To despise what world book day has become

Our school stopped it, I’d say because so many came in dressed as superheroes. It has turned awful, they should have authors come in, or book readings/ competitions about making up your own characters or stories etc.

The problem with 'just send them in as a character who wears normal clothes' is selling that to your kid. They say they want to be Voldemort or Willy Wonka or Gandalf and you have to kill all their ideas dead and tell them they have to go as a muggle. It makes the whole thing stressful and sad.

Purely from my perspective, I disagree.

My DD loves reading and books and loves World Book Day. She'll read a book she loves and decide months in advance that she wants to be that particular character. I think it's a great way to connect with books.

I know this isn't always the case, though and the number of TV and film characters is a bit depressing.

Ours have said either...

Dress up but have discouraged purchasing new costumes (strong eco focus)
Wear pyjamas, because lots of people like to read at bed time
Wear non uniform
Wear uniform (high % ND kids who struggle with non uniform days)

It all seems so reductive and pointless now. I think I'd send them in as O'Brien from 1984, or Mr Kurtz, or Captain Ahab, just to make a point.

(I realise a prosthetic leg made from the jawbone of a whale might be challenging)

Our school has also ditched it. Phew

Our primary school have been really good at recognising the pressure it can put on parents so a couple of years ago they switched it to a pyjama/comfy clothes day instead and everyone loves it.
If your dc is happy to, pyjamas always is a good one to fall back on.

My daughter loves it. She loves books and dressing up. Her school have said they can just wear play clothes if they don't want to dress up. They also bring the book that their character is from, or their favourite book if they aren't dressing up.

I always wondered who bought those naff costumes you see in the supermarkets. Mumsnet I suppose. We choose characters based off the clothes we have. DD was a pokemon trainer last year, just took her pokemon book and a small toy.

My daughter's school has rolled it back and now says kids can come 'ready to read' so basically in comfortable clothes. No dressing up required or encouraged. Dressing up is a good idea in theory but in reality it does tend become the usual capitalist rush to buy the best costumes. I made a costume one year and it was a fun outcome but a brutal process (as subsequent Halloween costumes have been). Another year she dressed up as a superhero because that's what we had in the house, and that introduced me to the people that don't think comics, graphic novels, manga etc are 'valid' reading. Which in turn led me on to the judgy parents that look down their noses at DOAWK etc. So I'm happy for the comfortable clothes and dialling back the focus on the tentacles and more on the books.

A themed onesie 😊

I agree its daft. Dressing up has nothing to do with books. Just an excuse by schools to raise funds.

I saw this on social media and I think it’s a great idea but I don’t know if it’s working (and I don’t live in Devon.) If you do, I’d love to know if people have used it. https://www.librariesunlimited.org.uk/find-world-book-day-costumes-for-free-in-devon-libraries/Devon libraries

We tend to go for the "look in your wardrobe/dressing up box/onesie you own and fit a book to it" particularly as youngest dc has wild ideas about costumes and my crafting ability
Dc school has sensibly got a costume swap running although you dont need to actually swap so it helps financially and the planet
Its been this way for years and there is always that parent that creates a masterpiece (never me!)

DCs school is take your favourite book this year. DD has managed jeans and a jumper every year (Hermione in book 7, Mal from impossible creatures, etc) DS has gone as dog man with jeans, a blue hoodie, a blue cap and dog ears for the last 4 years!

Yep. Loads of cheap plastic costumes here for one day then added to landfill. It’s an abomination.

I sent my two in as muggles from Harry Potter one year. So glad they don’t do it at secondary.

I have to say my heart sank today when DS suggested "we" make a creeper head. Where at two days notice when I have 45 mins a day between work and school pickup was I going to find a correctly sized box, green and black paint that would dry (proper poster paint) and a full green outfit? Anyway he went off that, so onesie it is.

I bet Amazon and the like absolutely love World Book Day.

When I've seen pictures of my granddaughters class on WBD, it looks as if at least 50% are wearing school uniform and looking happy about it.

Ah, the memories. I refused to buy costumes, saddling myself like a martyr with the task of cobbling something together. One year, a mouse, which sounded easy - brown tights and jumper DD had already, with only a whiskered mask and long, thin tail to make. Sourcing brown felt involved a long diversion when I was in a neighbouring city for work, then hours of stuffing the tail when I had an early start the following day. I was so cross, I phoned a Radio 5 Live phone-in to gripe about WBD and the unreasonable pressure it puts on mothers. Try and find a man stuffing a tube of felt with wadding at 2am 😡

My variant on this was keep the child off school to read books. If the teacher asks why they weren't in school the response is "Yes, they were. They went as the title character from H G Wells' The Invisible Man"

Our school say come in PJs or a onesie, is that an option?

Imagine my delight this year when our school told us children could choose either to dress up as a favourite character or just wear comfy clothes to settle down and read a good book in. 🙌🥳🎉