How do you know what to wear for a fancy dress party?

Adventurous types or those with a lot of time on their hands may be able to whip up a custom costume for each fancy dress party. The majority of people who are burdened with an excessive amount of work, on the other hand, will probably have to purchase or hire a costume for each party. Finding fancy dress UK has been made much easier by the advent of online fancy dress suppliers. Companies like London-based Escapade have online catalogues so you are free to browse at your leisure. Whether you do the browsing during your lunch break or during working hours is entirely up to you!

Escapade has a huge range of items available to buy or rent. Among the most popular items for sale are the huge range of fancy dress hats - Escapade really have one to suit every occasion. Arguably the most popular fancy dress headwear in recent years has been the cowboy hat which has left the confines of the fancy dress party and can be seen on dance floors from Bognor to Bangkok and on the heads of hen nights everywhere. What real cowboys would think of drunk, thirty-something British women wearing luminous pink, glittery cowboy hats is anyone's guess.

What is the best thing to wear beneath a fancy dress hat? Surely a fancy dress wig. We are living in a time of nostalgia, meaning that 70s wigs are more popular now than in the 1970s. In recent years, 1980s fashions have once again been invading the catwalks and the High Street. Go against the grain (or show your age) by having a 1970s themed fancy dress party.

The most popular time of the year for fancy dress parties is around Halloween. There are a couple of Halloween costumes which are very easy to fall back on if all else fails. The classic 'ghost', for example, involves cutting a pair of holes in a white sheet, while the 'invisible man' simply involves sending a positive response to the invitation and then not turning up. For full effect, it is important to claim attendance afterwards. If you can get your friend in the pimp costume to vouch for you then all the better - nobody messes with a well turned-out pimp, if they know what's good for them. Similarly, befriend someone in a pirate costume and you should be safe. Pirates are, after all, the scourge of the seas, notorious for their uncompromising violence and violence.