PIMPS, sugar daddies and Dick Dastardly if you're a man. Mary Quant, flappers and Penelope Pitstop if you're a woman.

Those are the fancy dress themes of this year's festive parties.

Reigning supreme is perennially popular Seventies glam. A twist on this theme is the Starsky and Hutch-style pimp look, very popular with guys this year says Emma Beavors, of Fulford fancy dress hire shop Fantasy World. Women are keener to ape Abba, with platform boots and spangly tops.

Steve Gibson, who owns Kaos Party on Gillygate, says customers can't get enough of Sixties and Seventies style. Poor old Eighties fashions hardly get a look-in.

And it's not just the mums and dads reliving their youth who are hiring bell bottoms and chest wigs. "Youngsters love the Sixties. Girls especially love that Mary Quant, white/pink boot look, with the little heels and short skirts," Steve said.

Students are keener on Seventies style, which gives them "a really good excuse to dance to all that great music".

Couples are even going as cartoon characters from that decade. Scooby and Daphne are all the rage, as well as Dick Dastardly and Penelope Pitstop ("Hay-ulp!"). And superheroes have made a comeback: stylish catwoman and batman costumes, that is, rather than just wearing your pants over your trousers and tying on a bedsheet cape.

Going further back, 1920s flappers outfits have become trendy this year. But Steve's most outrageous outfit is the sugar daddy: a floor-length zebra-print coat, with matching velvet hat worn over a fuchsia-pink afro.

He has some advice for those who like the sound of this costume: "Don't go and play darts in it before going out."

IF you're hoping for a more natural look, Fantasy World has a range of "furries" - everything from Winnie-the-Pooh to bees. One for the extroverts?

"It depends. Some people are quite shy going to a fancy dress party and want to be hidden inside them," Emma said.

Their two newest outfits are the Crazy Frog and cartoon character Spongebob Squarepants. "Spongebob is quite large," Emma admits. "You can't drink in it. You have to take your whole head off."

Despite this drawback, he is still a more popular than the astonishingly annoying Crazy Frog. "People think they're going to get beaten up if they wear him."

OUR favourite Christmas shop window could have been even better, we have learned. The giant Subbuteo figure which adorns the window of Snow Home in Gillygate was loaned to shop owner Angus McArthur by his friend, the sculptor who created it.

Angus always tries to do something different with his festive display. Last year's centrepiece was a huge bottle of Brut aftershave.

"We weren't very organised this year," he confessed. "What I was going to do was change him into George Best, and then we were going to have 'Best Wishes' in the window."

SOMEONE is clearly fed up with all those roadside flyers which promise to reveal a miracle diet if you just phone this number.

Notices have appeared on the York outer ring road with this incontrovertible message: "Want to lose weight? Then stop eating cakes."

Updated: 08:37 Wednesday, December 21, 2005