Page 5: Author: Kiran Patel

Halloween is definitely growing in popularity for families across the UK. But with sweets, treats, costumes and activities to pay for, the event can prove costly for some of us!

So, how do you make sure your family has a fun and memorable Halloween without breaking the bank? Instead of buying new things online, repurpose clothes and accessories from around your home. Not only will you save money, but this is also a great crafts activity you can enjoy with the kids…

Ghost ornaments

If you’re having a party, you need to deck out the house appropriately. Instead of forking out cash for decorations, make your own! Start with ‘mini ghosts’. Simply keep hold of your drinking bottles instead of recycling them and spray paint these white. Once dry, draw ghost eyes and mouths on each with black marker pens and place them around your home.

Scary bingo

There are plenty of games to buy online, but if you want to get creative, do your own. One great idea is ‘Scary Bingo’ — just like the regular game, but you use spooky images instead of numbers.

Get several pieces of paper — enough for everyone at the party — and mark out a grid of four-by-four squares. In each, draw a picture of a Halloween image — like a witch, spider, black cat, pumpkin, ghost, and monster. Kids can then use pennies to mark off when each image is called out — make sure there’s a prize at the end for the first full ‘haunted’ house!

Halloween can game

Another easy game to create at home before a party, the ‘Halloween Can Game’ is great fun for kids. To start, keep your used cans of soup, baked beans and other food. Remove the labels and paint faces of ghosts, witches and pumpkins.

Then, make a mummy-themed papier-mâché ball by using black felt-tip pen and paint to mark out bandages and two yellow eyeballs. Once dry, create a tower and let the kids use the mummy ball to knock down the tins. (You can also use papier-mâché to make a Halloween-themed piñata filled with sweet treats!)

Bat costume

Of course, kids love dressing up for Halloween. So, why not make them the perfect bat costume out of a simple umbrella? All you need are:

• A black umbrella.
• Scissors.
• Wire cutters.
• Tape.
• Two metres of black ribbon.

Firstly, open the umbrella upside down on a workbench. Take your scissors and cut two triangles of material opposite each other — make sure one of the triangles is a bit smaller than the other. This is for recognising the top and bottom of the wings.

Use your wire cutters to cut the metal supports — for safety, take off as much metal as you can to eliminate sharp edges. Then, cut the metal handle off the umbrella before cutting the joiner from all the umbrella arms. Next, remove the support arms from either side of the larger triangle of your bat wings — this lets your youngster move their arms!

Now, tape down the other loose support arms — making sure to cover sharp edges. From here, measure and cut two pieces of ribbon. How long? Just enough to tie the wings to your child’s wrists. Afterwards, cut two longer pieces of ribbon — these must go across their shoulders and chest, as well as under their arms, and tie together at the back. Next, attach the ribbon to top of the wings.

And you’re done! Now all you need is a headband with black, pointed ears and plain black top and trousers.

Spooky dinner party pieces

Throwing a dinner party to celebrate the event? Then you need Halloween treats that can sit on the table. To start, you can use plastic vampire teeth as napkin rings, then add to the effect by putting red food colouring on the white cloth.

For a centrepiece, take a glass vase you already own and fill it with spare Halloween pieces the kids have left over from across the years — like plastic spiders. Pull apart cotton wool balls to create a cobweb-like effect. Then, sprinkle some discoloured, browning leaves from the garden over the top for the ideal Halloween-themed centrepiece.

Cut the cost of Halloween with these repurposing craft tips for Halloween 2018! Browse our ranges of men’s, women’s, kids’, sports and designer umbrellas before you get to work!

London Fashion Week (LFW) is one of the biggest events in the calendar for designers, models and trend-lovers alike. At Fulton Umbrellas, we love keeping our eye on the next big thing in fashion to make sure our collection stays on-trend and in vogue. So, what were the highlights from September’s LFW?

Browse our run-down of the event right here — and get a head start on what’s going to take fashion by storm…

Dare to diversify.

Anyone who was even slightly interest in fashion was eager to watch the Burberry show at the latest LFW. Why? Because this was the debut of Riccardo Tisci, who was appointed chief creative director of Burberry in March. Fortunately, onlookers weren’t left unentertained.

Tisci sent his models down the runway in a perfect blend of classic and contemporary outfits — ensuring this traditional British brand showed its power as a modern fashion powerhouse. Learn style tips from Burberry, which focused on both ends of the style spectrum — demure pussy-bow blouses, pleated midi skirts and elegant gowns at certain intervals, and bold graphic t-shirts with leather bottoms and overstated make-up at the other! Basically, go classic British — whether it’s chic and feminine 1950s or punky and rebellious 1980s! Our William Morris collection is ideal if you want the vintage vibe.

 

Keep it minimal

2018 is Victoria Beckham’s tenth year in the fashion industry — and she celebrated it in style with her stand-out collection at LFW. Beckham was applauded for her stunning range of loose-fit, beautifully chic and minimalist designs that looked effortless, but packed a real punch among critics and the audience.

Using block colours set to be big in spring and summer next year — like baby blue and rust — she showed us how a simple pair of tailored trousers paired with a plain blazer and long t-shirt can work wonders. To enhance the simplistic-yet-powerful look, pair with a sleek black umbrella to stay on-trend in all weather.

The ruche appeal

If Molly Goddard’s collection is anything to go by, next season is all about ruffled clothing. Breathing life into a classic 1980s trend, ruffles on everything from skirt hemlines to shirt cuffs will be hugely popular.

Wonderfully feminine and adding a touch of fun to an outfit, fill your wardrobe with ruched tops and pair them with tapered trousers to highlight the ruched outline. Or, go for a long, ruched skirt and wear a fitted blouse on top so you don’t go overboard on the ruffles! A retro, floral umbrella from Joules will look great with this style of outfit, we think, too.

Layers of embellishments

Layering and embellished clothing were other top trends found across multiple catwalks at September’s LFW. Take show, which featured models dressed in boxy jackets decorated with shiny metallics, dresses enhanced with tulle layering, and skirts featuring bird and leaf patterns.

Sequins, shapes and colour reigned supreme at the Temperley London show — so why not bring the look into your style? Instead of plain shirts and tops, go for something with beaded embellishments or nature patterns in a lime green, electric blue or tangerine orange for a stand-out outfit that’s ideal for SS19. And when it comes to choosing a skirt or dress, keep your eye out for mesh and tulle — a satin maxi skirt with a cream netted fabric over the top looks beautiful. Since colour is an important part of this look, choose an umbrella from our Cath Kidston collection.

Edwardian styles

Our final top trend of LFW is the revival of Edwardian fashion. From lace dresses featuring chic high necklines to double-breasted blazers with a check pattern, Edwardian styles took over at the Erdem show.

If you fancy following suit, keep your eye out for trouser suits, long skirts, frilled embellishments, puffed sleeves, and ultra-feminine frocks in soft, demure shades. Pair with simple court shoes and an umbrella from The National Gallery featuring a scene of a former, quintessentially British way of life and your style will be flawlessly in vogue!

These are our highlights of September’s London Fashion Week. Browse our collections of quality men’s, women’s and kids’ umbrellas before you go.

 

At Fulton Umbrellas, we offer a wide range of designs and colours to create our collection of umbrellas. So, we know how attractive a brolly can look! But how are umbrellas used in art? Can they help create timeless pieces and do they inspire people when used in public displays?

Here, we look at the influence of umbrellas in public displays, films, songs and paintings to find out how important the everyday, essential accessory is in art…

Public displays

Recently, there’s been a huge trend for incorporating the umbrella in public art displays all over the world. In Salisbury, a technicolour canopy of brollies was put on display in the city centre in July — which included 90 umbrellas hanging over the High Street — while in Florida, a pedestrian promenade is the latest location for the Umbrella Sky Project, which is an internationally renowned public art exhibition launched in Portugal years ago. Visitors to these exhibitions are also encouraged to upload pictures of the display on social media and use hashtags to help spread the umbrella-enhanced art around the world!

These are just a couple of examples of how innovative public art displays can be, and it’s clear that seeing a network of umbrellas suspended — as if by magic — above ordinary locations can really draw in the crowds. But, can umbrella art also help our high streets by attracting greater numbers of visitors and tourists?

Apparently so. A canopy of colourful brollies was implemented in the name of art in Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland earlier this year, which Mayor of Mid and East Antrim, Paul Reid, claimed was a fantastic example of how an area can “attract people into town centres and develop a more vibrant atmosphere”. Similarly, an exhibition of hundreds of painted umbrellas was used to help build on the city of Da Nang’s tourism success in 2017. The Vietnamese city was named one of the top ten holiday destinations in Asia in the previous year and this garden of colourful brollies was a large part of its effort to retain its status as a leading tourist destination! It seems that, regardless of culture, everyone has an affinity for umbrella-inspired art exhibitions — but what about other art forms?

Paintings

Even in paintings, the umbrella can play an iconic role. Most people will recognise The Singing Butler oil-on-canvas painting that was created by Jack Vettriano in 1992. It features a man and woman dancing in their finery on a damp beach, flanked by their maid and butler who both hold up a black umbrella each in an attempt to protect the couple. Clearly, this painting meant a great deal to someone, as a private collector bought it for £744,800 in 2004 — a record sum of money for a Scottish painting at the time!

If you don’t recall Vettriano’s masterpiece, you’ll surely know A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat. Created in 1884, this work of art displays a crowd of elegantly dressed Parisians relaxing by the River Seine, using umbrellas — or parasols — as chic shields from the sunshine. Currently, the masterpiece is on display at the Art Institute of Chicago, which reportedly paid $24,000 for it in 1924.

Film

As umbrellas are handy — arguably must-have — items, it’s no surprise that they feature significantly in the world of cinema. Who can forget Jiminy Cricket’s most famous prop, a red umbrella, which featured in Disney’s 1940 version of Pinocchio? And of course, there’s the 1952 smash-hit, Singin’ in the Rain, starring Gene Kelly and Debbie Reynolds. This classic would never have been the same without the renowned scene where Kelly dances in the street with his black umbrella as the rain pours down all around him.

Then there’s Julie Andrews’ character in Mary Poppins, who flies in and out of London using an umbrella, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, which features Hagrid lighting a fire with a spark from a brolly, and My Fair Lady — a film that depicts its leading character, played by Audrey Hepburn, using a beautiful white-lace parasol that has now become one of Hollywood’s most iconic and sought-after props.

Music

Even in music, the umbrella is a popular lyric and prop. Most recently, global star, Rihanna, had massive success with her song Umbrella in 2007. Reaching number one in many countries across Europe, as well as Australia and the US, Umbrella claimed the top spot in Entertainment Weekly’s ‘10 Best Singles of 2007’ and won two accolades at the MTV Video Music Awards. Interestingly in the UK, the song was classed almost as a curse, due to the fact that it reached and stayed at the number one spot in the charts during a spate of extreme rainfall and flooding!

Elsewhere in the musical world, the brolly has also been mentioned in songs such as Dean Martin’s The Lady with the Big Umbrella, Bing Crosby’s Let a Smile Be Your Umbrella, The Hollies’ Bus Stop, and Faith Hill’s Red Umbrella.

Clearly, we love umbrella art all over the world in a variety of forms! Get your own art-inspired brolly from our National Gallery collection, or browse a range of other stylish designs in our men’s, women’s, children’s, and sport selections.

Searching for cheap or free activities to do this summer with the kids that you can both enjoy? At Fulton Umbrellas, we know how tricky it can be to make sure children have fun during the summer break from school.

So, we’ve created this guide to the best, free summer activities for kids and adults! Take a look and see which ones jump out at you…

Organise a baking challenge

With The Great British Bake Off starting later this month, now is the perfect time to get your kids or grandkids baking some treats in the kitchen. Plus, there are no entry fees or transport costs involved; all you need to do is buy the ingredients!

For young children, make something simple like jam tarts, and for older kids, make the event more challenging to keep them entertained all afternoon. You could pick at random from the cookbook you always use or set each youngster off with a different cake recipe and let them judge the best by tasting.

Do a treasure hunt

If it’s a nice day, pack up the car and head to your local park to do this activity. However, you could always do this in the garden, too. To make this fun, firstly find out how many kids are taking part and their ages — a treasure hunt for a two-year-old will differ a lot from one that’s entertaining for a ten-year-old!

Next, pick a theme to make your treasure hunt special — anything from pirates to princesses will work to make your treasure hunt memorable — and make clues that fit the topic. For the treasure at the end, you could fill a small box with sweets and a few coins, or even lead the kids to a new board or garden game to keep them entertained for even longer!

Enjoy a bike ride

It’s a shame to waste the day indoors. So, why not get some fresh air and exercise with a long bike ride at your local park or somewhere further afield? Look online for designated cycling paths and perhaps choose an area that the children have never visited before to make it new and exciting for them. Use this cycling journey planner for help finding the perfect bike-riding location near you.

Make sure you pack a picnic for the halfway point and make plenty of stops so the kids can explore their new surroundings.

Visit a farm

Kids love animals and wide-open spaces, so visiting a farm is the perfect day out during the summer break. Even better, you should be able to do this for free — minus the cost of transportation — if you search online. Many farmers are happy to let people visit without an entry fee, although often a donation is greatly appreciated, and kids love to see the animals getting fed or running around.

Afterwards, you can keep the kids entertained by asking them to draw their favourite animal or moment of the day. If you have the items (glue, paper, water, and paint), you could even let them create papier-mâché pigs and cows, too!

Head to your region’s most famous and least-known landmarks…

Every region in the UK has a famous spot, even if it’s just a landmark that’s well-known to the local community. So, why not spend a morning or afternoon visiting your area’s most iconic place, then do some research to find a hidden gem near you?

This could be anything from a secret garden to a section of coastline you — and many others — rarely visit. If your children are old enough, get them to help you find somewhere online using their tablets or laptops — this will help build adventure and excitement!

Make a weather station for the garden

As an expert in rain attire and umbrellas, we had to include something to do with the weather! So, we recommend getting the kids together and testing their science skills by making a rain gauge or wind vane.

To make a rain gauge:

• Cut a two-litre plastic bottle two thirds of the way up.
• Upend the top part of the bottle and put it in the bottom section. Adhere with sticky tape.
• Make a centimetre scale on a piece of tape and stick it to your bottle.
• Go into the garden and dig a hole to bury the gauge. It should be about 5cm out of the ground.

And you’re done! Now, get the kids to head outside every morning to measure the amount of rain it has collected using the centimetre gauge on the side of the bottle. If the kids enjoy this craft session, why not let them make a wind vane, too?

To make a wind vane:

• Use a pencil to draw a 25cm arrow on card. Cut it out and use it to draw around and make another.
• Glue the arrows together.
• Now, fetch a cork and four matchsticks. Then, push the matchsticks into the long side of the cork — these should be at right-angles to each other.
• Write: ‘N’, ‘E’, ‘S’, ‘W’ on four separate pieces of card. Attach these to the ends of each matchstick — it’s a good idea to use an adhesive tack or clear tape to make these secure.
• Put sand in a bottle.
• Push a knitting needle into your cork before pushing into the bottled sand.
• Balance the arrow on top of the needle.
• Finally, put the wind vane in an open area and use your smartphone or a compass to verify which way is north so that you can point the ‘N’ card in the right direction.

And you’re finished! Now, the arrow will show you where the breeze is coming from.

These are just a few entertaining activities that you can enjoy free of charge this summer with the children. If you’re heading outdoors, make sure you browse our children’s, women’s and men’s umbrellas to stay dry and comfortable!