To HATE World Book day

[CurlyRooth]

I love books, but I truly and utterly, really, really, REALLY hate World Book Day. I just see it as yet ANOTHER edict sent from above (i.e. 'well-meaning' schools) to make our lives as busy working parents the ultimate hell.

And it's the same old, same old every single blooming' year: a smattering of Harry Potters, a few shiny Cinderella's, and many more Where's Wally.

Time consuming, and tedious.

DS1's secondary school have decided they want the kids to dress up - aaaarrrrghhhhh! It's optional, and having said he wouldn't dress up he announced at 9pm last night that he'd quite like to go as Skullduggery Pleasant....

Luckily we have a local fancy dress shop who supplied me with a mask and cheap trilby - 'Oh you're the second Skullduggery we've had in here today' . Blazer with patch over badge, DH's purple wedding tie, black trousers - done.

It's a very big pain in the arse!

Change of head teacher has meant that we had plenty of notice this year (not the usual couple of days ). In previous years it's been a panic, but we have had a chance to plan this time.

DD (8) is going as a character from Terry Pratchett's Wee Free Men and DS (3) is going as Schnitzel von Krumm (!!) from Hairy McLary.

I don't mind dressing up days if there is plenty of warning.

how can you be too young to understand you are dressing up as a character in a book?
my ds is 2 and when my mum came round earlier and started asking dds about their costumes he ran to get his pirate sword, that he is going to be dressing up with tomorrow.

and fair trade week? you can explain it to a child on their level!

For those too useless busy to have sourced a costume, I have devised the world's easiest world book day costume plan. It involves dressing up as characters from (or just generic faction members) from veronika roth's divergent. You almost certainly have everything required for at least one faction in your house already.

There are 5 factions each with a different dress code.
Abnegation: grey, baggy, shapeless clothes.
Amity: red and yellow clothes.
Candor: black trousers/skirt and white shirt
Dauntless: black clothes, optional fake tattoos, piercings and stupid coloured hair. Two of the main characters are dauntless with no piercings or coloured hair, so you can get away with a black shirt/hoody and black jeans/leggings
Erudite: blue clothing (including jeans). Optional thick rimmed vanity glasses.

It's world book day for lazy people. DS1 (who is in Y8 and still has to dress up) is going as an erudite character (caleb prior). Planning involved looking in his wardrobe and confirming that he has plenty of blue clothes to choose from.

Sure, the book's written for teenagers. But you can pretend your 5 year old is just really advanced.

So 2 hours ago, DD announced I needed to give her £8 for tomorrow for the book and signing (!) yeah right.
In addition, major agonising over tomorrow's costume. DD (10 y.o) Wanted to go as a St Trinians girl - she has NOT read the books - luckily, the only school skirt she has, she can't get into now, as it's about 3 year's old! And we seem to have lost her 'long' socks. So the latest wheeze is Lady MacBeth, which I think we can just about do with judicious use of red felt-pen all over her hands!

Just use the Victorian outfit from their history dressing up day to be Oliver Twist or the World War 2 outfit to be any generic 1940/50'd schoolboy/girl.

I did push the boat out once and do a hedgehog costume. The faux fur throw from the sofa with lots of wooden pegs attached to look all spiky. Cardboard black nose on elastic.

lirael Wed 06-Mar-13 16:35:50

he announced at 9pm last night that he'd quite like to go as Skullduggery Pleasant....

I've just started working in a new school. It's a lovely school, but all the teachers dress up for WBD and I really don't want to because I walk in to work (2 miles). And I don't work in the classroom. Not sure if I feel brave enough to rebel at this early stage!

someoftheabove

You need a character who works on a farm or something.

What about Peter from the Malcolm Saville Lone Pine series? She spent lots of the stories in horse riding gear. Or someone from the Pullein-Thompson sisters, they were horsey ones, weren't they? Just find a character which has the same hair colour as you and you're sorted. :)

I am not creative at all but luckily my son wanted to go as Dennis the Menace. I've been sewing on red stripes onto a navy top (couldn't find a black one) BY HAND this evening. Don't have a sewing machine so have sewn each one by hand. I am knackered - off to bed :-)

I was dreading it but secretly proud of myself and my son is very happy with his top adn black trousers made into shorts. Oldest son is going as James Bond. Just need to gel his hair in the morning - off to bed for real this time ! :-)

I hated it. DS' school didn't get round to giving out the tokens 2 years running (and then didn't have any left when I asked), so basically it was crap dressing up and nothing to do with books.

Trips to the library with school would have been great. Lots of other possibilities too...

I may have remembered wrong, but aren't many of the special £1 books just extracts? I don't think they seem to be substantial enough / stand alone enough to live up to the idea of WBD rather than be a cheap promotion for a longer book or a prolific author.

During this week every child at my school has been on a class outing to a local independent bookshop to spend their £1 WBD voucher. It's a free trip, which results in every child going home with a book that belongs to them. The school is holding a poetry show during the day and, next week, an author is coming in to work with each class.

Children have been asked to dress up tomorrow but lots of discussion has been had about characters who wear ordinary clothes e.g. Matilda (school uniform/own clothes), Tracy Beaker, Pippi Longstocking, James (of giant peach fame), Wally (bobble hat & glasses), Tintin etc. The children are excited about it and it doesn't have to cost anything provided enough notice is given.

My own DCs' school just ignores it.

my 8 year old is in year 3 and just had his progress reports - he's reading is on a level expected for a year 5 pupil, which is better than the SAA (significantly above average), so they came up with SAA+

he doesn't care for book day as he hates dressing up

vouchers don't work for us either, as I don't have time wondering in the shops for books with them after school!

we have tons of books by the way, most of my kids love reading (DS2 is a bit lazy..) so for us book day is just pointless

(I think it is a very patronizing thing to "point out" that books and reading are important, to me both are obvious...)

and DS4 (6 years old) is going to decide in the morning whether he is going as Anakin Skywalker or Indiana Jones, because he can't get dressed as the Guinness Book of Records 2013, which is actually his favourite book right now

DS2 has gone to nursery as darth vader. He has a darth vader dressing gown on. He's taken a Star Wars book with him as evidence (he insisted).

DS1 is all in completely normal blue clothes (blue chinos, stripey blue and white tshirt, blue jumper) and quite happy. I think he was worried that no one else would dress up and he'd look like a freak (at 12/13 this is a fair assumption, I guess, even though he did get a letter home about it). So he just looks like it's wear your own clothes day and looks unremarkable.

I am planning to send DS1 in tomorrow with filthy clothes and a copy of Mr Stink.

ok if pointing it out is patronising, how about celebrating it? encouraging a love for it? sharing the love with others?

I used to love taking my books in to school and sharing it with others

you dontvhave to buy costumes tho, see poster above re football kits, pajamas etc.. old white sheet-toga or mummy.... and i dont have any crafty ability... surely its to help kids assoc reading with fun, see it as a good thing etc... for the poster whose xhikd doesnt want to dress up, send him in own clothes and he can be any amt of charactera or none... think lots if people on this thread sound overly miserable about it tbh

I love it - I love books and its great that there is a day dedicated to books

I have written a poem about it too....read it and let me know what you think of it

jacintaz3.co.uk/world-book-day-poem-jacinta/

It's all part and parcel of having kids...and they love it.

Parents who seem to get more out of it than the kids are just bonkers reliving their own Easter bonnet days I suppose.

Doesn't make it right.

And as I said on another thread, when I see statistics that show Junior picks up a book and not the wii when he gets home because he's been running amok dressed as Ron Weasley all day, then I'll stop being cat's-bum about it.

Not all kids love being looked at either. Dd would be horrified.

I've had fun this morning - we were really struggling to think of an idea for DS (3, but with a severe speech delay) and in the last hour we've thrown together a Highway Rat costume with his smart clothes (from a wedding), a binbag cape and floppy hat, and a hobby horse made with an old amazon box and a garden cane. Feel quite chuffed with myself but it is just luck that I'm off work today and have had time to do it.

But mostly hearing my little boy saying "I 'ighway wat" over and over again and getting all enthusiastic about something I actually didn't think he'd understand due to his communication problems, is actually making me melt. :)

love the decorate a vegetable idea!
i would do "the pak choi in a dress "...don't know what dd would do though