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World Book Day 2024
World Book Day is on Thursday 7th March this year. As parents we can often feel the pressure to spend a fortune on expensive costumes for our children to wear. The real emphasis behind World Book Day is to encourage children to read more and to develop a love of books buy doing something fun like dressing up as a favourite character.
I was a primary teacher for 10 years and in that time I have seen literally hundreds of costumes, some shop bought and many homemade.
This list will give you a few ideas – start by thinking about the bits and bobs you’ve got at home already and then if need be you can get creative and add a few accessories to complete the look! Old clothes that you can cut up or decorate with marker pens are useful, as are pillow cases and old sheets which can be adapted to make a variety of things. It is also amazing what can be found in the toy boxes and in charity shops. Work together with your friends and share props and resources to take the pressure off!
1. Matilda – blue dress, red ribbon in hair and a bundle of books lied up with string and a jam jar with a plastic newt
2. Harry Potter – school trousers, white shirt, black cloak, glasses frames (from the pound shop), a homemade wand and a scar (use your eyeliner)
3. Oliver Twist – clothes that are too small or old, cut jagged edges and make some holes. Make look grubby. Add a peaked/flat cap
4. Captain Underpants – huge white Y fronts over the top of clothing and a red cape made from a pillowcase
5. Mr Bump or Little Miss Whoops – blue T shirt and joggers/pyjamas, bandages wrapped round head, middle of body and legs and plasters
6. Angelina Ballerina – perfect if you already have a ballet costume, add some homemade mouse ears to an alice band
7. The Boy In A Dress – so simple, just a boy wearing a dress! Accessorise with a football
8. George (George’s Marvellous Medicine) – any clothes, take a saucepan, large medicine bottle, large wooden spoon and a luggage label as a name tag
9. The Witch (Room on the Broom) – either a purple skirt and red top or a witches costume from Halloween, plaits and a yellow ribbon. Carry a toy cat
10. Charlie Bucket (Charlie & The Chocolate Factory) – any scruffy clothes or school trousers, blue jumper, large homemade bar of Wonka chocolate and a golden ticket. Scruffy hair
11. The Boy (Polar Express) – Pyjamas and a dressing gown
12. Billionaire Boy – messy hair, grey trousers and a big white top. Take a wallet stuffed with homemade money or monopoly money
13. Harry (Harry & The Bucketful of Dinosaurs) – any clothes, a plastic bucket filled with toy dinosaurs.
14. A Vile Victorian (Horrible Histories) – scruffy clothes, flat cap and a home made chimney sweeping brush
15. Mr Bean – perfect if your child has a blazer. School trousers, white shirt, red tie and blazer. Hair styled
16. A Dalmation (101 Dalmations) – white T shirt and leggings with large black spots drawn on and coloured in
17. Gangsta Granny – ‘old’ style top, black skirt, beads, homemade eye mask and talc on hair to make it grey
18. TinTin – blue jumper, red trousers/joggers and gel on hair
19. Wimpy Kid (Diary of a Wimpy Kid) – white T shirt, black shorts and a black backpack
20. Wally/ Wanda (Where’s Wally) – Red and white stripy top or an old white T shirt with red stripes drawn on, red bobble hat with stripes made from masking tape. Glasses
21. Paddington Bear – duffle coat, soft hat or rain hat, red wellies and a small suitcase. Use a luggage label as a name tag and take a marmalade jar
22. Burglar Bill – black and white striped top, black flat cap and a homemade black eye mask. Use an old pillowcase and write SWAG in marker pen. Carry a torch!
23. Sophie (The BFG) – pink nightdress, pink cardigan, a jar and a piece of paper to write ‘Sophie’s Dreams’
24. Charlotte (Charlotte’s Web) – Black top and leggings. Use some black tights stuffed with newspaper to make extra legs and stitch or pin to the back to the top
25. James (James & The Giant Peach) – normal clothes and a peach! You could use a pumpkin and pretend it is a giant peach
26. Skeleton (Funnybones) – old skeleton Halloween costume
27. Fairy Godmother (Cinderella) – fairy costume or a dress with homemade wings
28. Mildred Hubble (The Worst Witch), Meg (Meg & Mog), Winnie (Winnie The Witch) – old Halloween witches costume
29. Dorothy (The Wizard of Oz) – white top, blue dress and red shoes
30. Alice in Wonderland – blue dress, white april, alice band/hair bow
31. Mr Greedy – an old adult sized pink T shirt with a cushion tied under the top around the tummy
32. The BFG - make ears with paper plates and sellotape to an alice band, use an old pillowcase to make a waistcoat but cutting arms and neck holes and an opening at the front. Cut some old trousers to make them look ragged. Fishing net
33. Pippi Longstocking - dress, stripy tights and hair in pigtails with ribbons
34. Tom (Tom's Midnight Garden) - blue and white stripped pyjamas
35. Grandmother (Little Red Riding Hood) - Long nightie, wolf ears on an alice band, mask
36. Little Red Riding Hood - dress and red cape, easy to make with a large piece of red material or dyed sheet
37. Things 1 & 2 (The Cat in the Hat) - red top and red bottoms, large white circle on front of each top saying 'Thing1 or Thing 2', blue wig
38. Handa (Hand's Surprise) - pink floral dress, sandals, basket to go on head with plastic fruit
39. The Little Princess - white dress, gold grown and green potty
40. Stick Man - all brown clothes with a green leaf on a headband. Additional leaves and twigs on body and hands
41. The Paper Bag Princess - brown dress made out of brown paper and a crown
42. Mary Poppins - black skirt, white blouse, red belt and red ribbon round neck. Black hat with a flower attached
43. Saucepan Man (The Far Away Tree) - grey clothes and use tin foil dishes and extra foil to make saucepan handles. Attach to outfit. Make one into a hat
44. Miss Trunchbull (Matilda) - plain brown dress with a belt, long knee high socks and clumpy shoes or grey hoodie, wide belt, dark joggers. Hair in a messy bun. Monobrow!
45. Hermione Granger (Harry Potter) - school skirt and blouse, tie, cape and long curly hair. Homemade wand
46. Mr Smee (Peter Pan) - red bobble hat, blue and white stripped t-shirt, blue trousers cut with jagged edge. Glasses from pound shop
47. The Snail & The Whale - good one if you already own a snail cuddly toy. Stitch it to the shoulder of a plain coloured/blue t-shirt and make a snail trail with a silver pen saying 'Save the whale'
48. The Unicorn (Thelma & The Unicorn) - pink top and bottoms, unicorn head band
49. Winnie The Pooh - yellow top and bottoms with a red cropped t-shirt over the top of the yellow top. Optional bear ears and a jar of honey as props
50. The web (Charlotte's Web) - sheet cut to make poncho shape, edges cut and black marker to look like a web. Attach a pom pom spider
51. Mr Twit (The Twits) - dark messy clothes, fake beard which could be bought or made from brown wool or material, paint pot and brush
52. Sparkleboy - jeans and a t-shirt, tutu, sparkly nail varnish, beads
53. Tracy Beaker - stripey top, dungarees, denim jacket (optional), messy hair or a wig
54. A Roman (Horrible Histories Rotten Romans) - while sheet tied like a toga. For help with a toga click here
55. Percy Jackson - normal clothes and a cardboard homemade sword and shield. Instructions to make the shield here
56. One of The Midnight Gang - PJs, dressing gown, pillow
57. Malala (Malala's Magic Pencil - pink head scarf, pencil and notebook
58. Amelia Jane - red patterned dress, pig tails, rosy cheeks, patterned tights or long patterned socks
59. Lavender (Matilda) - purple floral dress or dungarees, glasses, pig tails. Use pipe cleaners to help shape the pigtails
60. Dumbledore (Harry Potter) - Grey dressing gown, glasses, tassel hat, long white or grey beard and magic wand. Put a hairband to go around middle of beard.
61. Gandalf (The Hobbit) - long grey dress, belt, long grey cape, grey pointy hat (make with felt), grey shawl and grey beard. Carry a long stick
62. Sophie (The Tiger Who Came to Tea) - purple or blue top and pinafore/tunic. Patterned tights. Cuddly toger
63. Grandmother (Little Red Riding Hood) - nightie and wolf mask
64. Boy (Lost & Found) - red and white stripped top, woolly bobble hat and small suitcase
65. Willy (Willy The Wizard) - football kit, monkey ears
66. The Little Princess (I want my potty) - white dress, crown, potty
67. Little Miss Sunshine - yellow clothes, pigtails tied with red ribbon and shaped with pipe cleaners
68. Ladybird (What The Ladybird Heard) - black leggings, black jumper, ladybird wings made from cardboard painted.
69. Queen of Hearts (Alice in Wonderland) - white top with black skirt, red paper hearts stuck all over the outfit. Fan out the heart cards from a pack of playing cards and stick them together with tape and ribbon or string to the corners, tie hair into a bun and clip the card crown in place, tying the ribbon around the bun.
70. Saucepan Man (The Faraway Tree) - use old tin foil take away containers and tin foil to make mini saucepans that can be pinned to clothes. Make a saucepan hat out of cardboard and tin foil.
71. Dennis The Menace - red and black stripped top and black shorts. get to make hair spikey and eyebrow pencil to make large eyebrows
The are lots more ideas on the World Book Day website.
We would love to hear your ideas. If you have other suggestions that we can add to this list, please contact us.
