As World Book Day looms onto the horizon, it has taken me by surprise yet again. Actually, that’s not quite true. I remembered about it weeks ago and had some great ideas. Then forgot about them. So yet again, time for some last minute costume ideas.
I’m really not sure how long World Book Day has been about. I first heard of it on World Book Day 2012 when I dropped my little baby to nursery. And he wasn’t wearing a costume. Because I had no idea it was World Book Day. I had never even heard of it.
It was then that I vowed I’d never forget another World Book Day again.
Fast-forward 364 days, and I was reminded at nursery pick-up that it was World Book Day the very next day. Great, so now I had ‘make a last minute costume for tomorrow’ to add to my list of Things To Do that night.
Thankfully, I had some scraps of felt lying around in the craft cupboard. And a winning idea! The Very Hungry Caterpillar.
So, feeling like a character from The Elves and The Shoemakers, I spent hours cutting out circles of green and yellow felt, some shapes for eyes, a read circle for a head. Then realized I had no thread.
Back to the craft cupboard. Glue?
After ten minutes of fumbling, pressing hard and cursing, I realized that craft glue was not going to stick felt to felt.
Not to worry, I had some stronger glue.
After 30 minutes, each of the glue circles was glued onto a plain black top, the caterpillar’s head at the front and its end disappearing into a felt hole on the back of the top. It was looking good.
But my head was spinning from glue fumes.
And was it my imagination or could I still smell the fumes the following day?
And it seemed even worse at pick-up. The heating in the nursery room was so hot that it seemed to have baked the glue; you couldn’t even smell toddler’s dirty bottoms for the smell of glue.
(My heartiest apologies to all my little boy’s peers for inadvertently giving them their first taste of glue-sniffing. I can only hope that the experience will put them off for life.)
One year older and wiser: Surely I won’t forget and have to do another last minute costume for World Book Day?
You know where I’m going with this already, don’t you?
Yep, one year on and I’m being reminded by the next child’s nursery that she needs a costume for World Book Day.
Damn you, World Book Day, you’ve caught me out again!
Actually, not so. I dropped by the fabric shop on the way home and picked up a piece of white gauze. Perfect for wings.
A quick rummage in the kids’ drawers and I found a long sleeved black top.
And some leftover yellow fabric in the craft cupboard.
So, with some poor quality sewing, and an ill-advised glass of red wine, I sewed some slightly crooked stripes on the top. And fashioned a pair of gauze wings for the back.
Hey Presto! The Very Greedy Bee.
..now where’s the rest of the wine?
A last minute costume for World Book Day 2018
As this is the first year Big Boy and Littlest Angel have been in the same place together for World Book Day, they are dressing up together too. They are less than 2 years apart and are, at the moment, very best buddies.
I suspect it will be the first and last time that they’ll want to do dressing up together, so I’m going to relish this while it lasts.
And make sure that these last minute costumes are easy peasy to make.
So, they are going in as Thing 1 and Thing 2 from The Cat In The Hat, one of Littlest Angel’s favourite books.
(Major change of plan here – please read on)
Or they were going in as Thing 1 and Thing 2.
Now Thing 1 has caught a vomiting bug and can’t make it in for World Book Day at all.
And without Thing 1, Thing 2 will just look a bit like a weird blue-haired kid with a red top and a parent who can never remember their children’s names.
….and I had even bought red tops and some funny blue hairy wool stuff to make ‘wigs’.
So, back to the drawing board…….
Some other costume ideas for World Book Day
Stick Man
All you’ll need for this is a plain brown top and plain brown trouser or leggings. Plus some green felt or material. Cut out 10 or 12 green leaf shapes. Sew them, a few here and a few there, onto the brown clothes. Best to just sew one part of the leaf on to allow it to rustle around in the breeze like a real leaf. More authentic. And easier!
If you can be bothered to take it any further, and have a child who will tolerate headgear, you could make a ‘hat’ too. Just take a thick strip of brown card, measure it against the circumference of your kid’s head, then staple it to size. (The card, not your kid’s head)
You could even jazz the hat up by attaching a leaf or two off it.
(But I have no plain brown clothes!)
Hey Presto! Stick Man.
The Snail and The Whale
For this one, you’ll need a plain black top, some white chalk for marking out and a needle a thread. And a paper plate or piece of white or light brown construction card. Or a piece of snail-coloured fabric.
Using your very best grown-up cursive writing, write Save The Whale across the front of the tshirt.
Then double up your thread and sew over this writing.
(Alternatively, if you had a better stock of stuff in your cupboards, or hadn’t left it too late to plan ahead, you could just use some silvery fabric pens and write onto the top. However, I’m working on the basis that you are all reading this after school the day before World Book Day)
- Draw out the snail onto the paper plate or construction card. Cut it out and glue or stick it onto the bottom of the black top.
Or, as I am lucky enough to have found a bit of snail-coloured fabric, I drew mine on that, cut it out and glued it on the top.
Make sure that you join the writing to the snail so it looks like snail trail writing.
Hey Presto! The Snail and The Whale.
Diary of a Wimpy Kid
For this, you just need a plain white top, white tights or leggings and, ideally black shorts. And a black backpack if you’re really going for authenticity.
Oh, and some black fabric paint or a very thick permanent marker.
Carefully draw or paint the cartoon outline of the Wimpy Kid on the tshirt. I drew his short-sleeved top onto a long sleeved top and then drew his arms too. I think it looks more like a cartoon drawing that way.
Then, you can either leave the face alone, or make a Wimpy Kid mask.
I saw some on Pinterest where they had even made a papier mache head.
But, let’s be honest, if you’re here looking for last minute ideas the day before World Book Day, that’s not going to work for you.
So, hey Presto! The Wimpy Kid.
And what about World Book Day 2019? Will we do better? Will we get onto it weeks ahead? Or will we be back here again, for last minute ideas?
….come on, do I really need to answer that?
See you here next year.
Same time, same place.
(If, after seeing what a shambles I make of World Book Day each year, you still want to know more about me, click here for some more info.)
