This one is for the ladies!

Bachelorette parties, birthday parties, Halloween, special anniversaries… what do they have in common? Well, obviously they are all great opportunities to party but even better, they each offer a great opportunity to go wild with fancy dress!

Fancy dress is becoming an increasingly popular way to make parties go with a bang. Let’s face it, very few people can help getting into the party mood once they have put on their glad rags and headed out to the venue. So, what type of party lends itself to fancy dress?

The answer is, in short, virtually any party. If the hostess wants her guests to dance and make merry, there is usually a fancy dress theme that will suit. This is because fancy dress does not have to be wild, shocking or even humorous.

If an event is to be classy or demure, how about giving it a 1940s/50s/60s theme, or asking guests to come dressed as their favorite characters from an opera or classic play? On the other hand, a girl organizing her friend’s bachelorette party or weekend may well feel that wild and wacky is the only way to go with costumes! Birthdays can be themed around the interests of the person celebrating, which could be anything from ancient Greek mythology to Star Wars: the list of possibilities is endless.

That said some events almost always call for fancy dress. Probably the most obvious of these is Halloween. What would Halloween be, without costumes? However, partygoers do not have to limit themselves to zombies, ghosts and witches: this is a chance to shine and show off creativity and imagination! Why not try out a schoolgirl Halloween outfit, or become a putrid prom queen?

Some events are only now beginning to be marked with fancy dress parties and weekends: these include Valentine’s Day and some key festivals such as Christmas and Easter celebrations. Lots of people now hold parties or celebratory weekends to mark major sporting events and these, too, are increasingly likely to be fancy dress affairs, often taking their theme from the event that they are focused on. So why not have an NFL-themed fancy dress weekend to mark the next Super Bowl, or a fancy-dressed Thanksgiving?

When it comes to fancy dress celebrations, there really is no limit to the wildness and wackiness that can ensue. As with all entertaining, however, it is important to bear the feelings of the guests in mind. If they are all shy and retiring types, it may be better to stick to a 1920s or classical theme than ask them to come dressed as anything saucy. Transportation is surprisingly important, too: it is fine to ask visitors to dress wildly if they can drive to your venue, but less so if they are going to have to use public transit! However, with a little thought and planning, virtually any happy event can be enhanced through the use of fancy dress – why not give it a try?