Fancy dress. Love it or hate it?

You get the invite to a party and you're dying to go. But wait. It's fancy dress. If you love fancy dress, you're jumping for joy. If you hate it, you're jumping off the nearest cliff.

 

 

It's pretty much 50/50 that you either love or hate fancy dress. Naturally, if you hate dressing up you'll never host a dress up party. But if you hate wearing fancy dress and you get the invite to such a party, what can you do?

If you hate fancy dress, people who tell you it can be fun don't get that you hate it. And there are plenty of reasons why a person might hate dressing up in costume.

 

1. It's ridiculous, demeaning, silly... (insert any adjective that is the opposite of what other people consider fun).

2. Hiring a costumes cost money.

3. Making a costume at home takes talent and imagination.

3. How do you know that everyone else will dress up?

 

 

How do you know that everyone else will dress up?

 

The biggest insult to anyone dressing up for a fancy dress party is having nobody else dress up but you. Especially if you hate dressing up and you make the effort only to turn up to find that nobody else has. If you love dressing up it won't matter if you are the only one in costume. But if you hate it, what can you do?

 

Here are a few tips:

 

Stealth is necessary.

 

Dress up, but don't be the first to arrive. Well, maybe be the first to arrive but hide around the corner to make sure that you see people entering the party in costume. A perfect costume for this type of dress-up-shy person is a cat burglar or a secret agent. That way if anyone asks you what you're doing, you can get into character and tell them you're on the job.

 

Keep a normal outfit as backup.

 

If you're driving, keep a back up of normal clothes in the car. If you're getting dropped off, bring spare clothes in a bag and stash the bag in the garden. A good costume for this type of dress-up-shy person is a superhero. This way you can say you're sick of being Superman after a few hours and turn into Clark Kent. Just make sure you know your super hero character's alter ego name. Eg Wonder Woman's alter ego is Diana Prince.

 

Call the host to make sure they are dressing up.

 

This can prove helpful, unless of course the host is going to pull a "Carrie" on you and expose you to a practical joke. Not likely, but I have received a dress up invitation only to turn up to find that the host couldn't have been bothered to dress up. Why make the guests do something you're not. Anyway, call the host or even friends to make sure you're not the only one making the effort. The perfect costume for this type of dress-up-shy person is a real person such as Paris Hilton. This way you can wear whatever you want.