Are you looking for a fun book character costume to celebrate your child’s favorite story book characters? This list has over 30 DIY easy book character costumes you can make. Yes you!
Of course some of the costume are more elaborate than others but I promise there are some super easy ideas that use items you already own plus with a little accessorizing (via Amazon if you like). Or go full DIY and make everything yourself.
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 1995 as 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 I am a boy mom. I didn’t want to leave the girls out so I found some fun book character costume ideas for girls too. This The Rainbow Fish can an easily be adjusted for big kids with leggings and a fun tutu. I absolutely love this Paper Bag Princess Costume, it’s adorable.
If you have a group of friends that want to dress up together, then these No-Sew Care Bear Costumes would be great! Don’t forget about classic storybook costumes for girls too like Little Red Riding Hood, Pippi Longstocking, Fancy Nancy, Magic School Bus Ms. Frizzle, Luna Lovegood, and Winnie 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 a Cat in the Hat Costume, an Easy 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 adorable Thing 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 Costume or Fantastic Mr. Fox Mask. How about a Mr. Smee Costume from Peter Pan or a set of Wizard of Oz Character Costumes. Thinking outside the box, or rather inside the house and this Wizard of Oz House Costume is amazing!
Book Character Costumes
DIY Dr. Seuss Costumes
Dr. Seuss is very popular with elementary school kids including Horton Hears A Who, Green Eggs and Ham, and One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish Blue Fish. Check out the variety of Dr. Seuss costume options we have listed below.
Fox in Socks by Dr. Seuss was published in 1965.
The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss was published in 1957.
Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You? by Dr. Seuss was published in 1970.
The Lorax by Dr. Seuss was published in 1971.
Thing 1 and Thing 2 are characters from The Cat in the Hat book.
DIY Harry Potter Costumes
Description is required.J. K. Rowling started publishing Harry Potter books in 1997 with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. It was followed by:
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (1998)
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (1999)
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2000)
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2003)
Luna Lovegood first appears in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
Here's another fun Luna Lovegood costume option.
We meet Ginny Weasley in the first book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.
We meet Hermione Granger in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone as well.
The Golden Snitch is a very important ball in the wizarding sport of Quidditch. We learn about the sport of Quidditch at Hogwarts in the first book too.
Speaking of Quidditch, this is a funny Harry Potter wearing a Quidditch jersey.
Book Series Character Costumes
Elementary school kids love book series chapter books, they are usually fun and reading level appropriate.
The Lord of the Hat is book 5 in the Creature from my Closet series by Obert Skye. The creature is a combination of Gollum from Lord of the Rings and Cat in the Hat.
Potterwookiee is book 2 in the Creature from my Closet series by Obert Skye. The creature is a combination of Harry Potter and Chewbacca from Star Wars.
There are 8 Big Nate books and even more Big Nate comic strip collection books. Big Nate is authored by Lincoln Peirce.
There is currently 17 Diary of a Wimpy Kid books by Jeff Kinney.
There are currently 10 Dog Man books in the series by Dav Pilkey.
There are 13 Captain Underpants books by Dav Pilkey
DIY Captain Underpants Costume for Book Character Day or Halloween!
Here's another Captain Underpants costume idea.
There are 10 books in the Pippi Longstocking series by Swedish author Astrid Lindgren.
There are dozens of Magic School Bus titles by Joanna Cole.
There is also dozens of Fancy Nancy books by Jane O'Connor.
There are currently 19 Winnie the WItch or (Winnie and Wilbur) books by Valerie Thomas.
There are 8 books in the Mary Poppins series by P. L. Travers.
Classic Storybook Character Costumes
The BFG by Roald Dahl features an orphan girl or befriends a giant, a Big Friendly Giant.
Fantastic Mr Fox Mask for World Book Day - Red Ted Art - Make crafting with kids easy & fun
Fantastic Mr. Fox is another fun book by Roald Dahl.
Peter Pan is by J. M. Barrie and features a variety of characters for costume ideas including Peter Pan and Mr. Smee.
Little Red Riding Hood is a fairy tale that can be traced back to versions of folk tales by Charles Perrault and the Brothers Grimm.
The Rainbow Fish is a children's picture book drawn and written by Swiss author and illustrator, Marcus Pfister, and translated into English by J. Alison James.
There are lots of Mr. Men books by Roger Hargreaves. Plus additional Little Miss books.
The Gruffalo is a children's picture book by author Julia Donaldson.
How to Make a Gruffalo Dress Up Apron for Creative Storytelling
Make your own DIY Gruffalo costume.
There are 42 Thomas the Train books written by Rev. Wilbert Awdry, and his son Christopher.
The Wizard of Oz is authored by L. Frank Baum.
Halloween Costumes 2014: The whole "Wizard of Oz" gang! (...plus a VIDEO!)
More Wizard of Oz costume ideas.
The Paper Bag Princess is created by Robert Munsch.
The Care Bears were characters created by the American Greetings company. There have been dozens of books written by various authors and publishers.
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 include Thomas the Train Halloween Costume, Gruffalo Dress Up Apron, Gruffalo Mouse Headband, and Mr. 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
More Favourite Character Costumes
Sometimes all you need is a little inspiration to find ways to make costumes from plain clothes or normal clothes for your first world book day at school. More ideas include: Robin Hood, Stickman, Charlie Bucket from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (don’t forget his golden ticket), Snow White (or the prince), Captain Hook, Mr. Men characters, 3 little pigs, Mad Hatter, or anyone from Charlotte’s Web!
marissa | rae gun ramblings says
Ahhh So much fun!! Thanks for including my little outfits