A Halloween Fancy Dress will never catch any attention if worn simply. No matter how scary your Halloween attire is, it will never satisfy the taste of the crowd without putting some accessories on it. Every year, manufacturers of Halloween attire think of ways on how to improve existing costumes and develop new ones. Year by year, the Halloween parade is becoming fancier because of the unique costumes worn.
Your Halloween Fancy Dress need not be expensive. Hundreds of information on how to make your own Halloween dress was provided in the internet, self-help books, magazines, and television shows. All you need to do is to follow the procedures given and enhance the costume using your imagination. Nowadays, wearing a scary dress alone may not merit a price. More often than not, the best costume is the one with a fancy motif with fancy accessories.
Here are some accessories that you can partner with your Halloween Fancy Dress:
Masks
Masks can be made from various sources. These can be made from paper, plastic, rubber, and many more. If you are for the price, choose a mask that will completely cover your face. While on the party, let the other guests guess who you are. Of course, your mask must complement your Halloween fancy dress. You must not wear a Frankenstein mask if you are wearing the cape of Dracula. Make your mask unique. It doesn’t have to be a known character like Frankenstein, Dracula, The Mummy, and other famous Halloween characters. You can make a statement of your own. Mixing ideas is recommended.
Hats
Hats are the most common accessories. Sometimes, hats alone can represent your Halloween costume. From a simple hat form, it has become a headdress. Headdresses can be as big as a peacock tail. It all depends on what you want to convey. There are hats with live animals for an added scare. If the Halloween parade or party is on a crowded place, consider the size of the hat you
When you start your own business you have a million and one things to think about.
You’re not just the manager, you’re responsible for public relations (PR), marketing, sales, admin, filing, cleaning… and just about everything else.
One of the most common questions I am asked by new and small businesses is whether it is possbile to generate PR on a limited budget – and if so… how?
The answer is that it is not only possible, it is imperative.
I firmly believe that marketing and PR are two sides of the same coin – and they need each other to be successful.
For any any business, big or small, new or old, getting people to buy your product or service is the single most important thing that you have to focus on.
You might think that’s stating the obvious.
You would be amazed at how many small (and not so small) businesses get it wrong.
Unless you are very fortunate, as a small business you are going to have to generate almost all of your PR and Marketing coverage with a limited, sometimes even a non existent budget.
This is not impossible, there are a number of ways that you can set about this, but you do have to invest a lot of time, and if you can’t commit to this, get someone else involved who can.
Over the last ten or fifteen years, PR has become inextricably linked with publicity hungry celebrities or members of the public looking to cash in on their five minutes of fame.
Real PR is much, much more than this.
Quite simply, PR is the relationship your business has with the public, with your customers and your potential customers.
This relationship will be the single most important factor in the future of your business, so PR should most definitely not be considered as being something that’s reserved for big companies and Katie Price – it is one of the most important hats that you will wear when you are running a business.
Here are some simple steps to help to get you started.
1. Make sure your product or service is ready
Again it seems obvious yet so many businesses start their marketing campaign before their product / service is ready.
This can be fatal.
Before you start marketing your product / service, you need to be sure that it works. And this does not just stop at the product. If you have a website – does the site work? Does it engage your visitors?
If you have sales or product literature is it clear? Does it encourage the desired response?
If you are driving people to your website, or flooding your local area with literature and they do not do what they are supposed to you have not just wasted time and money, you have potentialy lost that business forever.
It is going to be much harder to encourage them back to your site / business if they have failed to be impressed the first time around.
This is an incredibly common mistake.
So before you start to push your business – make sure that is completely ready to go.
2. Know your target market
You will only be successful in PR and marketing terms if you hit the right target market with the right message.
Research your market thoroughly. Establish who your customers are likey to be and what their buying habits are.
3. Learn where to find them
Once you know your target market, you have to learn where to find them – and what to tell them.
You have to consider not only newspapers and magazines, but websites, business events, forums, radio programmes and so on.
Only once you have established where to find your perfect customers and what you are going to tell them can you ever hope to reel them in.
4 Get a plan
Don’t just fire off e mails and press releases randomly. Blanket e mails and press releases are no longer effective.
You know what you do with junk mail – everyone else does the same.
Build a structured plan.
Take into account online and offline opportunities.
Schedule the time each week to focus solely on PR and marketing activities and make sure that you stick to it.
5. Keep it simple
Many PR companies and agents like to hear themselves talk.
They like to look flash and make you think you can’t live without them.
The truth is that 97% of the time – simple is best.
What’s important is your message – you don’t want to lose this amidst flashy graphics or excess hype.
A clear, concise message is all that you need.
In fact, if you cannot sum up what you are doing in a few sentences, no one is going to read it.
6. Use the Web
It’s an overused phrase, but the internet genuinely is a great leveller.
With some hard work and a little creative thinking you can generate more free publicity than you could ever have dreamt possible.
Start a blog, get involved with relevant forums, there are thousands of opportunities for you to explore, and to profit from, online.
7. Be creative
Don’t just stick to your local press and your local business groups.
Be ambitious, seek out creative ways and places to get your message across.
Just because your business is small does not mean that you need to think small.
8. Be persistent
One of our biggest problems in the UK is a fear of failure. We hate rejection, so often avoid putting ourselves into positions where we risk facing it.
However, persistence is the single most important factor when it comes to making your business work. From a PR and marketing perspective it is essential.
Unless you have a big budget, or get incredibly lucky (which can happen) things will not happen over night.
You must devote enough time and energy to your PR to make it a success.
Don’t be despondent if your press release or e mail is ignored – the vast majority of press releases are ignored.
Even if you pay a PR agency to deliver and distribute press releases for you, the chances are, most of them will be ignored first time, even second time around.
Keep trying.
Because whatever your business, whatever your size, PR is not a luxury item, it is an essential.
Robbie and Carol Burns are professional business consultants who specialise in working with new and small businesses. Having spent more than forty years in the corporate sector working with some of the worlds largest companies, they now dedicate their time working with small business owners helping them to develop and grow their businesses.
A film produced by the Pacific Ridge School’s Student Council to educate students about Swine Flu. Video Rating: 0 / 5
Posted on
September 03, 2010 by
Jennib And Friends
Celebrate your child’s birthday with a Wild West theme party. It would be fun and easy on your budget. Whether you would order online for the party essentials or you would make them yourself, it would be great.
If you have watched those old western films, then you can get a lot of ideas to make your party have that genuine Wild West feel to it. Here are some ideas that would help you in your cowboy‑themed party. You can incorporate the kids’ cowboy hat from the invites to the games.
The Invite
Do not forget to use the western theme for your invitation. You can just as easily print one or buy one from the party supply store for this important Wild West party essential. You can use Wanted poster invites. You can also send bandanas or kids cowboy hats as invites with the party details on it and ask your guests to wear it when they come to the party. This would give your guest the idea of the theme of the party. Be sure to ask your guests to come dressed like they have just come from the Wild West era.
Decorations
You can set a place in your house like the living room or the garage for the venue. Decorate the place that would make it look like the Old West era. You can make a Wild West backdrop on one wall. You can make one wall look like a jail cell with bars or the swinging doors of a saloon. You can also make cardboard horses or a saddle on one side, or a big cactus on the other. You can look for a bale of hay that you can place in one corner. Hang kids’ cowboy hats on the wall. You can also hang several Wanted posters with the celebrant’s photos on them. Make the party area like the inside of a saloon complete with tables with red and white checkered tablecloths and cacti or horseshoe centerpieces.
The Costume
You can dress your kids like a cowboy and ask the invited friends to come looking as gunslingers, sheriffs, outlaws, saloon owners, etc. You do not even have to buy the costume – well, maybe just the kids’ cowboy hats to make it real. You can wear jeans, checkered shirts, bandanas, boots, and the cowboy hat. If you have toy guns that can be strapped to a belt, then it would also look good. You can also make sheriff badges where you can put the name of the guests.
The Menu
You can serve soda or juice at the bar of the saloon. Serve chicken fingers and chips on kids’ cowboy hats. Cactus‑shaped and star‑shaped cookies would also be great. The cake should also have the Wild West theme. You can choose a design with cowboy hats, cactus, etc.
Games
There are a lot of games that would be fun for the kids. You can easily incorporate the kids’ cowboy hats in the traditional games. You can play the tossing the hat game, a relay game, and the musical chair game where instead of sitting when the music stops, the one wearing the cowboy hat when the music stops will be eliminated from the game.
Party Favors
You can use the kids’ cowboy hats as the loot bags where you can put the party favors. You can also take a picture of the guests in the jail cell or at the saloon bar and print it so your guests can take it with them as a souvenir.
