Festival of Fun is a popular three-storey costume, balloon, party, jokes and novelties shop, based in York. Owner Miles Jackson shares some of its recent best sellers.
Adult Costumes – Decades; Smiffys, Wicked Costumes
“This is a university city so a lot of our adult costumes are based on the themed nights arranged by the uni groups including golf, superheroes and ‘tight and bright’. The 90s is starting to get bigger but 80s is still the go-to decade and we have some great themed costumes.”
Childrens Costumes – Superheroes, Star Wars; Rubie’s Masquerade
“Roald Dahl costumes haven’t been as big this year and World Book Day had no particular theme, kids were dressing up as all sorts of things. The biggest sellers are still Rubie’s Star Wars costumes and superheroes.”
Accessories – Face paint; Snazaroo, Paint Glow, Fun World
“Costume accessories tend to also match the theme nights, so we do lots of Where’s Wally hat and glasses. We sell a lot of make up too, it can be a cheap way to get a full outfit, for example, blue body paint and white shorts can be a full Smurf costume. We sell mainly Snazaroo and Paint Glow (for the 80s neon) but also Fun World’s make-up sets.”
Party Decorations – Inflatables; Amscan
“This is a new area for us and so far we have been doing well with decorations that match popular costume themes. We’ve been doing a good trade in scenesetters like Amscan’s palm trees.”
Halloween – Licensed characters; Smiffys, Palmer Agencies, Rubie’s
“This year was all about recognisable movie characters from Freddy Kreuger and Jigsaw masks to full costumes like Smiffys’ vintage clown. Girls were still big on Harley Quinn and contact lenses were our biggest selling costume add-on. As a student town we benefit from people who really make a lot of effort but often leave things to the last minute and therefore can’t go online. Also people were doing their own creative thing with props like the face zip.”
