Some of us love to wear fancy dress and when an invitation for a fancy dress party arrives we can spend hours planning or making our outfit.
But others dread the arrival of that invitation and wonder what to wear and often go into a complete panic prior to the party.
I think that a person’s reaction to fancy dress depends on their character but there are ways around this so that a fancy dress party can be enjoyed by all.
If you are a more reserved person and do not want to look like a complete idiot at the party then I would suggest a visit to a costume hire shop to choose your outfit. These shops cater for all types of party hires and would more than likely have exactly what you are looking for.
Theatrical hire shops also have a huge selection of outfits and maybe more suitable, but this would depend on the fancy dress theme for the evening.
If you decide to make your outfit then it is still worthwhile visiting these shops for ideas. You can try on their outfits and then decide what you would like to make. You may even find that you end up hiring part of your outfit from these shops and then make the rest.
Sometimes the fancy dress theme is very simple, for example, a masked ball. You can either have an exotic mask and be completely unrecognizable the whole evening or make a very simple mask yourself which can be removed soon after arrival.
These themes are usually chosen so that the guests can do as much or as little as they feel comfortable with.
Dress themes of a certain color would also fall into this category. ‘Something Pink’ could mean that your dress, shoes, hair color, tights makeup, and underwear were all pink or just a pink handkerchief, scarf, hair tie, belt, or socks worn with normal party wear.
A Roman toga party could find some wearing a full Roman soldiers outfit and others wearing a simple white sheet, with a rope as a belt, flip flops for shoes, and a daisy chain around your head made out of any evergreen leaf but not holly as it may be prickly!
So next time that you receive an invitation to a fancy dress party do not panic.
Give yourself a few minutes to decide whether you want to make a huge effort or very little effort and then go from there. But whatever you do please do not ignore the dress code and still go to the party.
You will regret that you have done this immediately you arrive at the party and see everyone else in their fancy dress.
