This month contains a few great fancy dress events, one of which you might not think of as ‘fancy dress’ - the FA Cup Final!

 

Yes, when Chelsea and Arsenal kick off at some point on 27 May - the time still hasn’t been decided, pubs, clubs and private homes all over the UK will be filled with costumed revellers waiting to see if they will be this year’s winners or all time losers. So for some of the UK’s population this will be a nail biting few hours - but what about the rest of us, who might not be completely committed to football? We have a few suggestions to make Cup Day fun for all.

 

Costume Obstacle Course

 

Divide your players into two teams and lay out items from the Subbuteo strip, red kit in one line, blue kit in the other. As soon as the starting whistle blows, a player from each team must run to the first garment, pull it on, attempt the obstacle, run to the next garment and put it on, tackle the next obstacle and so on until they are fully dressed, at which point they need to kick a rubber ball into a goal and then run back so the next player can start. Suitable obstacles include weaving in and out of poles, heading a ball thrown by a spectator etc.

 

For adults only parties you can also create your own FA drinking game - some of our favourites include - emptying your glass each time:

 

A team’s nickname is used

A penalty is taken

Poor league performance is mentioned

A goal is scored!

 

You might not enjoy football but you’ll be feeling no pain by the end of the evening, we promise!

 

Getting World Book Day costumes wrong

 

Every year there are a few weeping kids who’ve misjudged their World Book Day costume. This usually happens for one of two reasons: their favourite book is too obscure for their friends to guess or they’ve picked a book too old, or too young for them, and end up being teased about it. But the headmaster of a private boarding school in Devon is rueing making a joke that went horribly wrong. It’s an example of how to not do fancy dress!

 

Apparently when Mike Burgess sent around his newsletter after World Book day he signed it Christian Grey and commented that although he’d worn a sharp suit and ‘demonstrated contemptuous arrogance’, many of the children at the school hadn’t known who he was. Apparently the whole thing was meant to be a joke, he’d never dressed up as the bondage practicing character nor did he expect children at the school, some of whom are only two, to recognise the book, but parents didn’t seem to appreciate the joke and now he’s made a very penitent apology.