Party Palace Safety Policy

Party Palace Fancy Dress take fun seriously

Party Palace Fancy Dress is a registered distributer of Smiffy’s costumes and accessories.

R H Smith & Sons, take safety very seriously and invest heavily to ensure the integrity and safety of all our products. In 2015 alone, Smiffy’s have invested over £1,000,000 in their safety testing and procedures, ensuring we are delivering to the highest standard.

As a family run business, Smiffy’s understand the needs of parents to feel confident in the costume they choose for their children. Smiffy’s pride themselves in going above and beyond the safety regulation requirements to provide a costume that we can both feel confident putting our children in for Halloween and any dress up occasion.

Be in the Know: Regulation of Children’s Costumes

Children’s costumes must comply with stringent flammability requirements that do not apply, by law, to children’s clothing with the exception of some sleepwear (night dresses and dressing gowns). There are very few legal requirements dealing with the flammability of everyday children’s clothing. Many clothing items can catch fire and burn when exposed to naked flames and some manufacturers only voluntarily add “keep away from fire” warnings. However, children’s costumes and dress up is regulated and must comply with flammability requirements.

EN 71 is a Europe-wide standard for toy safety and deals with the flammability potential of a toy. This, of course, is paramount for a fancy dress costume. To perform the test a 40mm flame (similar to a flame from a match or a candle) is applied to samples of the component materials under controlled conditions. The rate of spread of flame of the test sample should not exceed 30 mm/or the test sample shall self-extinguish. If the rate of spread of flame is between 10 mm/s and 30 mm/s, the appropriate part(s) of the toy and the packaging shall be permanently marked with the following warning: “Warning. Keep away from fire”

 

Smiffys’ Approach: Going Above and Beyond

Our dedicated in-house team ensure that all of our fancy-dress costumes are manufactured and rigorously tested to comply with the EN 71 regulations

As a responsible supplier, we take the precaution to label all of our children’s costumes with fire warning: “Warning. Keep away from fire” irrespective of the burn rate within the regulatory limit. Furthermore, all costumes bear the CE mark as a declaration that the product meets the European Toy Safety Directive (2009/48/EC), and has undergone a variety of product tests to ensure that it is safe for use.

Every production run is batch tested and verified as compliant at source. Unlike other suppliers, our safety certificates are continually updated. All children’s costumes are subject to further safety checks through spot-checks and batch tests once received in the UK Warehouse to guarantee quality and safety assurance. This is a level of quality checking that goes above and beyond the requirement and we are particularly proud of.

Be Aware: Making Informed Choices

Other manufacturers may not be as vigilant about safety as we are, cutting corners to save cost; they are not prepared to invest in safety procedures and testing standards as we do. Prior to purchase check that the packaging contains the appropriate warnings and safety symbols, and the costume is labelled with the CE mark and fire warnings.

Don’t be deceived by cheap, counterfeit Smiffy branded products, online or in-store. These items will not have undergone the rigorous safety checks or stand up to the safety standards Smiffys employs as a responsible manufacturer of children’s and adult dress-up and costumes.

Smiffy’s invest time and money removing counterfeit products and work closely with online marketplaces to remove infringing product listings and fake replicas.  Smiffy’s take legal action where they identify illegal sellers copying their ‘branded’ designs and products.

Not only are customers who buy counterfeit costumes disappointed by the quality and unable to return them, but these products are potentially unsafe. Selling counterfeit goods is illegal and usually funds criminal activities. Make sure you only purchase through authorised re-sellers of Smiffys or on Smiffys.com. If you’re not sure, ask Smiffy’s. That way you can assure your family’s safety.