Katy Perry fans will just love this Candy Queen fancy dress outfit. Indeed we love it ourselves – so bright and colourful is the entire outfit that we don’t need the sun to brighten up the office on a winter’s day. We just get Julie the receptionist to wear it!

Currently very controversial – since Ms Perry’s other half Russell Brand announced, over the festive period that he was divorcing her – the dress just makes you think of ice cream, cupcakes, coloured lollypop sticks and sugar coated sweets of all kinds.

Katy is known for her different hair colours and so we have an array of different coloured and rather bright wigs here all to order at the press of a mouse button such as lilac, green and pink – a different colour for every time you wear it in fact! We can reveal that Ms Perry herself is currently sporting blue tresses.

But what’s to become of Hollywood’s latest couple? No doubt MTV etc will keep us informed. In the meantime, it’s rather cold here in Britain so we’re also offering a pair of nice warm white tights in case you’re planning on wearing the Candy Queen fancy dress outfit to an outdoors event!

We’ve been going a bit wacky over Willy Wonka at Party Britain in recent weeks.

It must have been all those chocolates we’ve put away over the festive period. We’re glad we’ve been dreaming about the Roald Dahl story though as we love the new fancy dress costumes that have just come in to Party Britain HQ. And we’re sure you will too.

We’ve got quite a selection for you to choose from – which is great if you’re going as a couple or a crowd as then you can all go as a different Willy Wonka character or even the same character but in a different style.

For instance there’s a ’standard’ Oompa Loompa to a sexy version with cute white dungarees, white gloves and long socks (looks fabby with a green wig and dab of orange face paint!)

Or maybe you see yourself as more of a Willy Wonka himself? In that case we’ve a fantastic long dark jacket (with lots of detail) and black hat. Team this up with a cane and you’ll really look the part – with the added benefit of scaring lots of children in the process!

And you can impress everyone else at the party with your knowledge of this 1964 book which was made into a film seven years later. It was later remade in 2005 and where the character of Willy Wonka (played by Johnny Depp) comes across as more likeable and slightly less eccentric. The original Willy Wonka – and perhaps the one most of us remember – was played by Gene Wilder.

The great thing about wearing fancy dress costumes is you can wear them all year round.

Even the Party Britain Fancy Dress Christmas range can be adapted to fit in with seasonal trends. Take the Christmas present outfit for instance. Now everyone likes a present, regardless of the time of year and this is a particularly attractive version with its shiny purple foil and silver ribbon. There’s even a wee gift tag which is a great way of identifying yourself if you don’t know that many folk at the party you’ve turned up at.

Slightly more occasion-orientated is the Christmas Cracker which is bedecked with holly. The helpful little gift tag on this natty number tells all who encounters it to ‘pull the cracker.’

Staying with the unisex theme, we love the fancy Christmas tree dress-up outfit. Comprising layers of green velvet with gold trimming and white decorations, this dress up costume is easy to wear and walk around in and doesn’t bleed pine needles. Save yourself the hassle of a real tree by getting your family and friends to pop on this costume and stand in the corner for a couple of hours at a time!

Have a wonderful Christmas and fantastic New Year.

From all at the Party Britain team.

Still on the Nativity theme, here at Party Britain we’ve set the bar high with these cool ‘we three kings’ fancy dress costumes.

Yes, Kings Balthasar, Melchior and Caspar could all be appearing in a living room or school hall near you this December.

First off, adorned in a long purple and black robe trimmed in gold, and yellow cape no child could be forgettable on stage – or off – in the King Balthasar number, especially when wearing the headpiece.

King Melchior is equally as regal with his red top embroidered in gold and beige waistcoat. There’s a metallic swirl running through the hat and costume (the latter having rouch details on the trouser cuffs).

King Caspar is rather resplendent in his long royal blue number with gold trim which is set off splendidly with matching sash and hat. For your sake as a parent, just make sure the regal theme doesn’t go to their young heads…

A rather more sombre fancy dress costume is Joseph’s brown robes with blue panel and beige headpiece. It’s not fancy, but it’s one of the lead costumes in this season’s school play blockbuster. And your little mischief maker will never again appear so angelic.

There’s a costume for Mary too but the only we really like is the little lamb/sheep outfit for toddlers aged three to five. It’s a small part but we’re sure will prove to be the starring role.

Fancy being Mark Darcy this Christmas? Well, you can with this very festive Crimbo sweater Party Britain has in stock today.

Rudolph’s face is on the front and can hardly be missed while there’s also the customary elbow pads. You could always go one better by adding a pair of geek specs complete with plaster. You might not feel very sexy, or get Bridget Jones interested, but you’ll give everyone else a laugh and Aunt Maud will just love the fact you’ve finally got taste at last.

Meanwhile, as you would expect, we’ve a whole host of Christmas accessories lined up to make sure your festive season is as merry and fun-filled as possible. For instance, to add extra authenticity to your Father Christmas fancy dress outfit, why not treat yourself to a Santa Belly? It’s elasticated so extremely comfortable to wear. And think of all the extra puddings you can put away undetected on the day!

But why should you have all the fun? What about your loyal hound who’s been with you from the start of your fancy dress craze? Don’t he deserve a Santa or a reindeer outfit too? Why there’s even dog-sized antlers they could be adorning.

Whatever you dress up at Christmas we’d love to see your photos here at Party Britain. In fact, you show us yours…

Ladies who’re looking to dress to impress this Xmas will love the new Sexy Santa range we’ve just got in at Party Britain.

It’s never too early to get organised after all and best to get in early so we’ll still have your fancy dress costume size.

One of our own personal favourites this year is a short little velvet number with faux fur trim and matching Santa hat (of course) but more essentially, white faux fur stole (cute) ad white stripped stockings for that added wow factor. This looks fantastic with a pair of red high heels.

For those who don’t feel red is their colour we have the same outfit in green (brunettes will love this) and a striking blue colour.

But perhaps you’d prefer to be a Secret Santa? Well, we’ve got that covered too in the form of a red velour halter neck dress with white flurry trim and gorgeous little hooded cape to match.

To match there’s a pair of very sexy red stockings with white marabou trim and cute satin bows.

Those of you who really want to shine at the office Christmas do this year will love this red velvet corset type dress with large red satin bow. The red knee-length Santa boots are just the present you’ve been searching for.

But it’s not all about Santa. There’s also the saucy snowman fancy dress outfit to think about. Not only is this white puff dress with black/red scarf and brown hat hot (so to speak) but it’s also bound to raise a laugh. Complete the look with some white stockings and elbow length gloves and every male at the office party will think Xmas has come early.

Of course Christmas is also a time of angels and nativity plays. At Party Britain we’re gearing up for our own version of the annual seasonal ShowTime treat and we’ve a few costumes to get you going, too.

For instance the Sexy Fever angel costume with short white dress, wide drape sleeves and halo is sure to get a round of applause all round even before you’ve even uttered a word.

For those who prefer their angels a tad more modest there’s the deluxe Angel fancy dress costume. This floor-length gown also has drape sleeves but comes with gold embroidered detail. There’s a matching crown, angel wings with white marabou and gold tinsel trim to set it off nicely.

You’ll be needing a shepherd for your play too, naturally, and this is where the male fancy dress outfit of a brown and white robe and
matching headpiece does the job. Wear with a false beard and you’ll have everyone fooled.

And really, we’ve thought of everything at Party Britain. See our Mary fancy dress costume for example. This long white robe, light blue waist sash belt and dark blue hooded shawl was so realistic when Jan the receptionist put it on, everyone in accounts next door did a double take, not to mention poor Mr Johnston the caretaker who had to go and take a seat.

There’s a slightly less flamboyant version of the Mary costume with white rope belt. And for the gents well, they get to play Joseph in the long brown shepherd robe with a blue centre panel. The headpiece sets it off nicely.

If you are planning to partake of a nativity scene, we’d love to hear how it goes.

Now here’s a conundrum… is it possible to be an Oompa Loompa AND sexy at the same time?

At Party Britain we’re going to answer in the affirmative. That’s because we’ve just clapped eyes on the female chocolate factory worker fancy dress outfit.

We love the white dungarees, and brown top with black and white stripes to match the long socks. A pair of white gloves, orange face paint and a green bob wig and you’ll be the Belle of the ball or, at least, the sexiest chocolate factory worker at the party. There’s a male version too with long dungarees.

For youngsters born in the era of computer games, an Oompa Loompa was a vertically-challenged factory worker in the 1971 film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, starring movie great Gene Wilder. The film wasn’t a great success at the time but shot to notoriety after appearing on TV screens just about every Christmas for decades.

Other food-related costumes in stock include Mr Peperami. This fancy dress outfit involves the wearer representing a stick of sausage meat (as you do) which in turn adorns a green reversible t-shirt. The elaborate headpiece has a bite taken out of it!

Mr Potato Head always causes a laugh at any party. And no wonder – the costume comes with padded white gloves and trademark black bowler hat. Anyone know in which 1995 Hollywood film Mr Potato Head made his screen debut? Answers on Mr Potato Head’s page on the Party Britain website…

At Party Britain Towers we don’t just stock costumes y’know.

Apart from an assortment of tights, hats and gloves we also have a range of Knick knacks to make your Halloween go with a howl.

Take our bloody words gel cling for instance, he he. That’s sure to make granny go green. And if it’s a Halloween dinner you’re hosting then you want to be able to sprinkle your table with bite-sized pumpkins, bats and ghosts. And think about covering your old formica-topped table with a black witch-style gauze cover. The runner, with cobwebs, looks just as creepy.

Prior to entry though, you’ll want to alert your guests of the presence of zombie and other freaky creatures with our police keep-out style Halloween fright tape.

Planning on having shocktails, er cocktails? Then you’ll want our plastic skull goblets. Halloween punch meanwhile has never looked better than when sipped from our colourful creepy critter goblets.

We’ve also a couple of Halloween trophies – pumpkin or skeletal style – for best fancy dress costume at your event. But award the prizes in a smart fashion; you don’t want to be freaking any ghouls out.

Look out for uninvited guests too such as hanging broom-riding witches with flashing light-up eyes and a range of five creepy talking sounds. Makes us shudder just to think of it.

One more thing before we write-off…consider really transforming your room with giant wall stickers in the form of a creepy mansion. You may forget where you are and home may never be the same again…

Let’s face it, nothing says Halloween more than PUMPKIN.

Every supermarket the Party Britain team go into these days there’s a huge pile of them at the door just ready for a scary face to be carved into. But to save you time – and cutting your fingers as you saw away at that tough old pumpkin shell – we’ll give you the means to turn your own head into a pumpkin instead.

Yes, on the Party Britain shelves this month we have none other than at least two fancy dress pumpkin wigs. And boy are they cute.

Take this one for instance. The long carrot-top braids tied with green string look rather fetching, we think. We also love the more round pumpkin wig with a spike on top (just be careful when venturing near supermarkets!).

You could always go the whole hog of course and convert your entire body into a pumpkin. This fab adult fancy dress costume has a rather spectacular orange pumpkin-shaped skirt and puffed sleeves. It looks stunning with orange and black striped tights and black mini top hat. Again, there’s something rather sweet about this little number.

But you’re curious aren’t you? Why pumpkin and Halloween you say? Well… the reasoning goes back to Ireland 200 odd years ago and a stingy old drunk called Jack. He tricked the devil and made him promise not to take his soul. But when Jack died he discovered Heaven didn’t want his soul either because of his lifelong cruelness.

As a result he was forced to wander around in darkness. The devil felt sorry for him though and gave him an ember from the fires of Hell which Jack put into a hollowed out turnip. That became the Jack O’Lantern and the Irish would light a turnip at Hallow’s Eve to ward away the likes of Jack and other evil spirits.

Irish immigrants who moved to America at the beginning of the last century or so realised pumpkins, being bigger, made far better lanterns than turnips. And so the tradition was born!