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.
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.
Book Character Costume Ideas for Students
In fact, just because they don’t HAVE to dress up as a storybook character, doesn’t mean my boys won’t opt to naturally on their own. There are lots of awesome ideas in some of their favorite book series for 2nd and 3rd graders and 4th, 5th and 6th graders.
Quinn is totally into the Creature in the Closet books, so I created two fun costumes from that book series! It’s hard not to love the Potterwookiee Costume, Potterwookie is a combination of Harry Potter and Chewbacca! I also created Lord of the Hat costume for Elliot, Lord of the Hat is a mixture of Gollum from Lord of the Rings and Cat in the Hat.
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 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 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 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!
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.
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 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!
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.
- 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
Desert Chica is my place to share a peek into our life and the easy and inexpensive costumes, crafts and desserts I like to make.
marissa | rae gun ramblings says
Ahhh So much fun!! Thanks for including my little outfits