Last minute Book Week costumes
Brace yourself – Book Week is coming. Some parents go all out, others forget about it entirely until it’s mere hours away (guilty as charged). Whether you’ve got an afternoon or an hour to get a costume together, we hope you find inspiration in our list of five last minute Book Week costumes.
Rosie from ‘Rosie Sips Spiders’ by Alison Lester
If you own a flannel/tartan shit, a pair of jeans or overalls, boots and any kind of farm-style hat, you’ve got yourself a Rosie costume. Rosie is one of Alison Lester’s most beloved characters. The author of ‘Magic Beach’, ‘Are we there yet?’ and ‘Imagine’ created the ‘Clive Eats Alligators’ series in the late 1980s, and it’s just as beloved today – as are the characters it introduced us to, including Rosie. To take your Rosie costume to the next level, draw some black spiders onto a plastic cup and add a straw.
A possum from ‘Possum Magic’ by Mem Fox
Gather up every piece of grey clothing you own, get some face paint (or skin-friendly markers) and your copy of ‘Possum Magic’ for this last-minute Book Week costume. If you want to go the extra mile, you could even add some rainbow stars to a purple apron and track down a pair of wire-frame glasses and go as Grandma Poss.
Greg Heffley from ‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid’ by Jeff Kinney
If you have access to white card (or even just a laminator) you should have no trouble making this Greg Heffley mask. You can even print out this pre-made one, courtesy of Penguin. Then, all that’s left to do is pop them in a white t-shirt, black shorts, white socks, black shoes and a black backpack. So simple, yet so effective.
Rose from ‘John Brown, Rose and the Midnight Cat’ by Jenny Wagner
This is another easy costume you can create using clothes you probably already own. Just take a yellow dress (or a similar colour), a red/pink/brown cardigan and some socks. No slippers? Any shoes will do, especially if you can pop a purple pom pom on the top of each one. Then, pull their hair up into your best ‘old lady’ bun and pop on some glasses. Bam – your child is Rose, BFF to the loveably jealous sheepdog John Brown.
A beach goer, from various books
Okay, this might just be the easiest costume idea on this list. If you live in Australia, chances are your little ones have swimsuits (‘togs’, ‘cozzies’, or ‘swimmers’ depending on where you live) – and it turns out there are plenty of children’s books that feature the beach. From ‘Greetings from Sandy Beach’ by Bob Graham to ‘Harry by the Sea’ by Gene Zion, plus the aforementioned ‘Magic Beach’ by Alison Lester, there are so many books you could reference by rocking a swimsuit, goggles or sunglasses, sunshirt, boardies and a towel this Book Week.