It's day 87 since I bought my horse costume and the horses have accepted me as one of their own. I…read morehave grown to understand and respect their gentle ways. Now I question everything I once knew and fear I am no longer capable of following through with my primary objective. I know that those who sent me will not relent. They will send others in my place. But we will be ready.

A great costume shop!…read more Last weekend my partner and I rented two full costumes: the Evil Queen from Snow White (cartoon version) and Davey Jones from Pirates of the Caribbean. Both were fantastic quality. They have a good sized range to choose from.. but the best part is that it is spread out enough that you can actually see all of the options properly. That's not a dig at Rose Chong's - they have good quality costumes too. But they are so crammed in there that if you don't know what you're looking for it is pretty much impossible to find something. Whereas Costume Factory have a big open space for you to walk up and down the racks to pick out things you hadn't even thought of yet. They also have a great 'Wig Bar' where they help you figure what will best go with your costume. You will pay around $90 for a full costume including wigs, shoes and accessories. They are also really good about the return times. We got until Tuesday to bring them back after hiring on a Saturday. FYI the bond is $100 per costume.

BE VERY CAREFUL. Lizzi charged me close to $450.00 for absolute rubbish. Firstly, Lizzi asks me to…read moresend her a picture of myself so she can determine what hair color she will need to purchase for me as I asked for 24" when she only had 20" hairs in stock. I paid her half of $450 as a deposit. About a week or so later she contacted me and told me that the hair had arrived and I could come and get them put in. I arrived at her house to see she had purchased me 3 different shades of brown (she said she thought she could mix and match the three colors as she didn't know what brown my hair was). Firstly, in the picture I had sent her, my hair is clearly dark dark brown. Lizzi goes and purchases me light browns almost to a blonde hair color! I told her that these colors aren't even close to my hair color and that I cant wait for her to repurchase more because I had a wedding that weekend and needed the extensions in before then. Lizzi told me that she can dye them to dark dark brown and then put them in before the weekend. A couple of days later Lizzi put the extensions in my hair and I paid her the remaining balance of what I owed her. The first day I already had the tapes falling out. By the 3rd day about 80% of the extensions were all fallen out! The tape she had used were not sticking at all. I contacted Lizzi and told her that I went elsewhere to get the extensions retaped and ended up having to fork out an additional $160 and if she could offer me a reimbursement due to the fact she did not do her job properly. Lizzi responds with telling me that she has no money and that she can only give me back $40.00. Please be very careful with this person, She literally scammed me.

From the owner: This business has ceased business as of 2020read more

Every now and again one runs into a Platypus on Lygon St, not a life size platypus, but a human…read moresized platypus. In its webbed hands is held a sign directing you across the road, where your eyes meet the words Costume and Hire. Suddenly you realize this is no LSD flashback but a legitimate business enterprise, and I'm sure there is more than one occasion you have been compelled to dress as Harry Potter or a Hypnotoad or Grover dressed as a knight. Here is where your dress up fantasies can come to life. Masks and heads line one wall, a selecting of boots along another. Between these on a large assortment of racks is the wardrobe you wish you had as a child. Reasonably priced, open every day at varying hours, and with friendly staff that help you find your way around. From full zip up body suits to smaller accessories like fingernails and glasses, this you one stop shop for costumes.

I find most fancy dress shops a bit freaky and scary because they sort of remind me of clowns and,…read morewell, clowns are terrifying. I know this isn't rational thinking and I'll be the first to admit that I watched The Exorcist and Texas Chainsaw Massacre when I was way too young and obviously some damage was done. So apart from being slightly nervous when I walked in to find an animal mask for an 'ears and tails' party, I was also quite curious as to what I might find in such a large fancy dress shop. Well, they have a fantastic collection of very fancy fancy dress, seriously elaborate costumes that I'm sure would make a party more festive and also a bit strange. Whatever you're after, I'm pretty sure they have it. And if you can't find it, and who could blame you in a shop of such visual overload, the staff are super friendly and helpful and will get you decked out in fanciful garb.