Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Flip

1 2 3 4 5

Original poster

How do you feel about dressing up for World Book Day?

105 replies

Ricekrispie22 · 06/02/2020 19:48

Do you enjoy dressing your child up as a book character? Or would you rather their school didn’t do it?

OP posts:

ByAppointmentTo · 07/02/2020 07:42

Absolutely hate it!

Oldraver · 07/02/2020 07:56

Thank god it's frogging behind me.

MyGhastIsFlabbered · 07/02/2020 08:01

My kids love it. Thankfully we've had an email from school saying they're not dressing up this year. Kids can go in their own clothes (including pjs). Huge sigh of relief.

Ihavepatrick · 07/02/2020 08:13

I despise it

sashh · 07/02/2020 08:17

Ricekrispie22

OK but the first one doesn't need a story, any child can go as 'hope' in a cardboard box with 'property of Pandora' in felt tip on it.

PineappleDanish · 07/02/2020 08:24

I hate it. Really, really hate it. The whole thing has nothing to do with books and 50% of children in my kids' school turn up as Spiderman or Anna from Frozen. The whole thing is incredibly wasteful - people buy cheap plastic supermarket costumes designed to be worn once and then chucked.

Last year the school ditched dressing up and did a book swap instead, and got a local author in to read her book to the little ones and talk about the writing process and creativity to the older ones. MUCH better.

honesttogod · 07/02/2020 08:26

When my kids were younger they loved it but now 7&8 they hate it. My youngest starts reception in September so no doubt she'll love it. I think any dress up days are a waste of money if you don't have things at home already.

Alisaslisa · 07/02/2020 08:28

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

We3kingsoforientareandabump · 07/02/2020 09:06

I love it. I love making costumes.

This years theme is bedtime stories so they are just going in PJ's which is a lot easier though.

elliejjtiny · 07/02/2020 09:14

I don't mind either way. My dc love dressing up so we have a lot of dressing up stuff anyway and we never have to buy anything new for world book day.

Pilot12 · 07/02/2020 09:20

I hate it, having to spend £15.00 per child on a costume that will only be worn once and rushing to buy before they sell out of the required size. I can't even sew on a button so no, I can't make two costumes!

usernotfound0000 · 07/02/2020 09:38

I hate it. Luckily DD's school don't do it, or at least didn't last year so I'm hoping for the same. Her school is in an area that attracts children from both poorer and more affluent backgrounds, and the school do seem to manage to avoid doing things that would put unnecessary financial pressure on those from the poorer areas.

Rubychard · 07/02/2020 10:32

I hate it.
Ds is now year 6 and this year I’m not bothering. He’s recently been diagnosed with asd and whilst he likes the idea of doing it he can’t cope with the reality of putting on something different on the day. The last 2 years I’ve made a homemade costume and they’ve both gone unworn. Saving money and effort this year.

NewNameIsNew · 07/02/2020 11:38

Our school used to do dress up but made a choice to make it more inclusive a few years back. Since then we've had things like wear pjs and bring your favorite bedtime story and my personal favourite, dress like a muggle day (the kids all wore normal clothes but the ones who wanted did things like odd socks, mismatching etc as often wizards don't "get" muggle clothing)

People still moan whatever is done, every year there are complaints.

The school goes off timetable for the day and all activities are reading related.

Littleshortcake · 07/02/2020 11:42

I love it but I used stuff from around the house and Santy put a few bits and pieces in the stocking for the dressing up box. It's a nice bit of fun and memories for the children. I certainly don't feel people should be out of pocket though.

SoCrimeaRiver · 07/02/2020 11:51

We've had world book day for 7 years (DS is last year of primary), dress as someone from history, dress as someone who lived in a castle, dress as a character from a Roald Dahl book, wear spots for children in need and today, number robots. I work FT so god knows what these costumes cobbled together out of DS' wardrobe look like once they've been through breakfast club. He's always hated dressing up so I've tried to avoid buying costumes (apart from the knight costume we bought for the castle thing as he played with that). Just taking in a preferred book is a much better idea than faffing around with costumes. We used to get competitive parents on Facebook saying that TK Maxx or Asda had X costume or trying over-hard. It's like when they tried to pass off making cakes for the summer fair as maths homework and had a competition for each school year. It was so obvious that this is about competitive parenting and the kids were uninterested. DS's always enjoyed the teacher's costume - a ride on emu, Where's Wally etc. but has no interest in faffing around with this himself.

Urkiddingright · 07/02/2020 12:05

I don’t mind it personally. If you’re organised enough you can get cheap costumes on eBay in advance. It’s only if you leave it till the last minute and pay through the odds for a supermarket costume that it’s expensive.

I tend to pick outfits that aren’t just costumes either, so actual clothes they can wear again.

BarkandCheese · 07/02/2020 12:06

I like because it's an excuse for me to make a costume and I love making costumes. I love having a creative/sewing project on the go, I always have from when I was a child. However this is a bit like someone saying I love fetes and fairs because they love baking and the cake stall is an excuse for baking. I hate baking and have always brought in shop bought cakes for stalls. I can 100% see why many parents hate the dressing up part of book day, and would support a non dress up book day if that's what the majority of parents wanted.

BatSegundo · 07/02/2020 12:07

My eldest loves it and is gutted that this year is likely to be the last as he's y6. I have mixed feelings; it's a pita, but most kids enjoy it. School, especially in winter, can feel grey and monotonous so something different to look forward to is nice for them. I think what would make it better is having this as the only dress up day a year. Our school went a bit nuts last summer with wear green for Greenpeace/dress up as a country/odd socks/Spots for children in need all in the space of a term which was a bit much. Also, schools should make it a choice between PJ's/costume. As well as lots of advice about cheap, homemade costumes, characters who just look like kids etc. And have a regular stall at Summer fairs for World book day costumes.

OhLookHeKickedTheBall · 07/02/2020 12:17

My DC love it. We try to either hack something we already have or make something though. DSs school have banned princesses or superheroes even though they're from books, which has made life harder for a lot of parents. Dds school do it on a particular theme, then use that week to teach about the theme - which is good in theory but not so good when they don't give you the theme until a few days beforehand 😬

spiderlight · 07/02/2020 12:37

I enjoyed it in primary. My DS has floppy red hair and his best friend has brown hair and glasses, so we've had endless mileage out of Harry and Ron (DS wore the same Hogwarts cape and tie from Y2 to Y7). This year though, in Y8, he wants to go as some obscure Manga character, which will apparently involve making him entirely yellow, hair included, with eight legs, so I am somewhat unenthused! I've tried steering him back to good old Ron Weasley but he's having none of it.

runrabbitrunrunrun · 07/02/2020 12:40

I find it ironic as most of the cheap costumes you get are probably made from child slaves!

TowerRingInferno · 07/02/2020 12:56

My children always hated it. So relieved that they are now too old.

confusedofengland · 07/02/2020 13:14

I don't mind it. I have 3 Dses so most of the costumes we own have seen plenty of wear & they get recycled for other events or general dressing up anyway. I also try to buy secondhand or in the sale anyway.

Ds2 can get a bit overwhelmed by the whole thing, as he has suspected autism & finds it rather confusing with everybody he knows looking very different

Ladon20 · 07/02/2020 13:25

I liked it at first primary school mine went to.

It was a wide range of options big themes narnia , Shakespear plays, Alice ie in wonderland, Roald Dahl.

They did an entire week of events - books reading, plays and last day was dress up with a big event like tea party or people coming in to do play. It did used to work at getting many of the children enthused to try some of the books - though I think it must have been a huge amount of work for staff.

Next school it was literally just dressing up for the day. A particular low was when it was only one character they had to dress up as - Wally from Where's Wally.

Flip

1 2 3 4 5