Were planning a staff night out on the 6th of June and would like to invite all of our customers / blog readers along. The plan is to join all the gang at The Full Shilling in Finglas, Dublin for a “Beach Ball” themed night. Thanks to the owner Sean who will go to any length to up hold the great atmosphere that makes the full shilling one of Dublin’s (maybe even one of Ireland’s) best pubs. So the plan is to fill the pub with a few dumpers full of sand, some back drops of tropical scenery and one or two other big Surprises.

On the night we will be trying to raise some funds for Temple Street Hospital and therefore all proceeds for anyone wanting a costume for the night will go directly to temple street, please insert the coupon Code “TheFullShilling” into the coupon box at check out, it won’t give you a discount but it will mean that the purchase benifits sick children. On the night we’ll also have some leis and muscle chests for sale (100% of the selling price going to temple street hospitable) – but don’t forget to show up in shorts, hawiian shirts, bikini’s, grass skirts etc.  

The high light for the night will be the Mankini Surf off and no doubt there will be some great prises for the winner! Photo’s will be put up here on the blog so if you can’t make it be sure to check back to see how much fun you missed.

New York was the host for the Veggie Pride Parade. Lots  of vegans and veggies turned up to make heard their opinions on eating meat. Unofficial reports of their being a large turnip have still to be confirmed. The costumes at the parade were impressive:

More Pics pic available here and more info on veggie pride here

 Thanks to Mathew for his post on Veggie Pride which is where i first heard about it.

In our opinion the greatest game character of all time has to be master chief! Computer game Hero’s just don’t really come any cooler that the guy who has saved the world / galaxy three times now.

Just in time for halloween we have on order the licensed X-box 360 Halo Master Cheif costume. The bad news is its not going to be in till roughly Sept ‘08. The good news is that it’s going to be awesome.

Although this isn’t the finnished version that we are having in this cool you tube video resembles the quality (plus the makers are pretty hilarious)! If your just browsing jump in 1.50 and watch the last 30 secs, quality.

One regular request we get at The Cosutme Shop is for Barney Costumes. Untill recently we had an agreement with a supplier and the license from the program directors / owners to sell such costumes starting mid Summer 2008.

However plans to start selling Barney costumes have ground to a sudden hault when the franchise license holders revoked the agreement due to a eventuality which no one had considered. Barney is a trusted childhood character and is it really safe to be selling the costumes to the general public? I mean what control can the brand keep if they sell them to the public. Any pervert could buy a costume and lure a child into a Van very easily. Therefore the decision has been made to cancel all production and never to release the costume.

This all came to light when a man in New York was arrested and Jailed for selling counterfeit Barney costumes (amongst others) to the porn industry. Obviously selling the costumes without a license is a breach of the laws but for the first time it occured that some people would take advantage and abuse something, such a childhood character, for their own twisted gain.  

So unfortunately there will not be any Adult Barney Costumes available in the costume market and if you manage to find a counterfeit version be warned that the authorities are taking this even more severely than normal copy right and trade mark breach. I think you will all agree somethings are just best left alone when matters of childrens safety are involved.

****Update*****

We will however still be getting in childrens Barney Costumes which the Barney franchise hold has granted lisence for.

Thanks to Matthew  at My Disguise who let us know about this great prank – which unfortunately for the lads went horribly wrong for those involved… getting suspended and nearly missing their high school prom. But i reckon if you’d ask them they’ll still tell you it was well worth it.

 For banana Costumes click here

 11 seniors in a US high school got together under senior Andrew Leinonen to arrange a Gorilla Chase (Guy in a Gorilla Costume Chasing 10 Banana Costumes) around their school. The school administration which obviously didnt have much of a sense of humor slapped 7 day suspensions on all involved. In a hilarious back lash the student body launched a “Save the Banana’s campaign” and picketed the school.

 Taken from News-Sun:

“We think this is a just punishment,” said Brendon Epker, a banana who’ll attend Calvin College in Grand Rapids Mich., in the fall. “We broke rules we shouldn’t have broken.”

We couldnt disagree more and in fairness i’d say they would have got an even worse back lash had they said the school has zero sense of  humor and it was a harmless prank.

If you’ve heard of any other good pranks like this please let us know!

One of the big films for the summer is Stephen Spielberg’s Indiana Jones. With the trailer just released and already we have the license to sell all of the official costumes for the films – which are being held back for release untill the launch of the movie – but should be out really soon.

There was definate speculation as to wether Harrison Ford has out grown the role, but i think you’ll all agree from the trailer he’s still got it and it just wouldnt be the same without him.

 If you think that Superhero Costumes are reserved for the occasional fancy dress party then think again. Geek is definately the new sheek.

At the Mets Costume Institute Gala stars like Tom Cruise, Julia Roberts, Beyonce, George Clooney and the Olsens attended in their masses, to celebrate The Costume Institutes (New York) – ‘Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy’ – designer exhibit. Here’s a little view of the action:

 Thanks to Collinevan for sharing this Vid with me.

A quick look at the Preface and you’ll see how serious they take what they do:

“Fashion mirrors the superhero’s obsessive preoccupation with the ideal body, signaling changes, both subtle and obvious, in prevailing standards of perfection.”

Fancy having a memorable wedding that your guests will never forget? Then why not try something completely different and inject some fun into your special day. If you’re the kind of person who’s known by your loved ones as someone who doesn’t take themselves too seriously then maybe a themed wedding is for you. Try getting stressed over your special day being perfect when you know all your guests are going to have absolutely nothing to compare it to. When’s the last time you went to a fancy dress wedding? In fact when’s the last time any man wore something other than their usual suit (or tux).

Recently we had a client looking for costumes for a medieval themed wedding – it’s the first time i even came across the idea. For some reason we thought everyone goes down the same old route of weddings simply because thats the way weddings are supposed to be done, but then the more i thought about it the more i though that it’s funny how much people spend on their special day only to hear there guests talking about the reception / hotel / some incident and ask which wedding was that again. Its not that their meaning to forget but lets face it - white dress, same relations, same friends, same set up – its repetitive. 

 Royal Prince Costume

Another consideration / bonus to having a themed wedding is that you can invite lots of people who you feel obliged to invite and chances are only the fun ones amongst them will come – which cuts down on the cost of the wedding (leaving more for the honeymoon)!

So is it a bit much to ask all your guests to come up with their own costume? Possibly, but no more so than having a black tie wedding and costumes are cheaper to buy than renting / buying a tux . Weddings require effort on the guests part regardless. One consideration that is required is a little extra planning. No one wants to arrived to a wedding dressed uniformly like everyother couple, so it might be an idea to come up with a variety of options for your guests to wear. With a bit of advanced notice this is easier than it sounds. Like creating a gift list, you can have a catalogue prepared for your guests by us or any other supplier of fancy dress and then when one person / couple chooses a specific outfit we can cross it off ensuring no two people are dressed alike. Is there really that many costume varieties out there you ask? Well yes in fact there are.

Every year our buyers trawl through trade shows picking out the best costumes from some the various suppliers. At some trade shows for example you could easily come across 5,000 different princess costumes, 10,000 christmas costumes or 2,000 different pirate costumes.

How about a winter wonder land christmas wedding in December? That way you still get to wear the white dress you’ve always dreamed of and the guests are gauranteed to be in festive spirit! There is no written rule that weddings must be in the summer… after all why do it when everyone else is?

So why not be completely individual and consider doing something that is uniquely you – on a day that is after all your special day. 

Had such a laugh this morning. Decided to take the Greyland “Fandor ” Mask for a test run so did my supermarket shopping this morning with Fandor and a blonde ”boy band“ wig. I really can’t get over how realistic these masks are, not a single person noticed it wasnt my real face.

As of tomorrow we will be the leading stockists for Greyland Masks in Ireland (to the best of my knowledge were also the only stockists???) and here at TheCostumeShop.ie the office we are all very, very, very excited. Why? Well have you seen the RTE show Anonymous or the Hogan Know’s Best episode on MTV where they get made up to look competely different to go to the fun fair (brook asks a fat kid if he likes that celeb Brook Hogan and the fat kid says no!)?

As of tomorrow that kind of make over will be possible in a DIY style. Meet our latest range of products, the Grey Land Mask:

Wether you want to be young or old; disfigured or just plain repulsive – we’ve got the perfect product for you.

 The Masks will be available in our Mask Section of The Costume Shop.ie online store.