A leading fancy dress sales specialist has launched a crusade to encourage more children to use their imagination.

Staffordshire-based Wonderland Party, which has supplied costumes to celebrities like Chris Moyles and Jonathan Ross, and TV series like Little Britain, is linking up with primary schools around the country to host a Design a Costume competition.

The winner will receive a Nintendo Wii, with the Wii Sports game to promote exercise, and could have their costume manufactured at the company's Stoke-on-Trent headquarters.

Bosses hope the move will encourage more young people to use their creativity and think about what they could achieve in life.

Managing Director Jozef Machnicki said: "For various reasons children are turning their backs on playing outdoors and using their imagination, which is a huge shame and could have implications for their health and the country's future.

"Games consoles like the Wii are fabulous developments, but by encouraging young people to stay indoors are having a major impact on obesity levels, and could affect our creative industries for generations.

"Using fancy dress costumes helped me to use my imagination when I was younger - I could be a cowboy one day, an astronaut the next - and I don't see why our children can't have the same enjoyment now."

SureShots also hope the competition could help to raise young peoples' aspirations by encouraging them to think big, and ultimately run their own businesses or reach the top of their chosen profession.

Jozef Machnicki said: "Imagination is a big part of running a successful business - we now turn over more than £2million per year, and we couldn't have reached that level without being creative in our goal-setting and having the belief to follow it through.

"Hopefully in some small way, by encouraging children to design an out-of-this-world costume, they'll see an alternative to watching TV and maybe even pursue a career in the creative industries."

The company has also slashed prices on children's costumes and are now selling them at cost.