To suspect a causal relationship between effing World Book Day and family breakdown?

[Blu]

Long. No soplogies - I need to get this off my chest!
DS has a perfect Willy Wonka outfit. He decided last week that on no account would he go to school as WW and insisted that he wanted to go as a dinosaur from his dinosaur encyclopaedia. With sinking heart I agreed and did my best to rise to the occasion.
Bought tubular dishcloth roll from Halfords.
Spent Sunday with DS painting it all with brown and green dinosaur skin design.

Got up at 5.30 a.m (after late work meetings last night and Monday night). Struggled to sew it all together - tubular body, sleeves with carboard claws made by DS, tail, stuffed with slightly inflated Tesco bags to give bulk without drag-it-down weight. Ruched the tail up by sewing along it, giving it a pleasing upward curl.

DO comes in and makes coffee, muttering about why don't I reduce my hours and concentrate on parenting a bit more.

DS puts on outfit - it looks much better than I imagined it could.

DS gets out onto the doorstep to leave for schol. Stops. "I don't think I really want to go as any sort of character".

DP tells him he looks good, DS is adamant and starts to take off Authentic Iguanadon outfit.

DP whisks him upstairs and returns 5 seconds later with blue IKEA knight cape and Narnia book.

"He's going as Peter or Edmund from Narnia".

We stomp off to school. 4 other boys are in IKEA knight outfits. No-one has anyhting half as good as an anatomically correct home-made Iguanadon.

I return home with the intention of putting DS into care, divorcing DP, sending a letterbomb to the HQ of World effing Book Day, and committing myself to a mental health establishment for treatment of the effcts of these initiatives on anyone who is a WOHP, single parent, SAHM with smaller children in the home to care for, SN children to care for or anyone even slightly creatively challenged.

LOL bundle, I'd check that box every time

Character in a Jeremy Strong book apparently
That is one fugly costume I have to say

Mar-in-aaaaaah! Come baaaaaaack!..aaack..ack....

Smug slack DP can pay for the woolies outfit next year - that's the answer!

My ds loves it...

I quite enjoy it...

LOL ar Social Services tickbox.

actually one year I made a big leaf out of green paper, complete with big bite holes and pinned it to DDs front and back (she was in green tights and a green poloneck). Then attached one of her toy caterpillers to it.

I didn't think the school appreciated my very hungry caterpiller costume as much as they SHOULD have

This must explain my apathyin the 4 years since

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and I would know about border collies.... why?!

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Border Terrier you silly fish

All this makes me so grateful for ds1 who always refuses to dress up as anything! That just leaves ds2 but so far he has always been persuaded to go as a pirate, ie in the only costume we have. Fantastic.

LOL Blu! You poor thing. You are too good by half. If it is any consolation, I think you are fab to make an Iguanadon outfit & you deserve a very special "Talented Mummy" badge.
I hate stuff like this. We had multiple changes of ideas. DD was easy as she is such a girly, she wanted to be Sleeping Beauty & I am thanking every star in the sky that her super shiny 100% nylon character dress came from Santa at Christmas.
DS first of all wants to be tree from the enchanted forest stories, so I cutt out & colour alot of leaves to staple to a t-shirt, then he has a massive meltdown because trees are not real characters, so I stop making bloody leaves. Then we run through a variety of creatures & characters, none of whom quite hit the spot, until in desperation we agree on a vet & rummage around finding a passing reference to one in a Guinea Pig care book!
HATE IT!

Thank God for small mercies! My ds's school is celebrating World Book Day by getting them to take in their favourite book to show to the class and then the teachers are going to read to them!! No dressing up, no tantrums, no frequent trips to Tesco for costumes or bits, no trips to the hospital to remove needles from ds when he has thrown himself around the room whilst I am still sewing... phew!

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I as hoping to join in with my tales of stressed mum creativity and dc lack of gratitude but blimey! it all pales into significance. (but I will anyway).

Got home from work at 7pm last night. rummaged through wardrobes and bookshelves, in very little time came up with a most excellent Burglar Betty outfit (stripy black and white t-shirt, leather handbag full of stoeln goods - clock, not-really- silver coffee pot, flowers and umbrella - black gloves, burglars mask, torch, hat with artificial flowers on (see book, it's correct!). I was really chuffed. dd stomps around this morning saying she wants to go as something but doesn;t know what. tears. the lot. no sympathy from anyone. its Burglar Betty or school uniform. Thankfully she finally gives way. dd2, in the meantime has been totally delighted with her angelina outfit, until we got to school and she realised she'd forgotten hlaf of it so crumpled into tears. had to go home nad deliver the girls late. (by which time dd1 getting cold feet again and doesn;t want to wear what she actually is wearing....)

I was thinking that taking a favourite book in with a few words about why you love it so much would be more educational & something the children would actually be doing & alot less blinking work that trees, Iguanadons, clowns, vikings etc

DS2 trundled to school in a crocodile costume, which looked homemade (in a professonal, bought sort of way). All the other mums thought it was great, resisted temptation to lie and say, yes, I made it myself.
He came home and told me his classmates laughed at him at snacktime. Am broken hearted. He can bloody well go dressed as Spiderman next year - just like he wanted to!

I really do suspect that the only reason DD1's school doesn't do dressing up for world book day is that it's a bit disorganised, but god I love it.

These are wonderful - who would have thought of one upmanship in the fancy dress costume stakes. Don't tell you about that when you are pregnant, do they?

Oh blu, im so sorry but this did make me laugh.
DC school don't dress up, but i saw some really lovely dressed up children this morning.

I return home with the intention of putting DS into care, divorcing DP, sending a letterbomb to the HQ of World effing Book Day, and committing myself to a mental health establishment for treatment of the effcts of these initiatives on anyone who is a WOHP, single parent, SAHM with smaller children in the home to care for, SN children to care for or anyone even slightly creatively challenged.

lolololol. My two told me 2 seconds before so went as "horrid henry" and "a bright boy".

Blu, sympathy. I once spent the better part of 2 weeks amking a white witch costume for dd, along with a lion and a miniature wardrobe.

She pulled a mardy on me and wore it for about 20 minutes on the day.

Every WBD since she has gone as Hermione Granger! That will learn 'er

We...scratch that...I have made, over the years: a huge Cat in the Hat hat out of papier-mache; a Harry Potter costume (I sewed together ribbons to make a school tie, as well as sewing bits of felt on the V-neck and cuffs of the school jumper for that extra touch of authenticity, Gawd help me); and made lovely wings out of papier-mache and scraps of tissue paper for the beautiful butterfly out of The Very Hungry Caterpillar (I posted pictures of those wings on here - I was so very proud of them )

So, even though your post made me lol, Blu - I have much sympathy.

Our school didn't do dressing up this year...phew.

I am fortunate in that I have the world's most creative nanny and Ds has always had fantastic costumes.

When asked (in awe)if they are homemade, I always say "of course" in a slightly airy, off-hand manner, because it is technically correct that they were made in my home...