To dislike the waste of ££ on World Book Day

[Mimmi78]

Straight up, I love reading! I've always had a book on the go and feel a bit naked if I go out without having one handy. It's World Book Day this week, I love this idea too, creating a lifelong love of reading is a fundamental cornerstone of education. However, in my kids school there are 400 pupils, many of whom have parents who will spend anything from a few pounds to many pounds on a costume this week. Retailers are the big winners here I think. I've estimated that the money could represent around £2,000 at our school, it took the PTA 3 months to raise that to buy essentials for the school. AIBU to wish it was more about books and less about commercial dressing up! Prepared to be slated but interested in anyone else feeling conflicted whilst wondering how to dress a six yo as Tom Gates

I agree! Feel the same way about Christmas jumper day - pay £1 to wear a Christmas jumper to school and £10, or whatever, goes to Sainsbury's!

Completely agree. Perhaps there could be a choice between dressing up or bringing in a copy of your favourite book?

YAdefinitelyNBU!
I am an English teacher and I HATE the dressing up aspect of World Book Day. It does precisely zero to encourage reading or help literacy. There are loads of fun free things schools could be doing. I never get anywhere suggesting them to my own school though...

I’ve just had this convo with my mum today.

I feel sorry for those who struggle to afford to buy dress up costumes (which are so expensive considering they’re made from crap material) or buy the component parts of whatever it is their child wants to dress up as.

I don’t get why you can’t just take your favourite book in.

I should add that my son’s school doesn’t dress up for WBD for my aforementioned reasons

So glad our school never took part in this. Supermarkets must be making a mint over it as I've seen they do costumes for it too

I'm not going to buy anything new this year - just going to work with what we already have.

I think generating fun around reading isn’t a bad thing. My kids love WBD and talk about what they want to go as all year.

I agree, I would rather give the school a tenner to put towards some books for the children to read then shell out on an outfit that will be worn for one day!

I agree, there is no need to spend money dressing up children, I'd rather the money went to an appropriate charity.

Why do they have to dress up though? Can't they just take in their favourite book?

Yanbu. I love reading too, and my son loves reading. But it just seems like a waste of money. Loads of kids don’t even dress up as book characters (princesses, superheroes etc)

There could be a choice though.

So you’d send in £5-10 for an anti WBD? I can’t see that being very popular.

Suggest to your PTA they collect up/ ask for donations of WBD costumes once worn and then sell them next year to raise £

I agree OP. This year, both DD (year 4) and DS (Toddler room at nursery) are getting in on the dressing up fun. Both will have to go in whatever we can find at home and pick a book to match. Last year DD wanted to go as Cruella deVil and like an idiot I agreed. Not happening this year.

And it’s SO imaginative when you see 40 little girls stroll into the playground dressed as princesses/supermarket Mary Poppins

I totally agree, I've never been able to understand the logic behind WBD and RND dressing up and T shirts.

It's a total con, of course retailers jump on the bandwagon and start selling costumes, they are the winners here.

Has their ever been a child whose interest in reading increased because they or someone else dressed up at school - I find the whole concept bizzare

My daughter loves dressing up - I've spent no money whatsoever on this. Spending money is a choice, my daughter has always managed with stuff we already have.

This year she's going as Stormfly from the How to Train Your Dragon books - m contribution is some cardboard that we already have so that she can make a pair of wings.

I like WBD, so does my daughter.

I make the dcs costumes as much as possible for wbd or recycle what we have. More parents could take that option.

Bestbefore brilliant idea!!!

Mine is too old now but I did think this on Saturday at Asda. Prominent display of outfits and books on way in. Saw young Girl coming out carrying a new dressing up outfit and thought her mum will just have had to spend £10. Plus the environmental waste aspect, kids in sweatshops making cheap costumes. I know you can do homemade stuff but all the pics I see are bought costumes. Dds school never did wbd.

I teach English in a secondary SEMH school and I love WBD. Admittedly 95% of our students don’t dress up but the entire staff team goes all out and the boys love it! They love trying to work out who everyone is dressed up as and what happens in the book etc. Last year we ended up going off timetable during the last lesson of the day because so many students wanted to make costumes from stuff we had around school.

I do agree that the way most schools (primary primarily?) run WBD does seem needlessly expensive and quite superficial.

I suspect there are as many children who love recreating their favourite character as loathe it. FWIW mine both fall on the latter side. It's a source of mild anxiety for ds1 in particular so we make sure he can just accessorise normal clothes (and dump it five minutes after walking in the door).

I would be far happier to leave the dressing up out of it, have a mufti day for a voluntary £1 instead, with any money collected going towards something fun to do with literacy. And bring a book if they want to. Maybe hold a book swap in hall for all the kids.

My DCs (now older) went to a school that asked kids to come in PJs with their favourite bed time story. I felt so smug talking to friends whose DCs went to other schools

I agree. I don’t see what it does to encourage a love of reading at all. And for parents it either costs money or makes them feel inferior because they’ve not spent 20 hours constructing some kind of amazing outfit.