DIY Book Character Costumes - Desert Chica (2024)

World Book Day Costume Ideas

These are great ideas for your favourite book character if you are looking for World Book Day costume ideas as well. World Book Day was created by UNESCO on 23rd April 1995as a worldwide celebration of books and reading and it was first celebrated in the UK and Ireland in 1997.

Book Character Costumes for Kids

Costumes aren’t only for Halloween, especially book character day costumes. Story book characters are good for Dr. Seuss Day, school spirit week, world book day, love of reading week and more.

Dressing up in a literary costume from a classic children’s book is a fun way for the whole school to celebrate. Teachers can dress as their favorite book character. Some great ideas include Mary Poppins, Alice in Wonderland and Curious George

This is a great list of ideas for book lovers to use during Halloween as well. Plus, some schools only allow students to wear Halloween costumes if they represent a storybook character.

That may seem limited but there really are still a lot of fun costume ideas focused on book characters! Luckily our school allows the kids to dress up for Halloween with very little restrictions other than banning gore and weapons.

Tween Book Character Costumes

Speaking of Harry Potter, there is a lot of amazing book character costume ideas within the Wizarding World of Harry Potter! Start with the main characters like Harry Potter and Hermione Granger, then consider secondary characters like Luna Lovegood and Ginny Weasley. And what about this cute Golden Snitch Costume, adorable and fun.

A few more popular book ideas from our bookshelf include a Captain Underpants, Big Nate,Dog Man, another Dog Man costume and Rodrick and Greg from Diary of a Wimpy Kid!

Easy to Make Book Character Costumes

I tend to focus on making DIY book character costumes for boys because Iam a boy mom. I didn’t want to leave the girls out so I found some fun book character costume ideas for girls too.ThisThe Rainbow Fishcan an easily be adjusted for big kids with leggings and a fun tutu. I absolutely love thisPaper Bag Princess Costume, it’s adorable.

If you have a group of friends that want to dress up together, then theseNo-Sew Care Bear Costumeswould be great! Don’t forget about classic storybook costumes for girls too likeLittle Red Riding Hood,Pippi Longstocking, Fancy Nancy,Magic School Bus Ms. Frizzle, Luna Lovegood, andWinnie the Witch Costume.

Book Character Costumes For Kids and Teachers

Beyond Halloween, our school often hosts a storybook character dress up day during spirit week or even during ‘Read Across America day’ to celebrate Dr. Seuss’s Birthday. I’ve created a couple of Dr. Seuss costumes over the years for my boys including aCat in the Hat Costume, anEasy Lorax Costume, Fox in Socks Costume and a Mr. Brown Costume.

It’s pretty easy to make many classic characters from Dr. Seuss books with a few basics like a black t-shirt, or even a black dress for the Cat in the hat or a blue wig for Thing 1 and 2. It’s also pretty easy to make or buy a Thing 1/2 shirt, combine it with this adorableThing 1 and Thing 2 DIY Costume Wig.

You can’t go wrong with costumes from classic authors like Roald Dahl costumes like The BFG –The BFG CostumeorFantastic Mr. Fox Mask. How about aMr. Smee Costumefrom Peter Pan or a set ofWizard of Oz Character Costumes. Thinking outside the box, or rather inside the house and thisWizard of Oz House Costume is amazing!

What is Book Character Day?

Book Character Day is a day when students, teachers and staff dress up as a character from their favorite book. It’s a great way way to celebrate Love of Reading Week or Dr. Seuss Day. In addition you can have a costume parade and give presentations on your favorite book. It can also inspire little girls and boys to read more!

What are good costumes for Book Week?

There are a quite a few book character costume ideas in this post. Beyond classic children’s authors like Dr. Seuss and Roald Dahl, most children’s characters from nursery rhymes and animated movies or shows also have books. If your kiddo has an Elsa dress, I am sure they also have a Frozen book to bring to school too!

Just let them choose their favorite book characters and go for it! It doesn’t have t be a perfect costume, most kids are super excited to just dress up in the their favorite book character costume.

More Character Day Ideas

A few more book character costumes for kids includeThomas the Train Halloween Costume,Gruffalo Dress Up Apron,Gruffalo Mouse Headband, andMr. Men Costumes.

Buy Book Character Costumes

Don’t have the time or creativity to make a DIY book character costume? Check out these fun options from Amazon and Etsy and HalloweenCostumes.com.

• Peter Pan Costume
• Harry Potter Costume
• Wizard Scarf
• Fancy Nancy Accessory Set
• Prairie Girl Costume
• Cat in the Hat Costume Accessories
• Thing 1 and Thing 2 Shirts
• Wild Things Costume
• Elephant and Piggie Masks
• Pete the Cat Costume
• Amelia Bedelia Costume Ideas
• Very Hungry Catepillar Costumes
• Lots of book character accessory options to partially DIY your costume