Every year I attend my husband’s company dinner which always has a fancy dress theme. In 2014 it was ‘Circus’ so we went as strong men. Last year the theme was ‘Fairy Tale’ and we went as the Queen of Hearts and a playing card. Both themes were broad and general enough to allow for a lot of different ideas and DIY opportunities. Well, not this year!

This year the theme is ‘Asian Animation’. The characters are so specific, the outfits so scandalous and not to mention I would have to put on my Asian face which is not politically correct. So, I went with the Asian element of the theme and created fortune cookie costumes for us.

I began with the cookie head dress which I made out of two pieces of felt cut into the shape of the cookie, sewed them together and then turned them inside out. I left a few small holes so I could stuff them with padding. I then sealed the open seams with hot glue and glued the entire thing to a headband.

For the fortune, I simply took a long piece of fabric, cut a hole in the middle, wrote out a quote in pencil before going over it with acrylic paint. I wanted the fortune to read, ‘I see a better theme in your future’ but instead I played it safe, and wrote ‘A thrilling time is in your future’ and ‘Good fortune to you’. For under garments, we wore white T-shirts and white pants.

One of the fortune cookies made it home with us and one went missing in action. I would like to think that the other one was cracked open and eaten by Ryu from Street Fighter. However, two plastic ninja swords did make it home, so in the end maybe this year’s theme wasn’t so bad after all.