10 Really Easy World Book Day Costume Ideas

It’s every parent’s favourite day coming up next on 7th March – World Book Day!

I’m not sure who’s bright idea it was to decide that for one day every March all kids have to go to school dressed as a character from a book but I’d bet a lot of money that it wasn’t a busy and already stressed out mum who can’t sew and has to go to work every day.

Little H is in Year 3 so including a couple of year’s of nursery, we’re now on our 6th World Book Day costume. Every year we spend weeks going back and forth on which character she’s going to be – as you know kids change their mind a lot – and inevitably I leave sorting anything until the last minute.

We have bought costumes some years (Alice in Wonderland and a princess) but mostly I’ve managed to put something together without having to spend too much money. I do not and cannot sew, so there’s never going to be a spectacular homemade costume but so far Little H has always been pleased with the results which is the important part.

If you haven’t given it much thought yet, are in need of some inspiration, or have even stumbled across this post the night before World Book Day in a panic, here are some really easy World Book Day costume ideas that we have done so far…

The Giraffe And The Pelly And Me

I have to say this was my favourite, but when Little H said she wanted to be the Giraffe from her favourite Roald Dahl book at the time I was not impressed! I tried to change her mind a few times but she was adamant that there wasn’t another option.

The costume required a bit of effort and a trip to the shops, but it was pretty easy. I remembered that we had a giraffe ears headband from a trip to Marwell Zoo so that was the hard bit done. I bought some giraffe print felt from Hobby craft (50p for an A4 sheet), a yellow t-shirt and found a tutu in the dressing up box. I cut out the spots from the felt and stuck them with fabric glue to the t-shirt – sewing would obviously be better but as mentioned above that isn’t one of my skills!

I think the end result was pretty good and it got a lot of comments at school!

The Witch from Room On The Broom

Most kids have a witches costume from Halloween so why not use it again for World Book Day. We used the hat and cloak from a Halloween outfit, a red top we already had, my mum kindly made a skirt out of some purple material (but you could use any blue, purple or black skirt), and we put her hair in a plait with a yellow bow. We already had the wand from a book set Little H had got for Christmas and happened to have a ginger kitten teddy.

Easy and definitely recognisable as the witch from this Julia Donaldson book.

Matilda

The year before last our school decided that the theme for World Book Day was Roald Dahl characters – just to make life that little bit more difficult for us mums! Luckily a lot of the Roald Dahl characters are kids wearing normal clothes so it’s quite an easy one – great if you are looking for a no sew World Book day costume.

Little H had just finished reading Matilda, and had also watched the film a few hundred times, so we went with that character and just used a blue dress and red headband that we already had. If you want to add another touch you could get them to carry a couple of books as well. This has to be the most simple World Book Day costume idea if you have a daughter.

Hermione Granger

Being a bit of a Potter geek this was the one I was looking forward to! When Little H said she wanted to be Hermione Granger for World Book Day I was very pleased – she already had a cloak and wand from our trip to Universal, and she had a Gryffindor hoodie from Primark so this was also a very easy costume to put together.

I’d forgotten to plait her hair to make it more like Hermione’s but we accessorised with the ginger kitten again so I think we pulled it off!

Lucy from The Creakers

So this is our idea for this year’s costume – Little H is loving Tom Fletcher books at the moment and since The Christmasaurus is a bit of a difficult costume we’re going with The Creakers.

Lucy wears a white t-shirt, blue dungarees, has goggles on her head and carries a torch. How easy is that! I’m not sure many will recognise this character but Little H will take the book with her and the important part is that it’s a book she’s read and loves!

Some other characters from Little H’s bookshelf that I’ve picked for simple World Book Day costumes that you might already have clothes for are…

Lightning Girl – stripy blue & white t-shirt, jeans and white trainers

Mildred Hubble, Worst Witch – school uniform, black boots, witches hat and cloak, a black & white tie, and hair in two plaits

Marie Curie, Fantastically Great Women Who Changed The World – white blouse, black skirt or dress, hair in a bun (there’s obviously lots more women to choose from as well!)

What the Ladybird Heard – Lots to choose from here if you already have the costumes, a ladybird, sheep, cow, pig, cat, horse

Sophie, The BFG – pink nightdress and glasses

And if all else fails you can always find a book to use one of your existing dressing up costumes, there are loads with a princess, pirate, butterfly, cat or skeleton in.

What will you be dressing your child up as for World Book Day? What costumes have you done in the past? Let me know in the comments section below so others can see for a bit of inspiration!