15 Quick and Easy Last Minute World Book Day Costumes

World Book Day can really creep up on you, and it sometimes feels like you’re only just packing away the angel wings, shepherd beards and lobster costumes from December. So we thought it would be helpful to suggest our top outfits for World Book Day that are quick, cheap and easy. Also they don’t require a mad dash to the over priced fancy dress shop or a gamble on how ‘next day’ your Prime delivery service really is. We are also keen to give you some ideas that don’t casually expect you to own a glue gun, sewing machine, half the contents of a craft shop and the artistic talent of Da Vinci. You should be able to trot these costumes together very quickly with household items that most people (or their neighbours) should have.

• Red bow, ribbon or cut a strip of red cloth/old t-shirt.
• School shirt
• Dress
• A few books, possibly tied into a pile with string
• Jam jar with some water and ideally a plastic newt (any small bath toy animal or dinosaur or a jelly slug in our case, will do!).
• Glasses if possible, but not essential

• Plain jumper (ideally blue)
• Shorts (ideally brown and baggy)
• Hair product to quiff up the front of you hair
• A teddy (ideally white dog) on a lead or string
• Magnifying glass if you have one, or cut one out of some old cardboard.

• Floral blouse
• Cardigan
• Skirt
• Tights
• Pearl necklace
• Black robber’s mask, made with a strip of black material, holes cut in an eye mask or black paper cut to shape with string to hold it in place.
• Ideally a grey wig or hair spray
• A bag with swag written on or a biscuit tin with gems inside

• Old white/school shirt
• Chocolate/nutella spread on the shirt and face!
• A cushion stuffed up the front of the shirt.

• Mr bump: blue clothes and bandages
• Little miss sunshine: yellow clothes and bunches

• Dark top
• Dark trousers
• 3 x pairs of tights stuffed with newspaper
• 6 x safety pins to attach the pairs of legs
• 2 x 1m long bits of string to attach the ends of the legs to the wrists

Centipede – James and Giant peach

• Green/brown top
• Green/brown trousers
• Lots of socks stuffed with newspaper
• Lots of safety pins to attach the little legs
• A set of antennae, either 2 pipe cleaners on a hair band or molded from tin fo

• A dress
• A football

• PJs
• A teddy
• Ideally a bow and arrow of some sort

BFG

• Massive ears, ideally made by cutting a paper plate in half and connecting the halves with a strip of card that sits over the top of the BFG’s head. If you have time, paint or colour in the ears and fix in place with hair clips.
• A cape or large coat hung over the shoulders
• A dream trumpet made by rolling some sheets of newspaper into a stiff cone and wrapping with tin foil.
• A dream jar, either a small bottle with some water and glitter in it, or a jam jar with coloured paper or cotton wool that’s been roughly coloured with felt tip and any small battery light you can find, a bike light, glow stick, battery fairy lights.

The Twits 

• Draw on a thick monobrow with felt tip or face paint.
• Make your hair as scruffy as possible, brush it the wrong way and ideally put sticks ans leaves in it.
• If you can, try to create a beard from coloured in cotton wool, or out of cardboard with shredded cardboard stuck to it, with small birds and bits of scrambled eggs in it!

Pippi Longstocking

• Odd socks
• Odd shoes
• Random miss matched clothes
• Freckles
• Rosie red cheeks
• Ideally a red wig with sticky out plaits or if you have long hair, plait it onto a metal coat hanger taped onto a hair band to keep in place.

Charlie Bucket

• Dress in scruffy clothes
• Make a golden ticket using yellow card or paper and a black felt tip.

Mr Stink 

• Draw on stubble with felt tip or thick pencil.
• A scruffy coat
• A teddy (ideally a dog) on a lead as The Duchess
• A DIY cardboard badge or sash with “Stink for Prime Minister” on it