In the UK, we celebrate World Book day at the start of March. It is often the tradition to come to school dressed as a book character.
I like to share my compiled costume ideas for dressing as a Book Character every year as it is nice to have some simple or different ideas to consider. I've updated this list from previous years with photos of some of my previous costumes and some newer ideas!
Hope it is helpful!
Are you stuck for what to come as next Thursday?
Here's a few more ideas I thought over the years. There are tons of ideas on the internet but here are some to get you started!
Willy Wonka
· Make yourself a black top hat (I made one out of black card by making a cylinder with black card and then making a black circle for the top and another long strip to use around the bottom.
· Purple (or other coloured)blazer or long coat.
· Over-the-top big bow tie (can also be made with paper and elastic: polka dots),
· Shirt and trousers.
· Make some fake WONKA chocolate bars out of cardboard OR get some old chocolate wrappers and stick them inside your pockets or hang them with string from your arms
· Find an old broom or umbrella (or large poster tube) and add a gold paper top to it to make a cane.
Madeline the French school girl.
- Yellow wide-brimmed hat .
- blue dress with a white collar,
- Red tie,
- White socks,
- Black Mary Jane shoes.
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| I wore this once and was told I looked like Madeline. I think this would also be good as a character like Daryl Rivers from the Malory Towers books or Josephine from the Chalet School books. |
The Boy from The Snowman by Raymond Briggs
Blue and white striped pajamas
Blue snowman print scarf
Brown dressing gown
The Snowman from the Snowman by Raymond Briggs
White Onesie. Add 3 black buttons.
Orange NOSE.
Brown/dark green hat and scarf
Gansta Granny by David Walliams
Grey curly 'old lady' wig.
Black eye mask
Swag bag.
Black skirt
White floral blouse
Hansel and Gretel's house:
You could make yourself a cardboard house shape (wear it like a simple sandwich board) and paint or stick candy cane shapes, biscuit shapes all over it.
Alternatively just make lots of sweet and cake shapes and stick over a poncho- similar.
Matilda (Roald Dahl):
· Long hair down
· Plain blue dress
· Make a fake pile of books to hold in your arms (or tie some together)
Horrid Henry:
· Jeans
· Scruff up and spike your hair
· Find a blue sweatshirt and pin a strip of yellow across the middle
· Scowl lots
· Trainers
Mr Bump (from the Mr Men)
· Raid your first aid box- wrap bandages neatly around your head and around your middle
· Paint your face blue.
· Wear an ALL blue outfit- trousers, jumper etc
Charlotte from Charlotte's Web
· Wear ALL black.
· Get some old black tights, cut the crotch off and stuff them with old socks or other items, e.g. tissue/tissue/paper. Try to find 4 pairs of old tights (this might be one to plan for next year.. Save them...) Pin them along your sides and a pair to your shoulder.
· Find a black beanie hat and make some eyes out of white felt with a marker pen and sew or pin to the beanie.
Paddington Bear:
· Black or red floppy hat
· Blue duffle coat
· Hold a suitcase or make one out of cardboard.
· Make a large luggage tag saying, "Please take care of this bear" and string up round your neck
· Red Welly boots
The rainbow fish:
Find ALL the scraps of coloured material you can and sew together to make a fishy poncho- try to include some metallic pieces too, if you can.
Wear all blue and pin some coloured paper/material SCALES (half circle) in blues, greens and purples.
Biblical shepherd
Tea towel for head
Vintage Kaftan
Sheepskin items
Toy sheep.
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| Nativity shepherd |
A Card from Alice in Wonderland.
(You will need: 2 large pieces of white card string and a hole-punch, a wrapping-paper tube, black or red card and paper), black or red clothes,
· Get 2 pieces of large card and make yourself a sandwich board with it. Draw a card of your choice on both (e.g. the 8 of spades) .
· Dependent on your card suit, then wear clothes in either black or red.
· Make yourself a headdress by cutting a strip of card in the appropriate colour and making it into a ring for your child's head. Then make either a heart/spade/diamond/club out of the same colour and stick it to the front.
· Sceptre: Then get an old kitchen roll or wrapping tube and wrap it in red or black paper (or paint it) and make another card cutout of the suit to stick on the top.
The white rabbit from Alice 1.
Can be exactly the same as the pack of cards except for the addition of bunny ears, a ruff made out of concertined white card, and white clothes instead. You could also have a bob-tail and paint on a face. I hate face paints or I'd suggest a white face also.
The white rabbit from Alice 2.
Bunny ears and tail again. White trousers
· A monocle or glasses.
· For clothes, A tweed/suit jacket
· A bow tie and waistcoat
· Smart shirt
· A pocket watch (can be a BIG fake cardboard one!)
The mad hatter:
Totally based on the most spectacular costume a child wore some years ago.
Same sort of suit as the bunny (bow tie etc)
· A big top hat (I've made one out of black card before. It is possible)
· String some toy teacups from your pocket
· Crazy wig
Alice (in Wonderland):
Blue headband.
· Blue dress
· White apron
· white ankle socks and black ankle strap shoes.
· Hold a little bottle, stick on a label saying, "Drink me".
The Snow queen
(If you had an Elsa costume, this is VERY similar idea to the Snow Queen!)
· Essentially you need a white dress or white skirt and top.
· A tiara or crown can be made out of white card if you don't have one (I have 3, am I weird in that respect?)
· Maybe white lipstick or white eye makeup?
· You could cut out some snowflakes and attach them to the outfit as you see fit.
The white witch from Narnia.
· Similar to the above. Except make your crown look nastier and spikier. And maybe wear some fake fur items and carry a wand.
Joseph and his technicolour dreamcoat.
Some nasty 80's lurid duvet cover from the charity shop? Cut it into a coat shape or a long robe, Nativity three wise men stylie. (that's also an idea! The Bible is a book!)
Or a coat with lots of patches of coloured material attached.
The wardrobe (from the Lion, the witch and the...)
Essentially, you need a cardboard box suitably sized for your child and paints.
· Cut a hole in the top (the sealed end), big enough for your child's head. Cut off the flappy bits at the other end.
· Have fun painting it to create an old-fashioned looking wardrobe!
· Wear brown or dark clothes beneath.
·
Arwen from Lord of the Rings
A flowy dress.
· A cape.
· Some silvery sort of headdress.
· Fake pointy ears if possible
· A bow and arrows (stick/string?)
Robin Hood
· Green clothes. Ideally, a tunic, made out of green material (a green pillow case?) Belted.
· Make a bow and arrows. See above.
· A hat can easily be made by sticking together two trapezium shapes of green paper with a fake feather (or real- stalk the pigeons) attached.
Little Bo Peep:
· You basically need a frilly dress. (if your child has been a princess in previous years then you're sorted for this)
· Maybe an apron.
· A bonnet. Go to a charity shop and find an old straw hat. Put it on their head. Tie a long thick piece of ribbon under their chin.
· Get a walking stick (again, could be made out of cardboard) and attach a bow to it.
· Find a couple of cuddly sheep for them to clutch.
Anne Kirrin from the Famous Five:
A white blouse and a beigy sort of cardigan.
· A pleated skirt and knee-length socks.
· A navy blue head band (This aspect is purely based on the 1970's Famous five TV series)
Puss in Boots:
· Make yourself a cat-mask or add black felt cat ears to a big hat.
· Add a cat tail
· Wear long boots or wellie boots.
(Watch Shrek 2 for ideas!)
The Very Hungry Caterpillar:
(You will need green blanket and scraps of green material. Pins. Head band and 2 green pipe cleaners, red face paint.)
· You could easily get an old green blanket (or a green sheet or green material) and wrap it around your child (towel style). (alternatively, old sleeping bag with holes cut in feet.
· You can also wrap stripes of contrasting green material or green ribbon or scarves around it to create the stripes (or if you can sew, sew them on. Pin them on?)
· Paint their face red. They could wear green or yellow sunglasses over their eyes.
· Add green pipe cleaners to a headband and wear them on the head.
Fawkes the Phoenix from Harry Potter:
I actually dressed as a Phoenix several years ago for a silly event!
You will need:
· Red/yellow/gold/orange clothes. I wore a simple vest vest top and a red sarong.
· For your wings. Make yourself some wing shapes out of cardboard. We attached cotton straps through slits. (a big sort of angel wings formation.) . Get some crepe paper in red, yellow and orange plus some gold paper and cut into lots and lots of short strips. Attach one end of each all over the wing shape (to create feathers). Use scissors to curl them out. Alternatively, you can make phoenix wings by adding taking an old long-sleeved shirt or t-shirt (in theappropriate colours) and adding the strips all along the length of the arms and along the back.)
When I dressed up as a phoenix, we actually used one of those straw decorative woven fans and attached all the crepe paper to that. It looked fab!
· For a headdress. Use a selection of red/yellow/orange feathers and tuck them under a headband on the head.
· You could make a beak out of one segment of an egg-box attached to string (painted yellow) but I didn't bother, thinking I'd look silly!)
Paperbag Princess:
A fairly easy and cheap one. You will need A roll of brown parcel paper.
A tiara (or yellow/gold card)
· You could easily make a dress (simple or more complex depending on your skill level) out of brown paper. Alternatively (and this is what I am thinking of doing), you could get a kitchen apron and pin the brown paper, having cut it to size to it and that can easily be pulled on and off for inconveniences such as PE or playtime so it doesn't get ruined, over clothes.
· Make a crown out of gold card.
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| My colleague used this idea! |
Mary Poppins
· A large charity shop hat to which large fake flowers can be added.
· A large holdall type bag (ideally tapestry)
· A long skirt and high necked blouse. Or just a white blouse.
· A black umbrella
· A mid-length wool-type coat (school coat?)
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| My niece dressed up as the penguin from Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers. |
The penguin from Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers
Penguin costume.
All black clothes,
Orange socks,
Homemade penguin mask.
White bib made out of a sheet of white felt, an old white sheet, pillow case
Bobby or Phyllis from The Railway Children:
· High necked long-dress
· White apron or overall over the top.
· Black beret.
· Black tights and boots
· Red flannel petticoat underneath.
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| Always wear your red flannel petticoats! |
Tom from The water babies:
Essentially a chimney-sweep outfit. Good if your children are in year 5 or studying the Victorians.
· You can make chimney brush (or just give them a broom. See if you can get any chores out of them as a result!) our of a long stick with crepe paper/black paper strip stuck to the top)
· Shirt and waistcoat (scruff looking is fine.)
· Dirt/back eye-shadow spread on cheeks to create dirt effect.
· Black trousers. Could be ragged at the bottom if this is an item that's not needed anymore. Alternatively, if like me you don't want to ruin it, just give them the normal ones and roll them up!)
This is similar to what an Oliver Twist outfit might be without the Broom
The highway man:
Also good for Year 6 and year 5 children. From Robert Louis Stevenson's classic narrative poem.
The poem tells you what the costume should be!
He'd a French cocked hat at his forehead.
A bunch of lace at his chin.
A coat of claret velvet
And breeches of fine doe-skin.
They fitted with never a wrinkle: his boots were up to the thigh!
And he rode with a jewelled twinkle,
His pistol butts a-twinkle,
His rapier hilt a-twinkle, under the jewelled sky.
(So that's: a wine-red coat, ideally velvet, some sort of white shirt, ideally ruffly- you could make a ruffle out of some white material or just a handkerchief; brown trousers or leggings (if girl?), A hat can be made out of black card again. Think Admiral Nelson.
A sword in a belt, and two toy guns).
Girls could also be Bess. Hair down, wear red roses in your hair. A shawl, a red outfit or general old-fashioned looking dress. One of my children actually took my suggestion for this one year and did this as her costume. I was so proud of her!
Pied piper of Hamelin.
· Some sort of tunic (brown or read in colour) or waistcoat with a shirt
· Simple trousers.
· Make a fake wooden flute (or use a real one/recorder) out of some sort of tube or roll of paper.
· Make a stick with a bundle of clothes attached.
· String some fake rats to them. (I vaguely recall some sort of Jane Asher costume doing this)
Katie Morag:
Year 2 children often study these books.
You need (ideally a red bobbed wig)
· Black wellies or knee high boots if not
· A tartan skirt (green and yellow ideally but if not..),
· A fair-isle or embroidered white/cream jumper
· A scruffy old looking teddy (Tiresome Ted) to carry!
Red riding hood:
I have a red bed sheet. I'd tie it at the neck with a ribbon, wear a pretty dress with an apron and white socks, carry a basket.
Any human/god character from Ancient Greek myths (Are studied in all year groups in primary school)
You will need:
· A white sheet or piece of light-coloured material.
· Either cut a hole half-way through some material. Post the child's head through and belt it with some rope (or a gold/silver/brown belt) OR just tie it toga-style at one shoulder with it under the other arm.
· Head-dress: You could just make a wreath out of any old leaves (use string/thread or whatever) or what I did last year was to buy some of those gold leaves and flowers attached to wire from Hobbycraft and attach them to a gold headband.
· Sandals
· Gold accessories. (I wore a nasty bling Primark coin necklace)I was Helen of Troy)
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| Helen of Troy |
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| DIY head dress. |
Other Ancient Greek themes: (particularly suitable for boys who like gruesome gore)
The minotaur: Dress them up in black/brown, make them bull horns on a headband?
The medusa: Fake snake hair. You could make one out of my old favourite, crepe-paper.
Daealus and Icarus. See the outfits for human character and add some feather wings.
Cyclops: Paint an eye on the boy's forehead. Generally make him look butch.
The watchman with 100 eyes. Similar theme. Create fake eyes and stick them all over the child.
The tiger who came to tea:
An orange t-shirt. use some black strips of material and pin them on.
· String some tea-cups from your shoulder/pocket.
· Attach some orange card in the form of tiger ears to a headband.
· Make yourself a tail by screwing/rolling up a piece of orange sugar-paper and attach to your bottom somehow!
Handa's surprise:
Based on someone's costume from a previous year
Lovely sarong on bottom half.
Nice blouse on top half.
Make a hat like a bowl of fruit and wear it on your head.
PIRATES:
Long John Silver (Treasure Island) OR Captain Hook (Peter Pan)
Basically a pirate costume:
Spotty headscarf,
Ruffly white skirt
Black suit jacket.
Black cropped trousers
Fake hook (can be made out of foil scrunched up)
A cuddly parrot on your shoulder.
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| The time that CBC and I dressed as pirates. |
Peter Pan:
Green t-shirt
Green leggings or trousers- you can fringe or cut jagged edges on these so they look a bit more ragged.
Make a green triangular paper hat and add a red paper feather.
Michael from Peter Pan costume:
White pajamas or night shirt
Black top hat
Black umbrella
Black glasses
Wendy from Peter Pan:
Pale blue ball gown/party dress.
Pale blue bow in hair
I really hope that gives you some good ideas if you are stuck!
Where’s Wally?
Red and white striped t-shirt
Blue trousers
Black circular glasses.
Red and white striped hat.
Walking stick
The BFG:
BIG fake ears (drawn out of card)
White t-shirt
Ragged brown waistcoat
Green trousers (maybe ragged and cropped)
Ear horn for hearing!
FANTASTIC MR FOX:
Make a FOX eye mask.
Wear a boy’s suit
Long coat
Waistcoat and shirt.
Bowtie
Smart trousers.
D'Artagnan from Alexander Dumas' Three Muskateers
Felt floppy hat
White plumed feather to add to hat
Loose long white shirt.
White crocheted collar or collar made of card.
Blue Cape.
Brown leggings
Knee high boots
Sword made out of cardboard, covered in silver foil
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| D'Artagnan |
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| D'Artagnan with fake moustache |
George from George’s Marvellous medicine:
Red t-shirt
Blue jeans
String up (or make one out of card) a big wooden spoon and a medicine bottle from your t-shirt.
Percy the Park keeper
Brown Baker boy hat.
Green shirt
Brown jacket and brown trousers
Black welly boots.
Blue Braces.
Mr or Mrs Twit:
Draw on big black eyebrows.
Make a fake beard out of black wool or black paper tie with wool round face.
Draw beetles and insects to stick to it.
Dark scruffy looking adult clothes.
Guinevere from various Camelot books
Long dress with bell/flared sleeves in strong plain colour.
Band of patterned material to go around waist.
Head dress- I made mine from twisting a pair of purple tights with a piece of gold brocade material.
Gold ribbons to tie around hair in plaits.
Elizabeth Bennett from Pride and Prejudice
Empire line white dress
Short jacket with buttons (you could buy a high necked charity shop blazer and cut it to a Spencer Jacket length.
Bonnet (mine is made out of an old wedding hat with the back of the brim cut off and ribbons sewed on.
Ballet pumps
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| My costume from a few years ago. |
