Harry Potter Costume.

For anyone who has been living in a cave, the story of Harry Potter is basically about the adventures of a boy wizard named Harry Potter during his struggle against an evil wizard named Voldemort, who killed Harry's parents. Even though you are born a Wizard, Harry and his friends, Ron Weasley and Hermoine Granger attend the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry, to learn the skills necessary to become a successful wizard.

Harry Potter Costumes
As you would expect, there are plenty of kids Harry Potter fancy dress costumes available, all of which consist of his basic costume, that being a robe. For the deluxe version pictured, the costume comes with the maroon and black hooded robe with clasp with an embroidered Gryffindor badge over left breast. Unfortunately as with many of the harry potter costumes that I have found you will also have to buy the Harry potter glasses, wand and possibly a wig and tie separately. (You could also just use you school tie)

Other Potter Characters Costumes
Other than Harry's costume, you can also find Dumbledore Masks and costumes, Voldemort costumes and masks, Hermione Granger costumes and Death Eater Costumes.

UK:
Harry Potter Costumes on Amazon.co.uk

USA:
Harry Potter Costumes on Amazon.com

World Book Day Costumes 2009

2009-02-02T08:30:00.001-08:00

This years World Book Day in the UK and Ireland will be on March 5th 2009. The rest of the world celebrates the day on St.
George’s Day, 23rd April every year. The reason that the UK celebrates it on a
different day is because here there is a large involvement with the
schools and it is placed during the school term.

One of the main aims is to encourage children to read more by making books and reading more fun and by providing them with the opportunity to have a book of their own. There will be a number of events associated with this day and one of them
being Fancy Dress.

World Book Day Costumes

The idea of getting kids to dress up in fancy dress costumes, with a book theme, I think is excellent. Dressing up is always good fun. It is hoped that this fun with the costumes will also encourage children read more, to find out more about the character of the costume that they are wearing.

Costume Ideas for World Book Day
So what fancy dress costumes are there that come from a book, or have a book theme, here are a few fancy dress ideas that I can think of. If you can think of any more ideas, please feel free to comment below.

Boys Costume ideas for Book Week:

Harry Potter Costume
Robin Hood Costume
Dennis The Menace Costume
Wizard Of Oz Costume
Child Tin Man Costume (Wizard of Oz )
Child Scarecrow Costume (Wizard of Oz )
Aladdin Costume
Peter Pan Costume
Noddy Costume
Wombles Costumes
Paddington Bear Costume
Puss in Boots Costume
King of Hearts Costume (Alice in Wonderland)
Zorro Costume
Dracula Costume
Frankenstein Costume
The Cat in The Hat Costume
Jungle Book Costumes
Oliver Twist Costume
Wind in The Willows Costumes
Peter Rabbit Costumes
Costume ideas from the Bible
Gulliver's Travels
Dr. Dolittle Costumes
Pinocchio Costume
Aladdin Costume
Winnie The Pooh Costume
Lord of The Rings Costumes
Jack & The Beanstalk Costume (Jack & a Giant Costume)
Pirate Costume
Young Bond - James Bond Costume

Girls Costume ideas for Book Week:

Alice in Wonderland Costume
Queen of Hearts Costume (Alice in Wonderland)
Little Red Riding Hood Costume
Cinderella Costume
Snow White Costume
Tinkerbell Costume
Teen Dorothy Costume (Wizard of Oz)
Heidi Costume
Witch Costumes - From many books including Winnie The Witch & Shakespeare!
The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe costume ideas
Little Miss Muffet
Goldilocks & The Three Bears costumes
Princess & The Pea Costume
Beatrix Potter Books - Think Rabbit costumes

Where to buy World Book Day Costumes
Amazon.co.uk has an excellent range of fancy dress costumes for children:
Children's Costumes on Amazon.co.uk

Cupid Costumes for Valentines Day

2009-01-26T22:18:00.000-08:00

With February the 14th fast approaching, I thought what would be the icon for Valentines day that you could also dress up in as a fancy dress costume? Cupid, of course! In Roman mythology, Cupid is the god of erotic love as well as beauty and so I think a cupid costume makes an excellent fancy dress idea for Valentines day.

After a little research on the web... hey presto, even though the mythological version of cupid is a boy, there are quite a few cupid costumes for both males and females! The male ones tend to be on the funny or novelty side, where as the women's cupid costumes are mostly sexy outfits.

Sexy Cupid Costume
One of my favourites has to be this sexy cupid outfit, that I think would make such a fun "gift" to give to the man of your life on Valentines day, just imagine the look on his face when you surprise him with this sexy cupid costume pictured

Funny Cupid Costume
If you are going to a fancy dress party around or on Valentines day, you just have to wear is costume. This novelty cupid costume comes with wings, sash, tunic, a bow and arrow and the padded costume. From what I can see on the web, the wig and sandals may also be included as additional accessories.

Where to buy Cupid Costumes for Valentines Day

UK:
Amazon.co.uk have a good selection of Cupid costumes although I could not find many male versions.
Cupid Costumes on Amazon.co.uk

USA:
Amazon.com have a good selection of Cupid costumes although I could not find many male versions.
Cupid Costumes on Amazon.com

Wrestling Costumes

2009-01-26T03:32:00.001-08:00

A friend that I work with had what I thought was a great fancy dress idea: Wrestling Costumes. I thought that there would be hundreds of The Ultimate Warrior and Hulk Hogan costumes for sale, but doing some research I actually found the range of any sort of wrestling costume to be pretty poor. What wrestling costumes I did manage to fine are below:

Nacho Libre Costume
The Nacho Libre Deluxe Costume is for me probably the best commercially available wrestling costume on the market. The Nacho Libre costume comes from the film of the same name and is about a friar in a Mexican monastery played by Jack Black who secretly dreams of being a Mexican Wrestler or Luchador. The film is loosely based on the true story of Catholic priest Sergio Gutierrez Benitez.

Sumo Wrestling Costumes
I also managed to find a few Sumo wrestling costumes like the one below, which is pretty cool:

Where to buy fancy dress wrestling costumes:

I managed to find these costumes on:
Amazon
BuyCostumes.com

Other than that, I suppose as a guy you could always get yourself a tight little Speedo costume, cape and a mask and make your own Wrestling costume!! :-)

As for female wrestling costumes, I am afraid that I could not find any:

Sexy Womans Wrestling Costume
Here is a Fancy Dress idea for any Costume manufacturers out there: why not create some sexy wrestling divas costumes like the one pictured below as I am sure that they could become popular. Imagine a wrestling couples costume combination, what a tag team that would make - awesome!

Sexy Pink Pirate Costumes

2009-01-25T22:47:00.000-08:00

If I asked you to think of pirates, and pirate costumes... the colours that would probably spring to mind tend to be black, gold and burgundy.

Now what if I said I had found a fantastic pink and blue pirate fancy dress costume! It is fantastic and for me has to be one of the best pirate Halloween costumes I have ever seen. (The fact that the model also happens to be stunning has nothing to do with it!)

So If you are after a pirate outfit to get noticed in, or you are off to a pirate themed fancy dress party then may I highly recommend this costume!

Where to Buy Pink Pirate Costumes

UK Shoppers:
Pink Pirate Costume on Amazon.co.uk

USA Shoppers:
Pink Pirate Costume on Amazon.com

World Book Day Costumes: Alice in Wonderland

2009-01-22T22:49:00.000-08:00

World Book Day 2009 falls on Thursday 5th March 2009 and so until then I plan to explore some costume and fancy dress ideas that you and your children can start thinking of before the big day. For more on World Book Day and an article that I wrote last year, check out my World Book Day Costumes Post.

In my eyes, costumes suitable should either be based around the theme of a book or indeed contain the character from a book and so to start of this series, I will take a look at one of the most popular fancy dress costumes for women:

Alice in Wonderland Costumes
I have already written a pretty comprehensive post on Alice in Wonderland Costumes aimed at adults and so won't go into the whole story, but just to say that there are some really good Alice costumes for children and teens out there. The story of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is excellent and one that every child should know and if you can get your child interested in the costume as well as the story then surely this is the main idea behind the day, to promote reading by making the stories more than just words on a page - fantastic.

Where to Buy Childrens Alice in Wonderland Costumes:

In the USA
Alice in Wonderland Costumes: For both adults and children.

In the UK
Alice in Wonderland Costumes: For both adults and children.

Valentines Ideas: Sexy Lion Costumes

2009-01-21T03:09:00.001-08:00

I thought with valentines day approaching, it may be a good idea to start a series of posts related to different valentines day gift ideas. Because this site is all about fancy dress, I will of course be focusing on Halloween costumes. Fancy dress costumes are a difficult one as a valentines day gift, I think that male costumes do not work. I may be wrong, but I think the idea of a man dressing up in a fireman costume as a valentine gift for your partner does not work. But I think and I hope this not being sexist, a woman dressing up in a sexy costume to surprise their partner really works as a fun idea as a valentines day gift.

Sexy Valentines Day Lion Costumes
So to start with I have decided to go back to the jungle with some sexy lion costumes as ideas for different valentines day gifts. This costume pictured really caught my eye and I think it strikes a good balance between naughty, sexy and fun. Perfect as a valentines gift to your partner!

Sexy Lion Tamer Costumes
Still keeping with the theme of lions and sexy costumes for valentines day gifts a slightly different idea would be to tame your lion at home and dress up in a sexy lion tamer costume. These are pretty cool and there are a few different versions available, my favourite one is pictured. I also managed to find a few, rather more frightening lion tamer costumes on Amazon.com that I think may be heading more towards the bondage end of the market, just though I'd let you know!

Where to Buy Sexy Lion Costumes

Shopping in the USA
I found both of these costumes on Amazon.com in the US
Sexy Lion Costumes on Amazon.com

Shopping in the UK
In the UK it is a little harder, there are a few lion and lion tamer costumes on Amazon, but I would also try Jokers' Masquerade as they have a large selection.

Wolverine Costume

2009-01-20T08:25:00.001-08:00

Continuing on with the fancy dress films theme, another film to hit the big screens with a fancy dress link is a new X-Men film entitled X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Of all the X-Men Characters, the only fancy dress costumes that I could find were for Wolverine and the female Storm Costumes.

The official Wolverine Super Hero Costume comes with the one piece yellow and blue jumpsuit with the muscle padded body showing off ripped abs, chest, biceps and deltoid muscles. The Wolverine claws are made from PVC, held in place with elastic straps and the foam face mask is held on via a Velcro strap at the rear. For the legs the Wolverine costume comes with foam boot tops with a printed boot effect that finishes at the base of the trouser leg so ideally you will need a pair of black shoes to compliment the costume.

Where to buy the Wolverine Costume:
Shoppers in the USA:
Wolverine Costumes on Amazon.com

Shoppers in the UK:
Wolverine Costumes on Amazon.co.uk

About Wolverine
The story of Wolverine in the comic series is quite interesting, even if you are not an avid comic book reader and it is easy to see how they are going to make a film about him. Wolverine is a mutant, with enhanced animal like senses and abilities that include retracting claws made from bone on his hands and a healing ability that allows him to recovery very quickly from any wounds. This ability also alws Wolverine to have a much longer lifespan than the average human. Before he was a mutant, Wolverine was born James Howlett and is commonly known as Logan.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine
The new X-Men Origins: Wolverine film that is due for release on 1st May was mostly filmed in New Zealand and Australia and once again stars Hugh Jackman as Wolverine. The film follows Wolverine when he was part of Team X, about 20 years before the formation of the X-Men and before his skeleton was stuck together with an unbreakable metal called adamantium.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine Trailer

Check out the official X-Men Origins: Wolverine Trailer of the film, it actually really looks good and well worth watching:

Street Fighter Costumes

2009-01-19T07:12:00.001-08:00

With the Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li due film for release on 27th February 2009, I though it would be a good opportunity, not only to take a look at what fancy dress Street Fighter costumes are available, but perhaps also to go over the history of Street Fighter.

Street Fighter Halloween Costumes & Outfits

Akuma Costume
My favourite Streetfighter costume is the Akuma Costume, that comes with the gi pants, gi shirt, rope belt, fighting gloves and prayer bead necklace. Unfortunately to complete the look you will also have to buy Akuma wig which is sold separately. The adult mens Akuma Costume comes in small, medium and large sizes and is made of 100% polyester. I could only find adult sizes and am not sure if there are anychildrens Street Fighter costumes available anywhere?

Chun Li Costume
For the girls there is the sexy Chun Li Costume that includes silky blue cut off dress, white waist belt, white hair accessories and black spike wrist bracelets and is available only in Adult Sizes Small, Medium, and Large. This is an officially licensed Street Fighter costume as are all the other costumes in this range.

Street Fighter Ken Costume
The officially licensed Ken costume includes pants, shirt, belt, and gloves, but like the Akuma costume, the wig not included. The costume comes in small, medium and large aduld males sizes.

Street Fighter Ryu Costume
The officially licensed Ryu street fighter costume includes matching white pants and ripped vest with black belt and red head band and is available in Adult Sizes Small, Medium, and Large. The good thing with this costume is that you should not have to buy a wig.

Street Fighter as Group or Couples Costumes
I think that if you are going to a fancy dress party as part of a group or couple, the Street Fighter costumes are perfect and something you should definitely consider.

Where to Buy The Street Fighter Costumes

Street Fighter Halloween Costumes for Sale in the US

Street Fighter Costumes on Amazon.com

Amazon.com have a whole range of Street Fighter Halloween outfits for sale with most of the main characters including the Ken, Ryu, Akuma and Chun-Li costumes and as with most things on Amazon they are selling them at pretty much the lowest price that you can get them.
Street Fighter Costumes on Amazon.com

Street Fighter Fancy Dress Costumes for Sale in the UK
At first I found it pretty difficult to find any Street Fighter costumes her in the UK, Amazon.co.uk only seem to have Street Fighter Action figures. Jokers' Masquerade Halloween & Fancy Dress Costumes do have costumes for the main characters from Streetfighter, including the Ken, Ryu, Akuma and Chun-Li costumes, so I would try them first.

About Street Fighter

The original Street Fighter computer game began in 1987 when you would fight as martial arts expert Ryu. Ryu would then compete in a series of fights against the other Street Fighter characters in a martial arts tournament. Street Fighter could also be a two player game as a second player could take control of Ryu's rival, Ken.

The first streetfighter game was pretty basic and you could only use 3 types of punches and kicks as well as three special attacks: the fight fire, Hurricane Kick and Dragon Punch. Street Fighter is still available on the most modern game consoles available today, including the new Playstation 3 and the Xbox 360.

What I find incredible is that over the years there have been eighty characters involved in Street Fighter series including the original game, Street Fighter 2, Street Fighter Alpha, Street Fighter 3, Street Fighter 4 and Street Fighter EX. Some of the most popular and well known characters areRyu, Ken, Chun-Li, Edmond Honda, Blanka, Guile, Zangief and dhalsim. I have only managed to finf four of the 80 characters costumes for sale!

Street Fighter Films

The first Street Fighter film was released in 1994, directed by Steven E. de Souza that included Jean Claude Van Damme as the main character, Guile. It must be said that the film was probably not considered a success as they changed alot of the story line form the game and thus lost much of their core audience of the computer game fans.

The new film Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li is due for relaease on February 27th 2009 and stars Kristin Kreuk as Chun-Li. The hope is that this film will win over the fans of the Street fighter computer games by sticking closer to the "story lines" of the games.

Official Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li Trailer

Friday the 13th Costumes

2009-01-13T22:24:00.000-08:00

Did you know that the next Friday the 13th is in February, this also is the date when the new Friday the 13th (2009) film is due to be released. The plot of the film is the usual: A group of young adults (probably all good looking) discover a boarded up at Camp Crystal Lake, where they soon encounter Jason Voorhees (Mears) and his thirst for blood.

Jason Voorhees Costumes
The great thing is that the main character of Jason and his ice hockey mask make an excellent fancy dress costume, so would make an excellent choice if you are planning on going to a fancy dress party any time in February, but especially if it happens to be on the 13th. The Jason Voorhees costume also has the advantage in that you could use it again in October as it also makes an ideal Halloween costume.

There are plenty of commercially available costumes for sale, but it would also be pretty easy to make your own Friday the 13th costume, all you would need are some ripped overalls, a hockey mask, and if possible a Machete or you could make one.

The official Adult Deluxe Jason Voorhees Costume (pictured) is probably the best Jason costume available and as far as official costumes go it is not too expensive. The costume comes with the long sleeve green shirt and trousers, with printed blood stains. You also get the hand painted vinyl face mask that has one eye covered with a black mesh and elasticised straps to hold it in place. Unfortunately and it is something that slightly annoys me, the machete for the fancy dress costume is sold separately.

If you don't want to buy the whole Jason Friday the 13th costume, you could always just get the mask as they are pretty cheap and the use an old pair of overalls splattered with red paint for the rest of his outfit.

US Shoppers
Jason Voorhees Costume on Amazon.com

UK Shoppers
Jason Voorhees Costume on Amazon.co.uk

Friday the 13th Trivia:
So why do we assume that Friday the 13th is either unlucky or somehow bad? It may just be because many people consider that thirteen is an unlucky number and that Friday is an unlucky day. Did you know that In Scandinavia, Friday the 13th was at one point considered the luckiest day of the year. The word for Friday derives from the Norse Frigga, a major goddess in Norse paganism!

Official Friday the 13th Trailer:

You can check out the official Friday the 13th movie website here: http://www.fridaythe13thmovie.com/

Up-Helly-Aa & Fancy Dress Costumes

2009-01-08T03:37:00.001-08:00

Up-Helly-Aa Fire Festival
I must confess that I did not know about the Up-Helly-Aa festival and only found it when looking for fancy dress events in 2009. For those of you who don't know about it the main Up-Helly-Aa festival is held on the island of Shetland in the town of Lerwick every year on the last Tuesday of January to mark the end of the yule season. There are other similar fire festivals held on Shetland, mostly during the middle of winter, but the Lerwick one is the largest.

The Up Helly Aa festival consists of a procession of up to a thousand guizers wearing mostly Viking costumes who march through the town. As well as these official "vikings" the many visitors dressed in all sorts of costumes also join the march (I have seen a chicken costume and even a buzz lightyear costume on a You Tube video.) The main main guizer of the festival is known as the "Jarl" which is a very prestigious position and can only be achieved by being part of a committee for at least 15 years. This committee then elects the "Jarl" with only one being selected every year.

This procession then ends with everyone then throwing their lighted torches onto a replica of a Viking ship, to form the huge bonfire. The party is then said to continue on well into the early hours of the morning, so much so that even in 1824 a visiting Methodist missionary said that "the whole town was in an uproar: from twelve o clock last night until late this night blowing of horns, beating of drums, tinkling of old tin kettles, firing of guns, shouting, bawling, fiddling, fifeing, drinking, fighting. This was the state of the town all the night - the street was as thronged with people as any fair I ever saw in England."

Fancy Dress ideas for Up Helly Aa fire festival
even though I mentioned earlier that in some of the photographs and videos that you can find on Up-Helly-Aa, there are people dressing up in all sorts of fancy dress and Halloween type costumes, I think it would be fun to stick a little with the tradition of this island that sits almost exactly at the centre of a triangle, with Norway, Faroe and Scotland and thus has a very strong Viking connection.

Viking Costumes
After a quick search I found loads Viking costumes, from the pretty realistic deluxe versions to the cheaper funny costumes. Ladies, the good news is that there are also plenty of female Viking costumes, with the sexy Helga Viking Costume being my particular favourite.

Thor Costume
A Thor costume would also make a great costume for Up-Helly-Aa, even though Thor was the god of thunder, there must be lightening with thunder and where there is lightening, there is often fire, so the perfect costume for a Viking fire festival!

Obelix and Asterix Costumes
Another idea that I feel could be quite fun is to dress up in some of the most famous Vikings of all: Obelix and Asterix and the good news is that there are both commercial Obelix costumes and Asterix costumes available!

For more information on Up-Helly-Aa:
The official Website of the Lerwick Up-Helly-Aa Committee
Up-Helly-Aa Page on Visit Shetland

Frankenstein Costume

2009-01-07T12:39:00.000-08:00

I know I should probably write about Frankenstein costumes nearer Halloween, but I was flicking through the TV channels on TV last night and came across an old Frankenstein movie and it got me thinking about fancy dress and how great this iconic monster costume would be even as a non Halloween costume.

Frankenstein was originally written by Mary Shelley and was first published anonymously in 1818 in London, possibly because Mary was a woman and the fact that she was only 19 and at that time many people would have wondered how such a young girl could have come up with such a ghastly story! The familiar story is of how the life spark is brought into a creature constructed from scavenged body parts of different people and how this monster was hideous to other people and Frankenstein himself is ashamed of his ugliness and tries to run away from it and somehow looks for any form of friendship. After several bad encounters with humans, the monster becomes afraid of them and spends a long time living near a cottage and observing the family who lived there. Because he has been watching this family, he becomes educated and realises just how different he is from the humans he is observing. He eventually seeks friendship from the family, but because of fear, they too reject him, this is the last straw and the monster then seeks vengeance on his creator.

Frankenstein Costumes
There are many different Frankenstein costumes on the market, including the very cute toddlers Frankenstein costume pictured below, a pet dog Frankenstein costume, the popular Bride of Frankenstein costume for girls and women as well as adult male Frankenstein costumes.

US Shoppers:
Amazon has a large selection including the toddler costume, pet costume and Bride of Frankenstein costume: Frankenstein Costume on Amazon.com

UK Shoppers:
Frankenstein Costume on Amazon.co.uk

Make Your own Frankenstein Costume
If you don't want to buy, I also managed to find this video on how to make your own Frankenstein Halloween costume. This first video only shows you how to apply the latex rubber, there are more videos in the series, just click through the link below for the rest of the make your own Frankenstein costume series:
How to Make a Frankenstein Costume for Halloween

Similar Costumes: Fancy Dress Ideas
If you are looking for an outfit similar to Frankenstein, you could also try an Uncle Fester costume from the Adams Family.

Pink Panther Costumes & Inspector Jacques Clouseau Fancy Dress

2009-01-06T02:34:00.001-08:00

The Pink Panther 2 film is due for release in February and I thought that it may be fun to see what fancy dress Pink Panther costumes there are available and where you can find them.

About the Pink Panther
If anyone has ever watched any of the previous pink panther films, you will know that a "pink panther" as an animal does not feature anywhere in the films other than in the credits. The Pink Panther is actually the name of a diamond which is being tracked down by the bumbling Inspector Jacques Clouseau, who in the original 1962 film is played by Peter Sellers. Because of the popularity of the cartoon Pink Panther character in the opening credits, a series of short animated films was produced and that is how we have come to know the Pink Panther and is what the costumes look like.

The new pink Panther film has an impressive cast featuring Steve Martin, Jean Reno, John Cleese and Andy Garcia and we can only hope that the film is as good as the cast.

The Pink Panther Trailer

Inspector Jacques Clouseau Costume & Pink Panther Fancy Dress Costumes
There is the obvious choice of wearing a Pink Panther Costume, which are available in both children and adult versions. Another fancy dress idea would be to dress up in a Inspector Clouseau costume.
I also think that as a couples costume combination you could consider dressing him in a Pink panther or Inspector Clouseau costume and her in a diamond costume.

Where to buy your Pink Panther Outfit:
The USA
Amazon.com have a good selection of Pink Panther costumes and Inspector Clouseau costumes available.

Pink Panther Costume on Amazon.com

You could also try Buycostumes.com although as of today they do not have any in stock.

The UK
Amazon.co.uk also have a good selection of Pink Panther costumes at great prices, also try Jokers' Masquerade fancy dress

Pink Panther Costume on Amazon.co.uk

Fancy Dress Films in 2009

2009-01-05T10:10:00.000-08:00

My last post on events before April 2009 where dressing up in fancy dress is not only acceptable, but encouraged: Fancy Dress & Halloween Costumes 2009 got me thinking into what other fancy dress ideas for the coming year are there? Films are always great for fancy dress themes, so here are the films that I could find that will be showing at a big screen near you that can also be used at a fancy dress party:

Films Due For Release in 2009
Another great fancy dress idea is to dress up in blockbuster film of the moment, here are a few films that also have great potential for fancy dress in 2009:

The Pink Panther 2 (February 2009)
With an all star cast that includes Steve Martin, Jean Reno, John Cleese and Andy Garcia, there is hope that this return of the Pink Panther could be really good. What is always strange is that there is no actual Pink Panther in the film, it is in fact a diamond! Still there are plenty of really Pink Panther costumes available that I think make a fun fancy dress costume.

Shoppers in the USA:
Pink Panther Costume on Amazon.com

Shoppers in the UK:
Pink Panther Costume on Amazon.co.uk

Star Trek: May
A new Star Trek film id due for release in May this year, to be followed by a TV series. Winona Ryder will play Spock's mum, Amanda Grayson. Simon Pegg plays Scotty, and Zachary Quinto from TV’s Heroes plays a young Spock. With the new star Treck film, you can expect tricky time travel shenanigans, freak transporter accidents and a clever, ubiquitous and ultimately slightly annoying viral marketing campaign. There are plenty of Star Trek costumes out there already and I expect, the closer we get to the release of the film, the more we are going to see.

Shoppers in the USA:
Star Trek Costumes on Amazon.com

X-Men Origins: Wolverine: May
Superhero costumes are always popular and the release of a new superhero film always makes that particular superhero costume sell like hotcakes. This year instead of Batman costumes, will we see everyone wearing a Wolverine costume? The new film follows the early years of Logan, the indestructible mutant who will one day be X-Man Wolverine. Cameos from future X-Men and the chance to see how Logan acquired his deadly claws and curious hairdo suerly make it worth seeing alone!

Shoppers in the USA:
Wolverine Costumes on Amazon.com

Shoppers in the UK:
Wolverine Costumes on Amazon.co.uk

Terminator Salvation: June

Yes!, the much anticipated ‘future war’ part of the Terminator series, which was previously only hinted at in the first three movies will hog the storyline of this killer robot film. Arnold Schwarzenegger, said he was too busy running California to play the main part of the iconic cyborg killing machine, which will be taken by Roland Kickinger. A Terminator costume makes an excellent idea for a fancy dress outfit, lets hope they bring out a few new ones this year. For more info check out the Official site & Trailer

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen: June

Let's hope that this year with the new film, that somebody out there creates some Transformers costumes. Thissequel to last year’s film is said to offer even more action, more laughs, and more shape-shifting robots.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: July

Harry Potter fans are eagerly awaiting the sixth film in the hugely popular series of films adapted from JK Rowling’s incredible books. Harry Potter costumes have always been popular and I predict that they will get even more popular this year.. sometime around July!

G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra: August

G.I Joe is big name in the US, just think of Action Man and you will get the idea, this film could be interesting and if they don't develop an official G.I Joe Costume, it should be pretty easy to create an army or action man costume.

Nottingham: November

Robin Hood costumes are great and I think in some ways are timeless. The release of this new film where Russell Crowe will play the role of Robin Hood.

Fancy Dress & Halloween Costumes 2009

2009-01-05T09:42:00.000-08:00

January is a pretty quiet time in the fancy dress costume world, everyone has had their fill with Halloween costume parties in October, Christmas themed parties in December and the big bash at the end of the year, New Years where any sort of costume goes. So whilst it is still quiet I though it would be interesting to see what lies ahead in the fancy dress world for the first few months of 2009 and what excuses I could find that we have for dressing up!

Major Events with a fancy dress theme in the first few months of 2009

Valentines Day Costumes: Saturday 14th February 2009
The traditional gifts of roses, a card and chocolate for valentines day is so..... well I will leave you to fill in what you like there! As a unique valentines gift idea why not get a sexy fancy dress costume for your partner or even better and as a surprise, dress up in a sexy fancy dress costume for your partner for Valentines day? Thee are plenty of very cool sexy fancy dress costume out there at the moment for both males and females. Quick ideas for valentines gifts of sexy costumes include my favourite sexy cop costumes, a playboy bunny costume, a sexy nurse costume or how about a flight attendant costume? Make valentines day 2009 a day really to remember!

Shoppers in the USA:
Sexy Costumes on Amazon.com

Shoppers in the UK:
Sexy Costumes on Amazon.co.uk

World Book Day Costumes: Thursday 5th March 2009
This event is aimed at children, where on this day they dress up in a fancy dress costume, usually in a theme taken from a book. The event was created by UNESCO as a way of promoting and developing reading throughout the world, World Book day is now entering its 2nd decade in the United Kingdom and gets more and more popular each year. So a few world book day childrens costume ideas could include a Dennis the Menace Costume, The Cat In The Hat Costume or even Peter Pan & Tinkerbell Costumes. I think the most popular costume in 2008 for World Book Day were unsurprisingly the Kids Harry Potter costumes. For more information, see the World Book Day Costume post I created last year.

Shoppers in the USA:
Children's Costumes on Amazon.com

Shoppers in the UK:
Children's Costumes on Amazon.co.uk

Saint Patricks Day Costumes: Tuesday 17th March 2009
St. Patrick's Day is generally held on the 17th March but is occasionally moved to avoid it coinciding with Palm Sunday, as happened in 2008. The St. Patricks Festival 2009 in Dublin will run from Thursday 12th – Tuesday 17th March 2009. The parade will be held on Tuesday 17th March 2009. This is an excellent time for some great stereotypically Irish fancy dress costumes with everybody dressing up in green and gold Leprechaun costumes. There are some great Irish themed fancy dress costumes out there and I feel this is one of the funniest fancy dress parties of the year, so don't miss it!

Shoppers in the USA:
Irish Costumes on Amazon.com

Shoppers in the UK:
Irish Costumes on Amazon.co.uk

Easter Costumes: Sunday 12th April 2009
Every year we see more and more people dressing up over Easter and i say why not. The kids really enjoy dressing up in an Easter bunny costume or how about for older "children": why not a sexy Easter bunny costume to surprise your partner on Easter morning, that is sure to bring a smile to his face! If you are going out over Easter a set of bunny ears is always fun.

So there you have it, plenty great reasons and a few ideas to dress up in 2009!

Ideas for Sexy Christmas Costumes

2008-12-03T22:31:00.000-08:00

Sexy fancy dress costumes in general are very popular and in fact continue to increase in popularity as can be seen with the rise of companies like Leg Avenue. Over Halloween there is a large increase in the number of sexy Halloween costumes for sale and now as Christmas approaches, we are seeing a similar rise in the number of Sexy Christmas Costumes.

So within the section of sexy costumes for Christmas what is available this year?

Sexy Santa Costumes
The obvious choice for a fancy dress costume, especially for men is to dress up in a Santa Claus Costume, but what if you are a girl? The good news is that there are plenty of Womens Santa Costumes, many of which would be described as being sexy. I have also noticed that there are a number of sexy Santa costumes for women that come under the name of "Christmas Gift Costumes." I guess that the idea is that you are giving yourself dressed in a sexy costume to your partner, definitely a Christmas present that I wouldn't mind receiving this year :-)

Sexy Santa Costumes on Amazon.com

Sexy Elf Costumes
Other than Women's Santa costumes, there are some really good sexy elf costumes, the green elf costume pictured and is available from Amazon on the link below was one of the most popular fancy dress costumes over Christmas last year and it looks like it will be just as popular this year.

Sexy Elf Costumes on Amazon.com

Sexy Fairy Costumes
Another popular choice and can be especially handy if you don't feel like dressing in Green and red, is to dress up as the fairy that sits on top of many Christmas Trees, I have note yet found any sexy star costumes!

Sexy Fairy Costumes on Amazon.com

Sexy Angel Costumes
There are also quite a few sexy angel costumes available, if you don't feel like being a fairy and I think is another great Christmas fancy dress idea.

Sexy Angel Costumes on Amazon.com

Other ideas for sexy costumes for Christmas include this Sexy Frosty the Snow-Vixen Costume, which again is a nice non green and red twist on the Christmas theme.

I also found this great Nellie Nutcracker Toy Soldier Costume for woman that includes knit dress with gold foiled fabric, matching hat and "Nuts" bag as well as a Sexy Toy Soldier Costume, which is not strictly a Christmas costume, but it is sexy and it is red and white and so won't look out of place in any Christmas themed fancy dress party.

Sexy Toy Soldier Costumes on Amazon.com

Sexy Snow White Costumes

2008-12-02T22:56:00.000-08:00

When I was researching my previous post on Snow White Fancy Dress Costumes, I could not notice how many different styles of sexy Snow White costumes that are available.

Who would have ever thought that you could turn a pretty innocent character like the Disney Snow White costume into a sexy costume and as far as I can tell, they are pretty popular as well.

If you are looking for a sexy fancy dress costume, I think there are a few pretty good sexy versions of Snow White that really work, as they are still recognisable as a snow white costume.

To Check out a large selection of the Sexy Snow White costumes try:

US Shoppers
Sexy Snow White Costume on Amazon.com

UK Shoppers
Sexy Snow White Costume on Amazon.co.uk

Snow White Fancy Dress Costume

2008-12-02T22:44:00.000-08:00

Snow white makes a great fancy dress costume as the yellow, red and blue colours combined with the wig make it obvious it is the Snow White costume from the Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs film that featured the magic mirror and obviously the seven dwarfs.

This adult version of the Disney Snow White costume comes with a satin and velour dress with gold brocade trim, a stand up collar and hair ribbon. As far as I know to get that authentic Snow White hair style, you will have to also purchase a the Snow White wig which is usually sold separately.

It is interesting to note that in many versions of Snow White, other than the well known Grimm brothers and the Disney versions, the dwarfs in the story are actually thieves and the magic mirror is often not included at all. There is even one version of Snow White that comes from Albania where she lives with 40 dragons and not the dwarfs at all!

And perhaps because of this there are apart from the Snow White costumes shown many variations, to see them all check out these ones:

US Shoppers
Snow White Costume on Amazon.com

UK Shoppers
Snow White Costume on Amazon.co.uk

If you are looking for a more racier version check out my post on Sexy Snow White Costumes

Lara Croft Costumes

2008-11-28T21:35:00.000-08:00

I have always thought that Indiana Jones and Lara Croft costumes would make great couples costumes and perfect to wear to any fancy dress party especially if there is a movie or some kind or action hero theme. It was though doing some research into Lara Croft Tomb Raider costumes that I found out that initially she was going to basically be the Indiana Jones of computer games, until one of the designers of the Tomb Raider game noticed that many of his friends would often choose female characters when playing the then popular computer game called "Virtual Fighter"

Once they had decided to make the hero in the game a female it was then decided that she would not be the steriotypical blond bimbo that were used in many games at the time and so Lara Croft has always had long brown hair and brown eyes.

The Lara Croft Costume
Though the Lara Croft tomb raider costume has changed a little over time, like in Underworld, Lara now wears a brown and black halter top with green and black shorts, her traditional iconic costume of the classic green or blue sleeveless shirt, short, tight, light brown shorts, calf-high boots, white socks, fingerless gloves, a small backpack, and two holsters on her utility belt has always remained pretty constant and is probably the most recognisable image of her.

Lara Croft Fancy Dress Costumes
Most of the fancy dress Lara Croft costumes tend to be based on her classic look and I guess you need to have a pretty decent figure to pull off stepping into Angelina Jolie shoes. Still if you can pull it off, I think it is an excellent womans costume.

Where to buy the Lara Croft Halloween Costume
There are a few officially licensed Edios Lara Croft costumes and non licensed look alike costumes available from most fancy dress and Halloween Stores and so you should not have any trouble in finding it. Just make sure that if you think you are buying a licensed costume that you actually get it and because Lara has manny accessories, just check to see if the costume comes with her guns and backpack included in the price and not as an extra.

US Shoppers
Lara Croft Costumes on Amazon.com

UK Shoppers
Jokers' Masquerade Lara Croft Costumes

Lara Croft Costumes on Amazon.co.uk

Pimp my Iron Man Costume!

2008-11-24T13:43:00.000-08:00

The Ultimate Iron Man Fancy Dress Costume for Kids?
There are plenty of official and not so official Iron Man costumes for both children and adults available for sale. But none have the gadgetry of this one.

One very lucky and cute kid had his father spent two months modding and pimping out the standard child's Iron Man Costume available on the market.

Not only did he add a CO2 air compressor to fire missiles or repulsor waves, but a complete BeagleBoard computer running a makeshift JARVUS along with an Arduino board to handle all of the advanced suit functions.

Below are all the additions made to the IronMan Costume:

Missile launcher - Uses CO2 air pump can to launch a paper missile.
SA magnetic switch sensor lights his repulsor hand light and fades out and in his glowing eyes.
Sound Effects - configured Elightenment17 to playback sound effects using Mplayer script. Mouse buttons activated by Arduino Digital output triggered by sensors.
A LED night light from Costco embedded in his the chest of the Iron Man Suit.
Powerful Computer - With BeagleBoard already running in JARVUS box on the back of the Ironman Suit they plan to add more features including a Web cam, mobile router with hotspot and a head-mounted display, VoIP, streaming video of Iron Man view.

The standard Iron Man Costume is available from Amazon.com - is still pretty cool, even without all the extras'

Santa Claus Chimney Hat

2008-11-23T22:40:00.000-08:00

Christmas Fancy Dress Ideas

I just happened to find the Santa stuck in the chimney hat whilst I was researching the Christmas tree hats, and thought it was worth a mention as it would surely would do well in a unique Christmas costume hat competition if there was such a thing or if you are looking for something a little different to the traditional Santa Claus Costume

Christmas Tree Hats

2008-11-20T21:49:00.000-08:00

If you would like to be a little more subtle than wearing a Christmas tree costume and not as common as a Santa Claus Costume but still want to dress up as one of Christmas's most iconic and easily recognisable icons?

How about this Light-up Christmas Tree Costume Hat that I think is absolutely hilarious.

They, as well as a few other styles are available on Amazon.

US Shoppers
Christmas Tree Hat on Amazon.com

UK Shoppers
Christmas Tree Hat on Amazon.co.uk

Christmas Tree Costumes

2008-11-20T10:50:00.000-08:00

Something a little different from the normal Santa Claus costumes and what I think is a pretty cool fancy dress idea for Christmas is a Christmas tree costume. Yes, you read it right, why not dress up as a Christmas tree if you are going to a fancy dress party over the festive period, I guarantee you that it will bring a smile to just about everyone's face at the fancy dress party! A friend of mine wore one to a party that we went to last year and it was by far the most popular and unique costume there.

A few years ago the only commercial Christmas tree costume available is the one I have displayed here and if you wanted something different you had to make your own Christmas tree costume, which if you are anything like me is way beyond my skill levels! Luckily there are now a few different Christmas costume manufacturers producing tree costumes, so with a little research you are sure to find the costume that fits both your style and budget although I have to say I still feel that this one is the best value for one available.

USA Shoppers
Christmas Tree Costumes on Amazon.com

Christmas Tree Costume on CostumeKingdom.com

UK Shoppers
Christmas tree costumes on Jokers' Masquerade Fancy Dress

Christmas Tree Costumes on Amazon.co.uk

Make Your own Womans Pirate Costume

2008-11-18T06:35:00.000-08:00

Rather than buying a Pirate wench Costume, you could always try a home made version.

The awesome video below shows you how you could do it, although to be honest it would be way too advanced for my sewing skills.

Christmas Elf Costumes

2008-11-16T22:45:00.000-08:00

Other than the Santa costumes, the next most popular Christmas fancy dress costume are the Santa's little helpers: elf costumes

Traditionally Christmas Elves have a red or yellow and green costume with pointy ears, long noses, and pointy hats. Despite having similar names, Christmas elfs and fantasy elves are not the same species. Christmas elfs are actually more similar to pixies and gnomes than fantasy elves. I think people mistakenly believe that elfs and elves are the same race comes from Santa's elfs being referred to as "Santa's elves"

Whatever the case the Christmas elf costume pictured is probably the best known elf outfit for sale at the moment which you will probably find in most decent fancy dress shops and on-line retailers and comes with the elf hat, coat, trousers, belt, and boots.

To buy any of the Christmas Elf costumes on this page, as well as many other elf costumes, there are a few links below that may help you:

USA Shoppers
Christmas Elf Costumes on Amazon.com

Christmas Elf Costumes on BuyCostumes.com

Elf Costumes & Free shipping on orders at Costumekingdom.com

UK Shoppers
Christmas Elf Costumes on Amazon.co.uk

Sexy Elf Costumes
Female Elf Costume are also popular and there are quite a few very sexy elf costumes available. The deluxe sexy elf costume pictured is not cheap but is well made and comes with the bell-tipped hat and dress with belt and green-striped stockings.

Childrens Elf Costumes
Again there are plenty of outfits to choose from for children, for both boys and girls.

Baby elf Costume
One of the cutest fancy dress costumes for Christmas has to be this Baby Bunting Elf Costume from Smiffys.

If you would rather make your own here is an article on How to Make a Christmas elf costume

Homemade Christmas Elf costume

2008-11-13T23:13:00.000-08:00

How to make a Christmas Elf Costume

There are plenty of fancy dress elf costumes available to either hire or buy, but if you would rather make your own childrens elf costume, I managed to find this very easy way to make an elf costume that will also be a great way you can spend some quality time together with your children doing something creative as you make the costume together.

This elf costume is recommended for children of 4 years or older.

To make your own elf costume you will need:

About two yards of red felt per elf costume (Fabric other than felt can be used, but it will probably require hemming.)
A few smaller pieces of other colours of felt like green, white, yellow and black
Non-toxic glue
Measuring tape
Tiny bells
Needle and thread.

Measuring and cutting out the fabric

Start off by folding over the felt, then ask your child to lie down on it. This fold will become the shoulders of the elf costume which is great news as you don’t have to sew them!
Use a marker to mark the sides of the neck, the lower edges of the armholes and the length of the costume that you want.
Cut out the costume and try it on over your child’s head.

The Elfs Hat

Measure the circumference of your child’s head and mark it on the felt leaving about an inch as spare.
Then Mark the desired height around 1 foot is about right, if it is too long the hat will tend to easily fall off
Cut out the rectangle that you have just marked out
Roll it into a cone and place it on your child’s head, it should go down over their ears, to get the right size.
Keep the shape and size, but remove it from your childs head to pin it together.
An extra flap of material will be left over – don’t worry about this. It won’t be seen once the hat is turned inside out.

Time for the Sewing

Don't worry, there is not much sewing involved and so and it won’t take very long. It is probably best you do this away from your child for safety reasons.
If you are sewing the costume by hand, use a double thread.
Sew the sides of the tunic together leaving ample room for the arms.
Then Turn it inside out so the seams don’t show.
Then sew the cone hat along the line of safety pins in the hat and turn it inside out.
Finish by sewing a little bell onto the point of the hat.

And that is the main part of the costume done, you can then encourage your child to decorate the costume by sticking the other pieces of coloured felt to the costume. If he / she is old enough they can cut out shapes.

And that is it - The Easy Peasy Homemade Elf Costume for Kids!

Womens Santa Claus Costumes

2008-11-11T22:08:00.000-08:00

Christmas Fancy Dress Ideas: Santa Claus Costumes for Women
In this modern world Santa does not HAVE to be male, in fact if take a look there are almost as many Santa costumes for women as there are the men's version.

Sexy Santa Costumes
Ok, so we all know that the traditional Santa is supposed to be a big fat bloke with a beard, well for a far more sexier alternative, there are plenty of sexy Santa costumes available out there. Possibly more of a Christmas present for your partner than for yourself though! I also have a sneaky suspicion which version of Santa most teenage boys would rather have deliver their xmas presents to as well!

So for a little bit of fun and if you have got it why not flaunt it this Christmas in a sexy Santa costume! Amazon is a great place to start looking, they have a large selection of just about everything, but also many sexy Santa outfits for Christmas:

USA
Sexy Santa Costumes on Amazon.com

UK
Sexy Santa Costumes on Amazon.co.uk

Womans Santa Costumes
If dressing up in a sexy costume is not your thing there are also plenty of womens Santa Clause costumes available that whilst can never be fully traditional (Santa is a man!) they focus a little more on tradition and a little less on sexy than the one featured above!

Crazy Santa Costumes

2008-11-11T21:52:00.000-08:00

Fancy Dress Ideas For Christmas
If you are a little bored of the traditional red and white image of Santa, here are a few alternative fancy dress ideas for Santa this Christmas that I have managed to find on the web.

The Grinch Santa Claus Costume
The Grinch Santa costume is also fun. If you do not know the story, the Grinch is a character that was developed by Dr Seuss and it was he that stole Christmas and I think makes a fun alternative to the traditional white bearded Santa. This Grinch fancy dress costume comes with the Grinch mask with attached green fur fabric whiskers. The Headpiece has the red Santa hat attached. Red long sleeved Santa jacket and completed by a wide black belt with an over-sized brassed belt buckle.

Bad Santa Costumes
Red and White not the colours for you? How about black and white? I managed to find this Bad Santa costume that has the words 'Bah Humbug' written on the Santa hat, perfect for the Santa with a bad streak in him!

Take a look here if you are looking for a Traditional Santa Claus costume

Traditional Santa Claus Costumes

2008-11-11T21:39:00.000-08:00

The Traditional Red and White Santa Outfits
So where did this iconic image of Santa in his red suit come from? Some people incorrectly think that the Coca-Cola Company invented the red Santa costume in the 1930's. Coca-Cola only used the character because his well-known colour scheme is similar to that of the company logo. So even though Coke were not the first to put the red suit on Santa, the company did play a large role in making the character much more popular. It was way back in 1885 that we find the first Christmas card depicting Santa Claus in his famous red suit. Printed in Boston by by Louis Prang although I am not sure if he was the first to put Santa into the red and white. The original inspiration came from Saint Nicholas of Myra, in the Netherlands. In Dutch he was called Sinterklaas, who was helped by his servants called Zwarte Pieten, who we now call his elves.

Fancy Dress Santa Claus Costumes

I guess these days when we think of Christmas, the first name that comes to mind is Santa Claus. The great thing about Santa as a character is his well known fancy dress costume. The red and white Santa Costume, or Santa suit with long white beard and Santa hat is about as well known an icon in the fancy dress world as you can get. If you are looking to buy a Santa outfit there are literally thousands to choose from and all from the outside look fairly similar. From the super deluxe Santa suits to cheap Santa beards and hats, you are sure to find a costume that will suit your needs as well as how deep your pocket goes, but all this choice can also be a little daunting. My advice with so much choice would be to shop around, spend a bit of time and you are sure to fined the right xmas costume for you.

A great place to start is with a shop like Amazon who have a huge variety of costumes that you can quickly browse through:

USA:
Santa Costumes on Amazon.com

UK:
Santa Costumes on Amazon.co.uk

Top Selling Halloween Costumes for 2008

2008-11-10T22:12:00.000-08:00

Jokers' Masquerade Halloween Costumes recently published an article on their website, featuring the best selling Halloween costumes for 2008. It actually makes quite interesting reading and is a nice insight into how well certain costumes do over the busiest time of the year for the fancy dress industry. I have listed the top 10 Halloween costumes below in order of popularity.

Interesting points:

The Ghostbusters costume has been number one for the last two years!
8 out of the top ten Halloween costumes are adult male costumes, I would have thought more womens Halloween costumes would have made the top ten? Perhaps girls like trying different costumes and to make sure that they are not wearing the same dress as someone else at the fancy dress party!
The Jigsaw, Wizard Wanda and Joker Costumes are new costumes for this year.
6 of the top ten Halloween costumes are inspired by movies. (Ghostbusters, Edward Scissorhands, The Saw, Batman, Nightmare On Elm Street and Harry Potter)
There are 2 zombie costumes in the top 10 and no Ghosts costumes

Below are the top 10 best selling Halloween Costumes at Jokers' Masquerade in 2008:

1) Adult Official Deluxe Ghostbusters Costume
I find the popularity of the Ghostbusters Halloween costumes somewhat perplexing, sure during it's time way back in the 80's it was a great film and yes the fancy dress costume is pretty cool, but for it to be the No. 1 selling Halloween costume for two years running is quite an achievement!

2) Adult Edward Scissorhands Costume
Again, like the Ghostbusters costume, the Edward Scissorhands Costume comes from a film, and this one is not even really about ghosts or Halloween, so again for me it is pretty interesting that it is one of the most popular Halloween costumes.

3) Adult Grave Groom Zombie Costume
Finally coming in at number 3 is a typical Halloween type fancy dress costume. It aint a ghost but what could be better than a scary zombie Halloween costume.

4) Adult Tinkerspell Costume
The first womans Halloween costume and it is a twist on a scary witch costume with a hint of a fairy costume included. I think what makes this costume popular is that most girls want to look good at a party, even Halloween parties, so who would pick a witch costume when you can dress in a sexy evil fairy costume!

5) Complete Zombie Adult Costume
The second Zombie costume, and still no ghost costumes (only a ghost killer) - kind of obvious who is winning the zombie / ghost popularity contest at Halloween!

6) Adult Official Saw Jigsaw Puppet Costume
Another costume that takes it's inspiration from a film, this time it is the very scary Saw series of horror films.

7) Adult Evil Jester Costume
One of my favourite themes as being the most scary costumes are scary clown costumes and you don't get much better than this very popular evil jester costume.

8) Adult The Joker Deluxe Costume
I thought that with the popularity of the Dark Knight Batman film and the sad passing away of Keith Ledger, that The Joker Costume may have been higher up the list than in 8th place.

9) Adult Freddy Krueger Costume
A Nightmare On Elm Street is another popular Halloween film and so makes a popular Halloween Costume.

10) Adult Wizard Wanda Costume
This is an interesting one at number 10 as it comes from the Harry Potter films, so I guess will be more popular in the UK than the USA and only the second female Halloween fancy dress costume in the top 10.

Lewis Hamilton Costume

2008-11-08T22:39:00.000-08:00

I have some friends that work for Vodafone and they were saying that the new and youngest ever Formula 1 world champion, Lewis Hamilton was coming in to visit their offices as part of his sponsor obligations. They were really excited and said that some people were going to be given the change to race against him on a simulator. This got me thinking are there any formula one fancy dress costumes or even better Lewis Hamilton costumes?

Lewis Hamilton Costume
Well to my surprise there are! The Official Lewis Hamilton fancy dress costume is actually the Mclaren Racing overalls which could equally be called by Lewis's team mate, a Heikki Kovalainen costume. What ever your favourite driver, the F1 racing suit only comes in childrens sizes for ages from 3 to 7 and is fully quilted and has embroidered sponsorship logos.

lewis hamilton costume on Amazon.co.uk

There are also Fararri costumes available, but I could not find any other F1 teams fancy dress costumes out there.

Valentino Rossi Costume
If cars are not your thing and you child is into motorbikes, you could also be the current MotoGP world champion in the Valentino Rossi Costume, which also only comes in childrens sizes.

Valentino Rossi Costume on Amazon.co.uk

Sexy Batgirl Costume: Superhero Costumes

2008-11-05T10:38:00.000-08:00

As a fancy dress theme, superhero costumes are one of the most popular, it seems that everyone secretly wishes that they had superpowers. Well if you can't manage to learn how to fly or lift cars with your small finger the next best thing is to dress up in a Superhero costume and pretend.

Batgirl Costumes
One of the best selling superhero fancy dress costumes for women is this sexy Batgirl costume from the super sexy secret wishes DC super hero's range. The costume includes the black one piece dress with attached cape and embroidered bat logo, two burnished glovelets, rubber belt, matching knee high boot tops plus the distinctive Batgirl eyemask. This Batgirl outfit comes in most adult sizes including plus size and there are also teen versions of the costume as well.

I guess one of the reasons that the Batgirl fancy dress costume has become so popular has to do with the Batman film The Dark Knight. Since the release of the film both Batman and The Joker costumes have become extremely popular, this is especially true for the Joker Costume which was one of the best selling Halloween costumes all around the globe this year. So I guess why should the girls not join in the action with Batgirl? Created by Bob Kane and Sheldon Moldoff, Batgirl first appeared in a Batman comic (#139) way back in 1961 where her name was originally "Bat-Girl"

US Shoppers
Batgirl Costume on Amazon.com

UK Shoppers
Find the Batgirl Costume on Amazon.co.uk

If you are looking for a similar costume, sexy and still a Superhero, try the Catwoman Costume

oogh and one last thing: Did you know that the image of a bat on the Batman and Batgirl fancy dress costume is there to frighten criminals... woo scary stuff!

Angel Costumes: Christmas Costume Ideas

2008-11-04T12:03:00.000-08:00

An Angel fancy dress costume as a Christmas costume idea is something that I think many people miss when trying to come up with something slightly different to wear to the office Christmas costume party. We all know that an Angle or Star is often placed on top of the Christmas tree, but have you ever wondered why?

Couples Costumes
Both the Angel and the Star come from the Nativity story with the star representing the Star of Bethlehem and the angel from the host of angels. With this in mind I suppose a great idea for Christmas couples costumes could be to get your partner to dress up in a Star costume and you could dress up in an as the angel!

Adult Angel Costumes
An angle outfit For me make excellent elegant outfit as a Christmas theme costume. If you look on the web there are plenty of adult angel Halloween costumes out there and I have even found plus size angel costumes available so you should not have much difficulty in finding one in your size, price range and style.

Fallen Angel Costumes
These devil angel costumes are for those of you who would rather be a little wicked this Christmas! There are some excellent dark angel costumes available. Look out for the Naughty and Nice Angel Halloween Costume, that is half a devil and half an angel, for those that can't decide what side of the fence to sit on! Find a Fallen Angel Costume

Sexy Angle Costumes
I suppose another twist on the fallen angel would be a sexy angel costume. I never really thought of angels as being sexy before, surely they are fare to innocent to be sexy, but yes there are plenty of sexy angel Halloween costumes out there and I suppose if you have the figure to pull it off why not - perhaps this sexy fancy dress could could even turn out to be a present for your partner!

Child Angel Costumes
Just like the adult versions these days there are plenty of options for kids angel costumes in terms of sizes and price ranges available. One thing that I have noticed though is that within the range of childrens angels costumes is that there are very few of the "fallen angle" type available, perhaps though this is a good thing!

Infant Angel Costumes
Unfortunately I have not been able to find any infant or toddler angel costumes, there are plenty of toddler lamb costumes but no angels, which is a shame as I think they would be excellent. If anyone else happens to find any, please leave a comment to let me know about it. I suppose you could always make your own angel costume, here is how to make an angel costume: Home Made Angel Costume

Nativity Costumes
I don't feel that Nativity costumes have to be exclusively for children, I think is a great idea if you are looking at dressing up as a group. There are some great Christmas costume ideas here: The Three Wise Men Costumes, Shepherd Costumes, Sheep Costumes, Donkey Costume, Mary, Joseph and even a Jesus costume although personally I would treat these with respect. Then as mentioned there are the Angel costumes as well as the Star costume.

Where to Buy Angel Costumes
Good places to get all these angel costumes this Christmas include Amazon Angel Costumes
as well as Jokers' Masquerade Christmas Costumes

Here is hoping you have a very Merry Christmas!

Cheap Christmas Fancy Dress Costumes

2008-11-03T03:37:00.000-08:00

If you are planning to have a fancy dress party or dress up in a costume this Christmas, don't wait until the last minute, now is the time to buy you Santa costumes, elf costumes and sexy Santa costumes (if you are a girl.)

I have just done a quick look at most of the major fancy dress websites out there and quite a few of them have Christmas themed costumes on special offer or in the sale categories. I bet you this will soon change in time for Christmas once the demand rises.

For example Jokers' Masquerade fancy dress have already updated their website for Christmas, but if you take a look at their winter sale costumes there are a bunch of Christmas themed costumes in there including:

Santa Suit
An adult deluxe Santa suit costume which is on sale at £99 and is probably a little too pricey for most people, but if you are after a quality Santa costume this may save you a few pounds.

Sexy Santa Costume
I also quite like this Miss Santa Deluxe Trousers Top & Hat is a real sexy Santa costume which has been reduced from £29.99 down to £14.99, so a good bargain for a quality costume.

Childrens Santa Costume
If you are after cheap Christmas costume for your children, I really like this Santa Scooby-Doo Christmas Costume that is now for sale at £17.99 which I think is pretty decent value for money as it is a fully licensed product.

These are just a few of the cheap Christmas costumes available from the Jokers' Masquerade winter sale that you may wish to check out.

Crazy Christmas Costume Ideas

2008-10-31T08:01:00.000-07:00

Christmas fancy dress costumes do not all have to be about dressing up in Santa costumes, elf costumes or even reindeer costumes. Here are a few of my alternative fancy dress ideas for Christmas this year:

Christmas tree costume
What could say more about Christmas than the Christmas tree, but did you know that custom of erecting a Christmas tree or Yule tree comes from Germany and goes right back to the 16th century! I have seen Christmas tree costumes for sale on the web and think that they are excellent.

Christmas Snowman Costume
Ok, so I know that here in the UK it hardly ever snows on Christmas, but even so the snowman is one of the iconic symbols of Christmas, just take a look at the Christmas cards for sale in a book shop and see how many feature a snowman on the cover. There are Snowman costumes available and will make excellent fancy dress costumes for Christmas.

Christmas turkey costume
Ok, so far we have the Christmas tree, a snow man, but what about the Christmas feast? There are a couple of ideas here, what about dressing up in a Turkey costume or even a Christmas pudding, I have seen both available to buy on the web.

Other stange / different Christmas costume ideas could include a Penguin costume, Robin costume or if you want to be nasty this Christmas, how about a Grinch Costume?

Fancy Dress Costumes and Google Insights

2008-10-24T05:04:00.000-07:00

Fancy dress related search terms
Google have recently released a tool called Google Insights where you can gain an view as to what people are searching for on their search engine. I decided to see what people search for in relation to fancy dress over the last year as knowing what people are looking for helps me to know what to write about.

Fancy Dress: Top searches
The 10 top searches in relation to Fancy Dress:

fancy dress costumes
costumes
fancy dress costume
fancy dress shops
fancy dress shop
fancy dress ideas
fancy dress hire
fancy dress party
halloween fancy dress
fancy dress outfits

So all pretty predictable although it is still interesting to me how many people still search for costume hire companies when looking for a fancy dress costume. What is also great is that so many people search for "fancy dress ideas" - you see I named my blog well!

Rising searches
Things really start to get interesting when we take a look at search terms related to fancy dress that have increased in popularity over the last year.

leg avenue + 100% in popularity
wonderland fancy dress + 60%
army fancy dress + 50%
ann summers + 50%
joke fancy dress + 40%
halloween fancy dress + 40%
cheap fancy dress + 30%
ladies fancy dress + 20%
fancy dress outfit + 20%

So lets take a look at a few of them and figure out why they are increasing in popularity

1) Leg Avenue
Leg Avenue Fancy Dress is a costume company that almost exclusively sells sexy womans costumes as well as lingerie, shoes and swimwear. Leg Avenue started as a family owned hosiery business located in Los Angeles in 1984. From hosiery to lingerie, the company grew quickly. In 1999, the family formed Leg Avenue, Inc. to bring their new concepts to life and it wasn’t long before Leg Avenue decided to enter the Halloween industry. Their designs mix fashion with fantasy, Leg Avenue Costumes are sexy and fun and as they say themselves "No one does sexy costumes better than Leg Avenue." Which i would have to agree with as Leg Avenue are definitely one of my favourite Halloween costume manufacturers as they have some stunning outfits that are usually excellent quality.

More: Sexy Leg Avenue Costumes for Valentines Day

3) Army Fancy Dress
This is an interesting one, I have no idea as to why people are suddenly looking for army costumes? Maybe the fact that there are so may conflicts aroud the world at the moment and that they are all in the media, it had inspired people to dress up in army outfits? Who knows any ideas would be greatly apreciated.

4) Ann Summers
Like Leg Avenue, Ann Summers also stared life selling sexy underwear and lingerie and have now moved on to offer sexy fancy dress and Halloween costumes. Interesting haw it seems that sexy fancy dress is the in thing at the moment (perhaps I should write more about them!) In my experience, I have found that Ann Summers costumes are not as good quality as the Leg Avenue ones.

5) Joke Fancy Dress
I suppose this could be either people looking for novelty costumes, or possibly one of my favourite fancy dress companies in the UK, Jokers' Masquerade Fancy Dress. I think because their website is www.joke.co.uk, many people just refer to them as Jokers Fancy Dress, Joke Fancy Dress or even just as joke.co.uk. According to their website, they have the largest online collection of adult fancy dress costumes and Halloween costumes in the UK, with over 10,000 costumes and accessories to choose from. I have often used them and would highly recommend them to anyone.

9) Fancy Dress Outfit
This is also interesting as it shows that people are starting to think of fancy dress as more than just as costume, but as an outfit, which to my understanding of the word in this context makes a fancy dress outfit somehow more substancial, more seriouse than a costume.

Top 10 Childrens Halloween Costumes 2008

2008-10-23T02:49:00.000-07:00

Top 10 children’s Halloween costumes for 2008

Every year the range of fancy dress costumes seems to grow and the largest market for Halloween costumes are children's costumes. With the traditional bricks and mortar stores and on-line merchants offer a vast range of children’s costume ideas. Ranging from traditional ghosts, vampires and scary monsters to the South Park Muscle Devil Costume, from witches to the latest movie and television characters.There are literally thousands of childrens Halloween costumes available and you only limited by your imagination and of course your budget!

So what are the most popular Children's costumes for Halloween?
According to the fancy dress company HalloweenExpress.com the top 10 kids Halloween costumes this year are:

Indiana Jones Costume
Iron Man Costumes
Batman Costumes
The Joker Costume
Hannah Montana Costume
Sharpay (“High School Musical”) Costume
Clonetrooper Cody (“Star Wars: Clone Wars”) Costumes (Darth Vader Costume) (Yoda Costume) (Princess Leia Costume)
Transformers Bumble Bee Costume
Monkey Costume (by Tom Arma)
Monster bride Costume (Funny Halloween Costumes)

A trip down any high street or shopping center is also a good indication of what is popular, yesterday I found plenty of Batman, The Joker and Incredible Hulk costumes for boys. As for the girls there were Hannah Montana costumes including countless accessories including make-up, jewellery, blonde wigs and the sparkly microphone!

We all know that Halloween costumes can get pricey, this is especially true for older children who are less likely to re-use the costume for games of dress-up throughout the year. Discount retailers such as the Wal-Marts Woolworths and Targets of this world have their aisles filled with children’s Halloween costumes which can cost anything upwards from $15, quite a bit of money for just one night of use.

So is the solution to buying, a Homemade Halloween costume? It could be, but as you probably well know as well as me, with children it is hard to beat the glamour and glitz of the commercial costumes! If this still does not help see my earlier post on Kids Halloween costumes for less than $20/£10 and Kids Halloween Costumes

Plus Size Halloween Costumes

2008-10-20T06:52:00.000-07:00

Sometimes finding large sizes of fancy dress or Halloween Costumes can be difficult. Most website stock the normal adult costumes, as well as childrens Halloween costumes and even toddler and baby costumes, but no plus size fancy dress. The if you are looking for plus size Halloween costumes it can become even more difficult.

It's all in the name - Halloween Costumes Plus size
If you are searching on the web for larger sized Halloween costumes, you may want to try different search terms. Try "Plus Size Halloween Costumes" or "Full Cut Costumes" as depending on where you live, the terminology for larger sized costumes is different and different fancy dress websites use different names for this category of fancy dress.

I have done a little research and here are a few Plus size Halloween costumes that I think are pretty cool:

Mens Plus Size Halloween Costumes

Halloween Plus Size Adult Werewolf Costume (ref: 23082)
This werewolf costume comes in larger sizes and I think is perfect for Halloween, the Costume includes tattered red gingham shirt with black, grey and white plush fake fur on the chest using a torn through fabric effect. It is available from most good fancy dress stores, both in the UK (including Jokers' Masquerade) and the USA. Halloween plus size awoooooo yeagh! (sorry that was my werewolf impression!)

Plus Size Official Deluxe Ghostbusters Costume (ref: 21808)
Ghostbusters costumes are one of the best selling themes of fancy dress costumes this Halloween and the good news is that the men's Ghostbusters costume is available in larger sizes as well. Another great thing about this costume is it's versatility, as it also make a great 80's theme costume.

Womens Plus Size Halloween Costumes

Plus Size Sally Costume (ref: 22506)
The Sally Standard costume makes an excellent Halloween costume and is also available in larger sizes, try doing a Google search for "Plus Size Sally Standard Costume" For those of you who don't know, Sally Standard comes from the Nightmare Before Christmas film You can find out more the about the film and its cast by visiting the Internet Movie Database. The fully licensed Halloween costume includes a thin dress with printed patchwork colour detail on the front, collar, short sleeves with one slightly longer than the other and dagged finish at the base and sleeves. The back of the dress is an attractive pink and has ties at the base of the neck for easier fitting. There are also two drapes just below the bust at the rear of the dress that will add definition when tied and allow you to make as figure hugging as desired.

Halloween Plus Size Sexy Witch Costume (ref: 21485)
If you are after a more traditional Halloween costume what could be better than a scary witch costume? Something with a little twist in it is a sexy witch costume, hey you can still look sexy and be a witch these days! The good news I also found plenty of Witch Halloween Costumes in Plus sizes on the web.

Adult Devil Princess Costume (FC) (ref: 23314)
Again, a devil costume is a pretty traditional Halloween costume, less so for women, and I think costumes like this one pictured are pretty sexy as well as fitting perfectly into the Halloween theme. There are quite a few plus size women's devil costumes out there, and so you shouldn't find them too difficult to get hold of.

Many thanks to Jokers' Masquerade Halloween Costumes for the excellent Plus size Fancy dress Costume Ideas.

Best Halloween Costume Themes Ever

2008-10-16T08:26:00.000-07:00

If you are struggling to come up with a theme for your fancy dress costume this Halloween, here is my list of the best Halloween Costume themes ever:

Classic Halloween Costumes
The top Halloween costumes that will never go out of fashion:

Witch Costumes
Devil Costumes
Vampire Costumes including Dracula Costumes
Werewolf Costume
Grim Reaper Costume
Ghost Costumes
Skeleton Costume
Zombie Costumes

Book and Movie Halloween Costumes
Characters from Books as well as Film characters that make great Halloween costumes

Ghostbusters Costumes
The Joker Costume from the Batman Films
Darth Vader Costume from Star Wars
Predator Costume
Chucky Halloween Costumes from the Child's Play, Bride of Chucky and Seed of Chucky movies
Edward Scissorhands Costume
Beetlejuice Costume
Addams Family Costumes - like the Uncle Fester Costume
Hellraiser Pinhead Costume - from the horror film Hellraiser
Skeletor Costume from the He Man Cartoons
Saw Jigsaw Puppet Costume - From the SAW horror films
Saw Pig Costume - From the SAW Horror films
Frankenstein Costume
Jekyll and Hyde Costumes
Ghost costume from the Scream Horror films
Tinkerspell Halloween Costume
Little Dead Riding Hood Halloween Costume
Malice in Wonderland Halloween Costume
Freddy Krueger Costume
Jason Voorhees Costume
Miss Freddy Krueger Halloween Costume
Sinderella Costume
Jack Skellington Costume from the Tim Burton hit, Nightmare Before Christmas
Sally Halloween Costume from the Tim Burton hit, Nightmare Before Christmas

Miscellaneous Halloween Costume themes
Halloween costumes that don't really fit into a group

Evil Clown Costume
Evil Jester Costume
Bloody Surgeon Costume
Bloody Nurse Costume
Ghost Pirate Costume
Mystic Sorcerer Costume
VooDoo Doll Costume
Mummy Costume
Headless Man Costume
Spider Princess Costume
Sorceress Costume
Mental Straight Jacket Costume
Gothic Bride Costume
Sexy Evil Queen Costume

So there you go, this list is by no means exhaustive and i will add to it as and when I think of more Halloween costume ideas, please feel free to comment if you can think of anything that I may have forgotten.

Happy Halloween.

Ghostbusters Costumes for Halloween

2008-10-15T06:13:00.000-07:00

Apart from The Joker costume, one of the most popular fancy dress costumes for Halloween this year are Ghostbusters Costumes. You can see the increase in traffic in the month of October to the website with the keyword "ghostbuster" in it. See the diagram below:

Ghostbusters Costume as a Halloween Costume?
For me the choice of a Ghostbuster outfit as a fancy dress costume for Halloween is an interesting one. The continued popularity of this now pretty ancient film, shows that a popular theme can have a very long shelf life. Ghosts are a perfect them for Halloween as most of them make pretty scary costumes, but Ghostbusters? Not only do the kill ghosts, but you would in no way call them scary. Perhaps it is the funny Halloween costume theme that is the drawing card here as I have noticed that funny Halloween costumes are becoming more and more popular every year.

If you are interested in wearing a GB costume this Halloween, what versions of the outfit are there?

Adult Ghostbusters Costume
The Official Men's Deluxe Ghostbusters Costume according to the makers is not only an ideal Halloween costume, but also ideal for any 1980's party theme. The costume includes a beige jumpsuit, which fastens at the front by zip and the jumpsuit comes with collar and colour Ghostbusters logo on right upper-sleeve and also above left breast pocket. There are two breast pockets with zips to keep ghost-busting gadgets in! The inflatable proton pack comes with shoulder and waist straps and fasten with plastic buckles. The gun attaches to the backpack via Velcro. For extra value, the proton pack comes with a puncture repair patch in case of emergency.

Child Ghostbusters Costume
The good news is that there is also a children's version of the official Ghostbusters Halloween costume available

Woman's Sexy Ghostbusters Costume
I am pretty sure that this sexy version of the Ghostbusters costume wasn't in the film that I watched back in the 80's but it is nice to have a girls version and could possibly be used as the nicer part in a couples costume for Halloween!

Breasts Sell Fancy Dress Costumes

2008-10-13T08:08:00.000-07:00

I think with the title of blog post like this, I will have to explain:

At the top right of the Jokers' Masquerade Halloween Costume website there are 4 teaser icons that they use to highlight a few of their costumes, this year for Halloween, one of the costumes that Jokers' Masquerade wished to promote were the Ghostbusters outfits, one of them being the sexy female version of the costume. As you can seen from the screen grab below, the model's cleavage was used as the part of the costume to highlight it.

When anyone clicks on this icon, it effectively performs a search on the website for "Ghostbusters" which we can track using Google Analytics.

I bet you can't guess when Jokers' Masquerade started using this image by looking at the graph below:

On top of that, the proportion of people clicking this icon is well above any of the other icons next to it and because of this, the sales statistics show, the Ghostbusters Halloween costumes have been one of the top sellers so far this Halloween.

So there you go, I am not commenting, or judging just pointing out the facts, Breasts really do sell fancy dress costumes!

Ooh and if you want to see the icon on the website, pop over to the Jokers' Masquerade Halloween costumes and fancy dress website, but you will have to hurry as I am sure the icon will be removed after Halloween.

Kids Halloween costumes for less than $20/£10

2008-10-12T22:04:00.000-07:00

Halloween can be expensive, but that is only if you let it! As it becomes more and more commercialised, so do the Halloween fancy dress costumes. The good news is that with all this competition around, there is plenty of competition and so if you are prepared to shop around you can find many good deals and cheap Halloween costumes. This is all assuming that you are looking to buy and don't want to make your own Halloween costumes.

Even more good news for you is that I have done a little of that research for you and so here are my top Halloween costumes for under $20 or £10 (I also get quite a few people from the UK reading the fancy dress ideas blog)

Child Little Vampire Boy

This vampire costume costs around $15 - $20 (£7 - £10) and as you can see makes a perfect Halloween Costume. There are plenty of Child Vampire costumes at this price range.

For the Girls, I found this Child Witch Costume which should only cost you around $10 (£5) ans so I think is a real bargain.

Many thanks to Jokers' Masquerade Halloween Costumes for the cheap fancy dress ideas from the UK.

Your other alternative would be to make your own Halloween costumes, but be careful as I have found, sometimes buying the materials can cost more than if you were just to buy the Halloween costume in the first place!

So there you go, unless you are looking for deluxe Halloween costumes, there is no need to spend a fortune at Halloween.... save it for Christmas!

Happy Halloween

Halloween Costumes Ideas for Matt Cutts

2008-10-08T08:32:00.000-07:00

Matt Cutts... who?
For those of you who don't know, Matt Cutts is a pretty big cheese at Google and as the head of Google's Webspam team, he has plenty to do with search and ranking (SEO) in Google and stuff. Anyway I have been following his blog for quite a while now as it is an excellent source of information on search engine optimisation, good blogging techniques as well being entertaining.

In his latest post, Halloween costume for 2008, Matt asks whether anyone had any ideas for his Halloween Costume this year... I wonder can this blog, Fancy Dress Ideas give him any inspiration?

The Joker Halloween Costume?
As I mentioned in an earlier post, the Joker costume is one of the best selling costumes so far this Halloween, I feel that it may be a bit too obvious for Matt, what we are looking for is something more niche, something easier to rank for or in this case easier to stand out from the crowd in, rather than blend in with the bunch of other Jokers out there.. something that someone interested in search engines and optimising websites for them might be interested in...

The Jigsaw Puppet perhaps?
I wonder... I don't see Matt as being a very scary character although having never personally met him I could be wrong... I still can't see him in a super scary costume like Jason Voorhees from Friday the 13th although what about dressing as the Jigsaw Puppet from the SAW. Somehow I do imagine him enjoying those films, which I personally found way too painful to watch! The character whilst being super scary has a somehow comic appeal and I think goes with my impression of how Matt should dress up this Halloween... The films whilst being main stream, do have a sort of cult following to them and as such make you more unique, easier to stand out from the billions of websites.. er I mean Halloween costumes out there!

What about something more niche, but still something with a strong cult following, so there is still plenty of traffic.. er I mean plenty of people who could look at the costume and immediately know who you were dressing up as and you would look ubber cool?

An Orange Clock?
That's it!... What about dressing up as Alex from A Clockwork Orange? I do hope you guys in the US and especially you Matt know the classic film from 1971 based on a novel by by Anthony Burgess that looks at Britain in the future and how a charismatic delinquent Alex DeLarge is jailed and later volunteers for an experimental aversion therapy developed by the government in an effort to solve society's crime problem... but not all goes to plan. His character makes a perfect Halloween costume, he is super cool as well as scary, the film is well known (here in the UK anyway!) and has a cult following. Perfect!

So there you have it, my idea as the perfect costume for Matt Cutts: Alex from A Clockwork Orange, hope you enjoy the read!

Happy Halloween!

Super Hairy Fairy Scary Halloween Costume!

2008-10-07T03:19:00.000-07:00

Super Hairy Fairy Scary Halloween Costume!

It is not often that a fairy costume makes it into my top 10 scary Halloween costumes category, but sometimes it is not so much the fancy dress that is scary and more to the person wearing it!

The combination of a bearded man in a fairy costume, you have to agree is pretty scary stuff! I am not sure how well this will go down as an adult mens Halloween costume for the masses, who knows it may just take off this year.. or not!

Anyway, I have dubbed this costume a Super Hairy Fairy Scary Halloween Costume!

Happy Halloween!

Joker costumes popular this Halloween

2008-10-06T08:34:00.000-07:00

So far this year, one of the most poplar fancy dress costume for Halloween is the Joker, based on the Heath Ledger's character from the Batman film, The Dark Knight.

Some people have gone as far to wonder if it is a macabre attempt to exploit his death or a way to honour the late great Australian actor? What ever the case according to sales statistics leading up to Halloween the Joker costume has been flying out of the door. There are even some Halloween shops in the US that just can't stock enough of the costumes. Across the pond in the UK, on-line fancy dress companies are also experiencing the massive increase in sales of the costume. "The Joker Costumes are definitely one of our best selling lines this Halloween" This is according a representative of Jokers' Masquerade fancy dress and Halloween costumes in the UK.

Halloween Homemade: Homemade Halloween Costumes

2008-10-02T22:32:00.000-07:00

I must confess that I, like everyone else concentrate most of my efforts when thinking of fancy dress ideas towards buying costumes. Hiring a Halloween fancy dress costume seems old hat and well, making your own costume is just plain prehistoric and silly.... or is it? In this article I discover why Halloween Homemade may be the way to go.

One thing that really bugs me about Christmas is just how commercial it has become. In fact it bugs me so much that last year my partner and I decided to skip it altogether and we went traveling in The Gambia where the majority of the population is Muslim and Christmas passed us by almost unnoticed, it was fantastic. Then earlier on in the year we traveled again to the island of Malta, where they are very strong Catholics. It was so refreshing to see how they celebrated Easter in the traditional way. Don't get me wrong, I am not overly religious and I do think that it is great to buy presents for your loved ones over Christmas, I just also feel that the commercialism of it all has just gone too far. It is only the 1st of October and I have already seen the first Christmas advert on the TV!

What saddens me, is that I see Halloween becoming more and more commercial every year. It is just much easier to buy a fancy dress outfit than it is to make one. But think of it this way:

Halloween for teens & Children
If you just buy a Halloween costume for your kids, instead of making a homemade Halloween costume for them, you will be missing out on spending quality time with your children as well as it gives the kids something creative to work with and they can develop some core skills, like sewing, reading and understanding the patterns for the costumes.

Homemade Adult Halloween Costumes
Making your own Halloween costume can be fun as well although I think that most people would probably feel that if they were the only people at a fancy dress party with a homemade Halloween costume they may look "cheap" in some way. so if you are planning on hosting a party - why not insist that everyone makes their own costume? We were at a Safari Lodge on the Hwange National park in Zimbabwe over New Years eve once, this place was really remote and for a bit of fun everyone at the lodge had to come to dinner in fancy dress, making the costume out of anything that you could find in your room. I learn't that you can make so many different costumes from a sheet! It was also an excellent ice breaker as even though we did not know any of the guests, it put us all on a level playing field and we all had an excellent time that night.

So why not get back to basics and try making your own Halloween Homemade with some homemade fancy dress costumes this year!

Most Scary Costume for Halloween Ever!

2008-09-29T13:06:00.000-07:00

Halloween is all about scary stuff and fancy dress costumes play a big part in that so, I thought what would be quite fun is to find the most scary costumes for Halloween out there. But what exactly is scary, I think the idea of something being scary and therefore a scary costume is different for everyone. Some people are scared of spiders, so would a Spider costume make a good Halloween scary costume? I am not so sure, so what I have tried to do is find things that would be scary to most people, things like:

Scary clown costumes
I guess from the list above, I find scary clowns the most scary of all, this possibly has something to do with a certain Stephen King film called "IT" that I watched as a child and don't think I have ever quite got over! Funny thing is the Scary clown from IT reminds me a little of Crusty The Clown from the Simpsons and would make an excellent scary fancy dress costume especially as a boys Halloween costume. The good news is that there are a bunch of scary clown costumes out there for sale, but also feel that with a little (or a lot) of make up it would also be possible to make your own scary clown Halloween costume.

Ghost costumes
The traditional scary costume for Halloween has to be a ghost costume, for me in sharp comparison to scary clown costumes, I don't find ghost's scary, again this is just me and this time probably has something with me liking Casper the friendly ghost when I was a kid! You may have an altogether different view on ghost costumes and for you here are a few of the most scary ghost costumes for Halloween that I could find: Ghost Costumes on Amazon.co.uk
For US Shoppers: Ghost Costumesfrom Amazon.com

Bloody Vampire costumes
Vampire costumes can be pretty scary, especially if there is some blood involved! And don't be fooled as these days vampires are not just for men, there are plenty of pretty scary women's vampire Halloween costumes out there. Here are a few of my favorite vampire fancy dress ideas for you: Vampire Costumes on Amazon.co.uk or for people from the USA: Vampire Costumes on Amazon.com

Right you have seen my scariest costume ideas for Halloween, I would love to get your thoughts or ideas on other scary costumes.

Pet Halloween Costumes

2008-09-24T13:00:00.000-07:00

I have spoken previously about how it is ok to have a funny Halloween costume, now I am about to approach a topic that for me really pushes out the boundaries of fancy dress: Pet Halloween costumes.

From the research that I have carried out, when we talk about pet costumes, we are generally talking about fancy dress for your dog, I am yet to find anything for your pet iguana or parrot, but you never know! Dog costumes, I think must have originated in the US and now are becoming more and more popular here in the UK and I guess if you are going to take your Fido out for a walk on Halloween it would be kind of cool to have him dressed up in a Halloween costume.

So what pet costumes are there out there and specifically what pet Halloween costumes are there? Here are my favorite ones that I have managed to find:

This excellent Pirate Dog Pet Halloween Costume is only on Amazon in the US you can buy it on Amazon.com here Dog Pirate Halloween Costume

Or if Dracula is your thing for Halloween you could try this costume:Dogula Dog Dracula Costume Small

It seems that in the UK pet Halloween costumes are a little harder to find there are a few for you to take a look at here: Dog Costumes

Here is hoping that you and you pets have the best Halloween ever!

Fairy Halloween Costume

2008-09-23T02:50:00.000-07:00

If you think about it traditionally the only woman's and girls Halloween costumes available were scary witch costumes, these days we have a much larger selection of fancy dress ideas to choose from and one of the most interesting for me being Fairy Halloween costumes.

Fairies whilst not scary, have a mischievous, sometimes wicked side to them and so for me make excellent Halloween fancy dress costumes. Fairies originally come from Western European folklore during the medieval times. They and are almost always human in appearance, with wings and have magical powers that include being able to cast spells and to influence or foresee the future.

Tinkerbell is probably the most well known of all fairies, and playing on that and the Halloween theme you can get a Teen Tinkerhell Costume, the adult Halloween costume version is also available (The main image in this blog post is of the Tinkerhell Halloween Costume):

As well as Tinkerhell there are also Tinkerspell Costumes, Skull Fairy Costumes and Graveyard Fairy Costumes, so you see, as well as dressing up as a witch this Halloween there are also plenty of other choices for girls of all ages. Other famous fairies include the Blue Fairy from Pinocchio and the Tooth Fairy, but I am yet to see any Halloween themed costumes based around either of these two characters, what about this for a fancy dress idea: perhaps you could make Halloween costume based on one of them? with that note, I will cast a spell and disappear from here for today...

For UK Shoppers
Fairy Halloween Costume on Amazon.co.uk

For US Shoppers:
Fairy Halloween Costume on Amazon.com

Happy Halloween!

Halloween Witch Costume

2008-09-20T11:00:00.000-07:00

As far as fancy dress and women's Halloween costumes go, you can't get more traditional than a Witch Halloween costume, sure there are probably more creative Halloween costumes out there, but if your hear is set on dressing up as a scary witch this year, which are the best outfits for you?

Because witch costumes are so popular as a womans and girls Halloween costume there are literally hundreds of them out there, so which one should you get? Here are a few of my top picks this year:

Cheap Halloween costumes: Witches
If you want to look good, but don't want to break the bank, here are a few great witch costumes that cost less than £10 in the UK and $20 in the US:

For US Shoppers
Cheap Halloween Witch Costume on Amazon.com

For UK Shoppers
Cheap Halloween Witch Costume on Amazon.co.uk

Deluxe Halloween costume: Witches
Just want the best Halloween costume? Here are a few Deluxe fancy dress witches that I managed to find out there:

For US Shoppers
Adult Sexy Glinda Witch Costume on Amazon.com

For UK Shoppers
Glinda Deluxe Halloween Witch Costume on Amazon.co.uk

Girls Halloween costumes: Girl Witch Costumes
If you are looking for witch costumes for your girls, here are a few I managed to dig up from the web, to give a few fancy dress ideas, also look out for the witch infant Halloween costume, totally brilliant!

For US Shoppers
Girls Witch Costumes on Amazon.com

For UK Shoppers
Girls Witch Costumes on Amazon.co.uk

Witches can also make great group Halloween costumes, you could all go as different witches, think of William Shakespeare's Macbeth: hubble, bubble, toil and trouble...! In fact come to think of there are plenty of films where there are more than one witch: Witches of Eastwick, Witches of Oz etc

Anyway here is hoping you have find that scary costume and have a Happy Halloween!

Pirate Costume for Talk Like a Pirate Day

2008-09-18T06:04:00.000-07:00

Escaping for a minute the build up to fancy dress costumes for Halloween, did you know that September the 19th every year is Talk like a Pirate day, it's origins are far more recent than the like of famous pirates of yesteryear: The International Talk Like A Pirate Day was born in the 1990s, when two Americans, John Baur (Ol' Chum Bucket) and Mark Summers (Cap'n Slappy), be talkin' like pirates all o'a sudden. Because of this they then They decided that, from that day forward every September the 19th would become a day where people could talk like a pirate! Since then this annual event has grown and now it actually has quite a large following which continues to grow.

Video of Cap'n Slappy, Ol' Chumbucket and Chumpail sing an original pirate ditty composed by Slappy himself:

So now would be a perfect time for a fancy dressed party based around the theme of pirates and for you to dress in a pirate costume. Pirates costumes are extremely popular, probably the most popular theme in fancy dress that there as and as such there are literally hundreds of pirate costumes for sale on the web, infant pirate costumes, kids pirate costumes, adult pirate costumes and even pet pirate costumes, they are all available.
Shop for Pirate Costumes on the web:

Amazon.co.uk for UK shoppers
Pirate Costumes

Amazon.com for US shoppers
Pirate Costumes

A few things you may want to know about pirates for your talk like a pirate day:

Did Pirates bury their treasure so nobody else could find it?
Pirates burying their treasure may have happened now and again, but probably not that often as most Pirates didn't expect to live very long basically because of what they did for a living, so having a retirement plan probably was not high on their list of concerns. On top of that do you know of any pirate ship crew that would allow their captain burying the treasure they'd won together?

Did Pirates made their victims walk the plank?
There is actually no evidence that pirates made people walk the plank. Pirates' preferred means of punishment was keel-hauling, which meant tying their victims to a rope and dragging them under the ship. Considering that ships' hulls tended to accumulate debris from the water, this tended to result either in wounds (if the victim was dragged quickly) or drowning (if slowly). Either way this was probably much worse than walking the plank!

Pirate Master Costume

For more information on Talk like a Pirate day check out these sites:

Talk Like A Pirate Day UK Headquarters (http://www.yarr.org.uk/)
The Official site for International Talk Like A Pirate Day (http://www.talklikeapirate.com/ )

The Sarah Palin Halloween Costume!

2008-09-16T07:12:00.000-07:00

Topical Halloween Costumes

By far one of the most popular Halloween customes is to dress up in a scary fancy dress costume, children often go trick-or-treating and adults go to costume parties. Now because it is so popular and because the custom of dressing up on Halloween or more traditionally the eve of All Hallows day goes back to pagan times hundreds of years ago when people believed that to mimic the evil spirits would prevent sickness or the destruction of their crops, most adult Halloween costumes tend to be scary witch and ghost costumes and related themes. For more creative Halloween costumes you have to try a bit harder!

An new idea seems to be to dress up as a dark character from a movie, so a Darth Vader costume from Star wars would be a good example. So to make it more in the now, or topical you could dress up as a character from the new batman film: The Dark Knight, either in a Batman costume or Joker costume, both make great Halloween costumes as both are pretty "dark" characters.

This got me thinking what about politics, thats a pretty dark theme at the moment! Surely these days a Gordon Brown costume would make a pretty good mens Halloween costume! Or if you wanted to be real bad why not a Robert Mugabe Costume! Thats fine for me, but what about some political ideas for womens Halloween costumes?

I guess if you wanted to go retro you could always dress up as the Iron Lady, Margaret Thatcher or for something more now, I found this post (see link below) on The Sarah Palin Halloween Costume, it sure is topical, as for dark, I guess we will all have to wait and see!

Sundries: The Sarah Palin Halloween Costume: "The Sarah Palin Halloween Costume"

Happy Halloween!

Creative Halloween Costumes: Top tips to find the best

2008-09-16T06:33:00.000-07:00

One of the hardest things about deciding what Halloween fancy dress costumes to make or even to buy is to come up with unique and creative costume ideas. Inspiration is what you need and with this in mind, here are my top tips on how to come up with the best Halloween costume ideas this year:

1) Take a look at websites that sell fancy dress. I know this sounds obvious, especially if you plan to buy your costume, but if you are looking to make your own Halloween costume and just need some inspiration this can be one of the best place to start. Some of the larger on-line fancy dress retailers have literally thousands of costumes and that means that they also have thousands of ideas for you to take a look at. Another advantage is many of them have their costumes divided into categories, making it easy to come up with the perfect fancy dress theme for your party. Jokers' Masquerade fancy dress have over 10,000 (or so they say) fancy dress costumes and accessories on their site and makes a great place to do some research.

2) Photos are also a great for coming up with inspiration and there are many places on the web that you can browse photos of Halloween fancy dress costumes:

Try Google's image search (http://images.google.co.uk), most people know about searching for websites on Google, but did you know that you can also search just for images? The great thing is you can also be pretty specific if the term Halloween costume is too specific, why not try searching for:
Kids Halloween Costumes, Infants Halloween Costumes, scary Halloween Costumes, Funny Halloween Costumes, Witch Halloween costume or Couple Halloween Costumes, anyway i think you get the idea, you can get loads of ideas this way and not only for fancy dress. One word of caution, you may want to keep the Safe search filter on, there are also plenty of pretty nasty photos out there!

Google are a bunch of pretty creative guys themselves, in fact you can take a look at what costumes some of their employees wear for Halloween here:

Official Google Blog: By the pricking of our thumbs...

Flickr (http://flickr.com/) is also another great place to search for fancy dress ideas: Just type in Halloween Costume into the search box on the homepage and you will get back a bunch of inspiration. What is great about Flickr in comparison to google is pretty much all of the photos will be from normal people, like you and me posting photos of the halloween fancy dress costumes and not fancy dress companies posting pics of their outfits. So many of the photos will be from people who make Halloween costume themselves. My thought being: if they can make their own costume so can you!

So there it is, those are my top tips to help you come up with the most unique, creative Halloween costumes this year!

Happy Halloween.

Plus Size Halloween Costumes

2008-09-12T04:14:00.000-07:00

Halloween Plus Size Costumes
I have also recently noticed that there are now specific ranges of plus size costumes for women and men, in fact one fancy dress company, Jokers' Masquerade Fancy dress has a whole section named 'Plus Size Fancy Dress.' many of which could easily be used as a Halloween costume.

Women's Halloween Costumes (Plus Size)
For example if you are looking for larger sized women Halloween costumes they have an excellent plus size Adult Elegant Witch Costume, a classic Halloween witch costume as well as a Devil Princess Costume. If you are looking for something more unique you may want to try the Adult Malice in Wonderland Costume!

Mens Halloween costumes (Plus Size)
Men are also well represented this year on the in the plus size costumes for Halloween category, and with a small amount of searching I managed to come up with a whole bunch of fancy dress ideas for you, with everything from Vampire costumes, Grim Reaper Costumes to a plus size Frankenstein Costume!

Plus Size Couple Halloween Costumes
Looking to attend that Halloween fancy dress party as a couple? You can easily find matching plus size fancy dress outfits on the web that make great couples costumes. There are heaps of plus size Devil Costumes for both him and her, so how about as a deluxe Halloween costume? He could go as in the Elite Quality Handsome Devil Costume and she in the matching Deluxe Devil's Temptress Costume, one of my fav outfits for Halloween. If you are after couples cheap Halloween costumes, there are also many very reasonably priced outfits out there, which I wont list now as prices are bound to change!

For some more ideas take a look at my previous post on Plus Size Halloween Costume Ideas

Make Your Own Star Wars Lightsaber

2008-09-11T07:41:00.000-07:00

A document that I found with instructions on how to make your own lightsaber for your Star Wars Halloween Costume:

Creating your own Lightsaber

According to the above document, it is not very hard to make a simple good looking Star Wars lightsaber

What do you need?
1. A chrome tube
2. A pipe cutter
3. A PVC Pipe a little thicker than the tube
4. Aluminium plate (very thin)
5. Iron Wire
6. Small Saw
7. Copper PC mainboard Screws
8. Little block of wood or Alu
9. 2 components Expoxy Glue
10. Iron Drill
11. Whatever you can find to customise your lightsaber

Homemade Halloween Costume Ideas

2008-09-10T06:59:00.000-07:00

A little like Christmas, Halloween seems to come around earlier and earlier every year, this to me is because like Christmas there are many people including fancy dress companies out there that are relying to on Halloween to make money and so compete to get noticed first in the market place.

Halloween Costumes On a Budget
Sometimes I feel that we spend far too much on Halloween costumes and fancy dress in general and so if like me you are looking for fun and unique Halloween costumes on a budget what should you do? A good place to save money is with Kids, have you ever noticed that young children often find the boxes more fun on Christmas day than the presents? Well if you follow this logic, I think it is very easy to have homemade Halloween costumes for Kids and they will be more than satisfied with the result. In fact, if you include them in the process of making the Halloween costume that can increase the fun of Halloween and bring you together as a family.

Homemade kids Halloween costume ideas:
Gypsy Costume: Made simply by layering all of the necklaces you own and layering several skirts or putting scarves on as skirts as well as putting on a bit of make-up, makes excellent girls Halloween costumes.

Ghost Costume: The simplest Halloween costume of all made with a sheet and a pair of scissors or for a toddler Halloween costume of a ghost, use a pillowcase!

Clown costumes: Made from a sweat outfit and loads of make-up and buying a multi coloured wig is fairly inexpensive. Clowns can be made into scary costumes depending on how you use the make-up and always make great childrens Halloween costumes.

Zombie Costumes: Made using a old pair of jeans, a torn T-shirt, jacket and shoes. All you need to get then is a makeup kit and add dark circles, blood and whatever other creepy effects that will complement your face paint kit and hey presto a perfect zombie costume!

Unique Halloween Costume Ideas
Apart from the children, you too can make your own adults Halloween costumes for stuff that you already have laying about the house, these outfits are not only cheaper than buying, but can sometimes make the best Halloween costumes.

Quick Fancy Dress Idea for Halloween:
Dress up as a head on a platter by putting a table cloth on card board and gluing paper picnic settings to it. Then all you need to do is put the costume on around your neck so that just your head is sticking out of the centre. Not only does this take very little work but you will be amazed by the reactions you will get from this unique Halloween costume.

Homemade Halloween costumes

2008-09-09T01:59:00.000-07:00

Many people rather than buying, make Halloween costume from what they have lying about the house as well using their own skill and creativity. These often make the best Halloween costumes, and are often more unique than what you can buy. For me the hardest part in making your own fancy dress outfit, is to come up with the initial idea. Sure you can always use an old sheet to make a ghost costume, but unless it is the best sheet ever made, it just isn't going to cut the mustard!

I have recently found a bunch of sewing books that have Halloween costume patterns in them. I haven't tried any of them myself, so can't really comment, but if you are interested in sewing and making your own Halloween costume, you may want to give one a try:

Illegally Easy Halloween Costumes for Kids by Leila Peltosaari
Creative Costumes and Halloween Decor: 50 Projects to Craft and Sew

Both of these have Halloween costume patterns and can be found on Amazon. There are also a bunch of other books on Halloween and Halloween fancy dress available on Amazon. Most books seem to be aimed at children's Halloween costumes, I guess they assume that most adults would buy or hire their fancy dress costume?

On the down side to buying a book for homemade Halloween costumes, is that by the time you have bought the book, and the material to make the costume, I am sure that in many cases it would work out cheaper to just buy the costume. So it is probably best to go down the route if the idea of making your own Halloween costume sounds like fun and not because you are looking for cheap fancy dress.

Anyway good luck and here is to a great Halloween!

Funny Halloween costumes

2008-09-08T07:08:00.000-07:00

Who says that just because it is Halloween that you have to have a scary costume? Sure Halloween is supposed to be all about ghosts and daemons, but fancy dress is also about fun and there are plenty of fancy dress costumes out there that make perfect funny Halloween costumes.

So here are some of my best funny Halloween fancy dress ideas:

Fat Dracula Costume
What could be more Halloweenish than a vampire and who's the most well known vampire of them all.. Dracula. What is slightly different about this outfit is that.. well he is fat! The Dracular costume includes a tone-coloured padded torso to create a portly chest and belly!

Monster Marriage Costume
Another pretty funny Halloween costume is this Frankenstein costume or should that be a Frankenstein bride costume? Anyway, it gives the perception that you are the Frankenstein's bride and that you are being carried on the back of the monster! The body suit hosts your body as the brides body and the Frankenstein monster legs, while there is an inflated body and legs for the brides body and legs!

Good Over Evil Costume
For me this has to be one of the best Halloween costumes in the "funny category". Similar to the Frankenstein costume above, except that this time you are an angel that is being carried on the back of a devil. Your real legs provide the legs of the Devil and your body and head is that of the Angel, whilst there is an inflated body and head for the monster. Again a devil costume will probably be a pretty common theme over Halloween, but not many that will actually be funny like this one.

Down for the Count Costume
When I first saw this costume, I was not sure if I should add it to this post as one of the best funny Halloween costumes as it is kind of scary! But then again if it is your kind of thing, I suppose it can be funny, I would just be careful where and when you wear it! According to the blurb on the box, the fancy dress outfit comes with a fake velvet cape, attached stand-up collar, a white shirt which has an attached red waistcoat, skin-coloured legs with dropped trousers and a removable inflatable 'date' with lingerie!

So there you go a few of my funny Halloween costume ideas which I hope will help you come up with some creative Halloween costumes this year and help you if you want to stay clear of the scary witch and ghost costumes!

Check out my other post on Funny Costumes for more fancy dress ideas

Women's Halloween Costumes

2008-09-05T00:42:00.000-07:00

Halloween costumes ideas for women

Traditionally when I think of women's Halloween costumes, just about all that springs to mind is a scary witch costume. Scary fancy dress ideas can be difficult for women. Traditional Men's Halloween costumes are much easier to come up with, you have ghost costumes, devil costumes, skeleton costumes, Dracula and vampire costumes and that is just off the top of my head!

For woman, being scary over Halloween can be difficult, but thankfully that is changing and now if you look there are plenty of really cool fancy dress womans Halloween costumes out there, you just have to search a bit and be a little creative.

The first thing to put into your mind is that not all Halloween fancy dress has to be scary!

Funny Halloween costumes?
Yes it is possible! There are quite a few funny fancy dress outfits out there that make perfect Halloween costumes for women. An excellent example would be the "The When Birds Attack costume" pictured.Scary, but at the same time funny :-)

Woman's Cheap Halloween costumes?
Again, buying a fancy dress or Halloween costume does not have to be expensive, there are plenty of fancy dress outfits out there that work out as cheap and sometimes cheaper than if you were to hire a fancy dress costume this Halloween. Just take your time in looking for what is right for you.

Unique Halloween costumes for Women
What about a:
Bloody Nurse costume
Glitter Devil Costume
Widow Maker Costume
Mrs Lovett Sweeney Todd Costume
Dark Queen Of Hearts Costume
Gothic Bride Costume

Sexy Halloween Costumes
As a woman, Halloween does not mean that you have to be scary - there are littery tones of very sexy Halloween costumes out there, just a quick search brought back these ideas:
Sexy Evil Queen Costume
Dark Sexy Fairy Costume
Ghostbusters Sexy Costume
Sassy Satan Costume
More Sexy Halloween Costumes on Amazon.co.uk

So when it comes to Halloween costumes ideas for women, there is plenty out there, including deluxe Halloween costumes, plus size Halloween costumes as well as couple Halloween costumes, suitable for both you and your partner. Just take your time in looking for your perfect outfit.

Happy Halloween!

Halloween Kids Costumes

2008-09-02T06:53:00.000-07:00

If we get right down to it, Halloween and Halloween fancy dress is really about children.

One of the biggest traditions to do with Halloween is Trick-or-treating, where Children's Halloween costumes come into their own, but do you know where Trick-or-treating comes from?

Trick-or-treating actually goes all the way back to the middle ages when it was known as 'souling' During this time poor people and not only children would walk from door to door and effectively beg for food. This mostly occurred on the 1st of November, which is the eve of All Hallows day known as All-hallow-even (where the name Halloween comes from) and in exchange for prayers for the dead, they would receive food! The idea of wearing Halloween costumes or fancy dress for this is probably down to some of these people being ashamed of begging an so they would wear masks.

Children's Halloween costumes have come along way in recent years, gone are the days when all you could find for girls were scary witch costumes and boys Halloween costumes would consist of skeleton or ghost costumes. There is now a vast range of scary costumes as well as funny Halloween costumes exclusively for children.

Homemade Halloween Costumes
This of course can also mean that Halloween can become almost as expensive as Christmas time, unless you can find some cheap Halloween costumes, or if you can find some Halloween costume patterns and make your own. Personally I am rubbish at sewing and I do think that you can find some really creative Halloween costumes for Kids for sale on the web, you just need to do a little searching.

Also check out another post of mine on Top 10 Childrens Halloween Costumes 2008

Kids Halloween costumes ideas

Girls Halloween Costumes:
Witch Costumes
Vampiress Costumes (Girl Vampires!)
Child Corpse Bride Costumes
Bat Costumes
Lady Devil Costumes
Gothic Princess Costumes
Midnight Spirit Costume (pictured)

Boys Halloween Costume Ideas:
Evil Pirate Costume
Zombie Costume
Skeleton Costume
Ghost Costumes
Evil Clown Costumes
Evil Jester Costume
Vampire Costumes

Check out more Childrens Halloween Costumes on Amazon.co.uk

Fancy Dress Disney Costumes

2008-09-01T01:30:00.000-07:00

I am not sure what it is, perhaps just clever marketing from Walt Disney, but even though many Disney characters are pretty old fashioned, especially from the classic Disney films the fancy dress Disney costumes like Mickey and Minnie mouse costumes, Peter Pan costumes and Tinkerbell costumes and Snow White Costumes continue to be some of the most popular fancy dress themes for adults.

Perhaps it is because most of us have fond memories of these characters as children and therefore dressing up in a classic Disney character is always going to be fun. I don't have children, so do not know if kids these days are watching the old Disney films, but my feeling would be the next generation of adults dressing up in fancy dress Disney costumes will be all about Toy story costumes, with Woodie Costumes and Buzz Lightyear Costumes, then there could be great Lion King costumes like a Pumba costume and don't forget a Mr Incredible Costume. I have seen plenty of children dressing up in these new age Disney fancy dress outfits, but as yet not as many adults. You can find adult Buzz Lightyear costumes on the web as well as adult Woody and Mr. Incredible costumes so there is no reason why you cannot dress up in your fav Cinderella costumes for your next Disney theme fancy dress party!

Check out my other Disney Themed Articles:
The Minnie Mouse Costume
Alice in Wonderland Costumes

Halloween Costumes and Halloween Fancy Dress

2008-08-27T00:37:00.000-07:00

It is no secret that Halloween is the biggest time for fancy dress companies, Halloween costumes have changed a huge amount in recent years driven by the increasing demand of people wanting something different than everyone else for their Halloween fancy dress costume. Sure you can still buy the traditional scary ghost Halloween costume or the wicked witch Halloween costume, but these days there are so many more Halloween costumes out there for you to try.

I do not have that much time today, but just off the top of my head here are a few fancy dress ideas for Halloween for you:

Halloween Fancy Dress Costume Ideas:

Witch Costumes for Halloween
Sexy Witch Costumes
Evil Witch Costumes

Ghost Costumes
Casper the friendly Ghost Costume
Scary Movie Ghost Costumes
Pirate Ghost Costume

Movie Characters Suitable for Halloween
Darth Vader Costume
Darth Maul Costume
Ghostbusters Costumes
Van Helsing Costume
Scream Stalker Halloween Costume
Addams Family Costumes
Frankenstein Costumes
Texas Chainsaw Massacre Costumes
Freddy Krueger Costumes
Friday The 13th Costumes (Jason Voorhees Costumes)
Psycho Costumes
Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas Costumes (Jack Skellington Costume)

Vampire Costumes
Victorian Vampire Costume
Dracula Costume
Fat Dracula Costume

Devil Costumes
Sexy Devil Costumes for Her
Handsome Devil Costumes
Devil Pimp Suit

Other Halloween Costumes
Evil Jester Costumes
Skeleton Costumes
Warewolf Costumes
Headless Horseman Costume
Evil Doctor Costume
Evil Nurse Costume

The Joker Costume

2008-08-04T06:29:00.000-07:00

With the release of the new Batman film: The Dark Knight, there will be many people out there going to a fancy dress party dressed in a Batman costume. Trying and be a little more original but still keeping within the batman and superhero costume theme have you thought of trying a Robin Costume although Robin does not feature in the new Batman film. If being a villain is more your style why not consider The Joker Costume?

Heath Ledger played an excellent part in The Dark Knight and I feel that his character of the Joker makes a perfect fancy dress costume. The whole of The Dark Knight film is much more darker than previous batman films and the Joker is no exception, The Joker costume is pretty scary and the film actually starts with the Joker robbing a mob-owned bank with several other accomplices, whom he tricks into killing each other.

More about The Joker and The Joker Costume

The Joker first appeared in the DC Comic books in the first Batman comic book, published in 1940. The Joker was created by Bill Finger, Bob Kane and Jerry Robinson and he has always been Batman's arch enemy. The Joker is a master criminal who has become a more and more dark character over the years. His crimes range from almost harmless tricks and thieving to violent murders. The Joker has green hair, red lips and pale skin, this is because he fell into a vat of chemicals bleaching his skin, turn and turned his hair green and lips red. The Joker costume usually consists of a Purple suit and green waist coat and gaudy tie.

Where to find the Joker Costume

As far as I know there are no official Joker costumes for sale at the moment, but I have seen a few scary Joker costumes on the aptly named Jokers' Masquerade fancy dress website that definitely look the part. Just search for Joker Costume when you get onto the website. They also sell a scary Joker wig as well as the Joker wig, so you can easily create a believable Joker from The Dark Knight costume, without breaking the bank.

If you cannot find the whole Joker Costume my advice would be to get the Joker mask and then perhaps find a purplish / blue suit with and waistcoat, you could probably do this by looking for clown costumes and that way you can make your own Joker Costume.

US Shoppers:
Joker Costumes on Amazon.com

UK Shoppers:
Joker Costumes on Amazon.co.uk

A pretty good Joker Mask can be found on Amazon see below:

Smurf Costume in Brussels

2008-07-02T07:06:00.000-07:00

The Smurfs, and with them the blue and white Smurf costume was created by a cartoonist called Payo, 50 years ago in 1958 and the original Smurf cartoons were first published in Le Journal de Spirou. It was'nt until the eighties when the Flintstones creator Hanna-Barbera Productions made the small blue folk world-renowned.

Some of the well known Smurfs include Papa Smurf (Grand Schtroumpf) who wears a red Smurf costume, Smurfette (La Schtroumpfette) and Hefty Smurf (Schtroumpf Costaud)

Jokers Masquerade Fancy dress have created a Blue Gnome costume along the lines of a Smurf Costume and to promote it they have decided to take it on tour, mostly around Europe. Their first location was Brussels in Belgium, below is an extract from one of the Jokers Masquerade guys who went on tour in the smurf fancy dress costume:

"With our Smurf costumes packed and our cameras' we left the Jokers' Masquerade headquarters and headed to Brussels, the largest city in Belgium. Home to Herge's Tintin, Manneken Pis, Sprouts and of course, the Smurfs.

Our day in Belgium began with a taxi ride to the other side of the city to visit the Atomium where we pulled on our Smurf fancy dress costumes and posed for some photos in front of the famous landmark. Built for the 1958 Brussels World's Fair, the Atomium stands 335 feet high and was designed by Architect André Waterkeyn.

It was a beautiful June day as the sun beat down on Brussels. We took a stroll around the Mini Europe model village and discovered some famous miniature landmarks. Posing in font of such famous European architecture as Big Ben, Melk Abbey, Grand Place, Mnajdra Temple and Dover Castle we took some fantastic pictures. Our fancy dress outfits garnered much praise and were a big hit with the fellow park visitors."

Many thanks to Jokers Masquerade fancy dress for allowing me to use their story, they have also asked me to tell you that if you are after a Smurf Costume and you take it on holiday with you, if you send in a photo of yourself wearing it you could win yourselves a £50 fancy dress voucher. Smurf Costume on Tour for more details.

Moulin Rouge Costumes

2008-06-17T02:37:00.000-07:00

If you are after a sexy costume or you have a "dance" fancy dress theme party, here are a few fancy dress ideas: Moulin Rouge Costumes and Burlesque costumes!

The Red Windmill or Moulin Rouge is the most famous venue for the can-can dance and it therefore goes without saying that the Moulin Rouge costume obviously comes in the same style as the burlesque and can can costume.

Several films and books have been written about, or had the title Moulin Rouge but before the release of the 2001 film Moulin Rouge! which stared Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman most people who were looking for Burlesque costumes would have either typed in Burlesque costume or can can costume into Google, but because of the success of the film the Moulin Rouge costume has become a name for a fancy dress costume in it's own right. Almost like people who want a fizzy soft drink just say they want a Coke even though they are often after a different band. It is also since the release of the film, that the popularity of Moulin Rouge fancy dress has skyrocketed and it is now possible to find a huge variety these fancy dress costumes from fancy dress hire shops to fancy dress shops online.

The actual Moulin Rouge in Paris was built in 1889 and as the name suggests has a red windmill on the roof of the building and the can-can dance is still performed there to this day. Initially the Moulin Rouge was seen as a brothel, but as the dance has become more respected that reputation has been lost and it is now a famous tourist spot in Paris.

Where to find Moulin Rouge Costumes

US Shoppers
Moulin Rouge Costumes on Amazon.com
Can Can Costumes on Amazon.com
Burlesque Costumes on Amazon.com

UK Shoppers
Moulin Rouge Costumes on Amazon.co.uk
Can Can Costumes on Amazon.co.uk
Burlesque Costumes on Amazon.co.uk

To search for the style of Moulin Rouge fancy dress costumes on the web you should not only look for Moulin Rouge costumes, but also try searches for can-can costumes, saloon girl costumes and burlesque costumes as different fancy dress shops use different terms and this way you should be able to find the largest range possible. Jokers' Masquerade fancy dress probably have the largest selection of Moulin Rouge costumes in the UK. Again it is important to remember to search for all the different names that come under Moulin Rouge fancy dress that I listed above above as there are many saloon girl costumes on Jokers' Masquerade that are perfectly acceptable as a Moulin Rouge costume.

The Indiana Jones Hat

2008-06-11T03:54:00.000-07:00

Apart from his jacket and his whip, the Indiana Jones hat is probably the most distinctive part of the Indiana Jones costume.

The Indiana Jones hat is actually in the style of a fedora hat, which are made from soft felt and have a crease down the length of the hat and are pinched on the front and on both sides of the hat. The term fedora goes back right to 1891 and comes from the title of a play by Victorien Sardou. Princess Fédora, who was the heroine of the play who wore a hat similar to a fedora in 1882.

The reason for the fedora hat to be used as the Indiana Jones hat was because Stephen Spielberg and George Lucas wanted to give the character and look of the Indiana Jones costume a distinctive silhouette. And after looking at many different styles of hat they decided to use the fedora, and that is why the Indiana Jones hat is so distinctive!

As an added point of interest, the Indian Jones hat was made by Herbert Johnson Hatters in England for the first film. The Fedora Indiana Jones hat for the film The Temple of Doom was made by Eddy Baron of Baron Hats. And lastly, the Indy hat for "Crystal Skull" were made by Steve Delk and Marc Kitter of AdventureBilt Hat Company.

Indian Jones Hat – The Myths
Did Harrison Ford staple the Indy hat to his head?
Because the distinctive style of the Indian Jones hat became so iconic, the film makers could not really remove it and so Harrison Ford had to wear it for almost every scene and if it ever fell off, they would have to stop the scene, replace the hat and start again. As a joke, Harrison Ford placed a stapler gun against his head during shooting of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and so this is where the urban legend that Harrison Ford stapled the Indian Jones hat to his head!

US Shoppers
Indiana Jones Hat & Costumes on Amazon.com

Buy Costumes.com:

UK Shoppers
Indiana Jones Hat & Costumes on Amazon.co.uk

Check out a previous post on the Indiana Jones Costume

Sailor Costumes and Fancy Dress Ideas

2008-06-10T07:41:00.000-07:00

The fancy dress sailor costumes with the white suit, blue collar and bell bottomed trousers were introduced as the sailor's suit in the Royal Navy in 1857. It is called the Number One uniform in the navy and because of it's instantly recognisable style and the fact that the sailor costume has become a popular fancy dress outfit.

Girls and Boys Sailor Suits
Back in the late 1800's the sailor costume became normal dress for girls and boys, not only in the UK but all around the world. This started with a 4 year old Prince Albert, when in 1846 he wore a sailor uniform given to him during a cruise off the Channel Islands. The public were delighted and engravings of him spread the image of the Prince in a boys sailor costume. This caught on and it wasn't long before both boys and girls were wearing sailor costumes.

Sailor Costumes as a School Uniform
In many Asian countries school children still wear sailor costumes as their school uniforms. Sailor girl costumes have now led to a fetishization of the female sailor costume, especially in Japan. Because of this there are now many “sexy sailor costumes” available and this has also led to anime cartoons such as the Sailor Moon series that is very popular in Japan and you can now find many Sailor Moon costumes that people wear as fancy dress.

The Female Sailor Costume
Ladies sailor costumes are very popular and there are all ranges from the very traditional looking sailor costume to sexy sailor costumes guaranteed to turn heads at any fancy dress party! Again if you are looking for couples costumes or Halloween costumes for couples a great idea would be to both dress up as sailors.

Sailor Costumes and Cartoon Characters
Some of the most popular western cartoon characters wear sailor costumes, these include Popeye and Donald Duck. So as a fancy dress idea you could either look for a Popeye costume, or to make a Popeye sailor costume you could get a sailor costume, a pipe and a can of spinach! Donald Duck costumes can be hard to find, so you could just get a duck costume and then combine it with a sailor uniform.

US Shoppers
Sailor Costumes on Amazon.com

UK Shoppers
Sailor Costumes on Amazon.co.uk