World book day!

[ps1991]

All these children dressed up on tv and fb for world book day look lovely and happy, but AIBU to think shop bought costumes, especially standard princess costumes are a lazy choice?

"What is stupid is parents running around supermarkets at the last minute to pick up any random costume, what's the actual point of that?"

I don't think that happens often. I think most kids really know what they want to be way before time.

@ps1991 smallest has asd and sensory processing disorder and will currently only wear a superhero costume (shop bought) so she feels comfortable and happy. The character was in a comic book first. You are being vu and goady we suggested loads of alternatives from books she actually loves but were told no. We made her a comic book mock up to take with the character in it as they had to take a book as well as wear a costume but yes we are obviously lazy ffs

One of mine is shop bought, the other was eBay as it's not available in the shops. Both are book characters, though, and as a parent of two SN children, I don't have the time, space, or energy to be hand making costumes. One of two said children will barely wear said costume anyway because of sensory difficulties, so I probably would have wasted my time hand making one.

EstrellaDamn
you should see my local facebook group - gets flooded with requests for any costume, asking which supermarket has anything in stock..

We all know world book day is coming, the school start warning about it more than 2 months in advance, with follow-up letter 1 month before. No one can pretend they are too busy.

The children do care, the local schools are spending a week around it, doing various activities, having different people coming to present things, a writer, parents coming to read. For most kids the dressing up to end the week is a big thing. It's like that every single year, it's not that hard to find a costume related to a book!

Some people really need to get a life.

That's just stupid, supermarkets are rammed full of costumes for weeks in advance! Then again, I ordered DD's in plenty of time and only discovered that DS's was too small yesterday ... so I'm clearly part of the problem

Hahahahaha.

Yabu

I have no skills, time or imagination to make a costume.

All power to those that do

Yes it is the lazy choice but I don't see anything wrong with that! My DC both chose the characters they wanted to dress up as. I bought one costume and had the other already. I always donate costumes once I'm done soI don't feel they're wasted anyway.

Do you make your own clothes as well as costumes OP. Good for you!

I made DDs costume this year (but that’s because she’s very into the sewing bee and wanted to learn how to use the machine). Last year she went in a dress, boots and high ponytail as Little My.

She’s great at choosing characters she loves, and I’ve done a mix over the years. I’m not going to make OR buy something if we can do it with what’s she’s already got.

I don’t feel a better parent because I made her costume this year. But I am a happy parent because she was, once again, really excited to go to school today dressed as a character she loves.

YABU
My son wanted to be Horrid Henry. There was a Horrid Henry mask in Sainsbury’s. It’s a no brainer as far as I’m concerned.
I just cant imagine ever having so little to do that worrying about what other kids are wearing fills my days

What are your children dressed as OP?

Estrella I obviously can't speak for the whole of the UK but my local Asda was full of parents trying to find a last minute world book day costume yesterday evening

*thedisorganisedmum

Funny how many posters describe themselves as "too busy for their children" but miraculously find the time to post
nonsense on MN*

😂😂 parody yes? Because taking 5 minutes to yourself when you haven't spent endless hours designing, shopping for and making whatever number of costumes is exactly the same thing. Mothers! NEVER do anything that isn't 100% for The benefit of your DC!

People should not feel they have to justify why they've not make costumes.

How this "day" actually gets more children reading is a mystery.

Depending on how busy I was and how much money we had, I have done both, lovingly home-made or throw money at the problem. I couldn't even tell you which parent did what over the years and I reckon the kids won't remember either.

I bought a gangsta granny costume. Dd decided what she was going as and then we looked for costumes.
It cost me £14. Dd looks great, costume fits great, no hassle.
I don't own old lady clothes, my mum is only in her 40s and doesn't own old lady clothes. So I would have had to buy clothes that didn't fit dd properly, then a wig. It would have cost me a fortune.
Lazy parenting all the way.

Sometimes it's bloody cheaper to buy a shop bought one, not as much hassle, looks great, and is something the child really wants to go as. So wtf does it matter?

Last year one DC really wanted to go as a LOTR character, the other wanted to dress up as willy wonka.

I spent many stressful hours making the LOTR costume, then ended up having to buy extra accessories to complete it, ended up costing me £20ish.

I bought the willy wonka costume, accessories included, for £6. Why on earth would I bother making it?

OMGithurts
I wasn't talking about making your own costume, I personally couldn't care less where they come from, I was talking about parents who are "too busy" to talk with their kids about their favourite books and help them pick up a character.

By the time you wrote your own post you could have found said costume in an online shop, or a simple idea to make it yourself.

If you see my kids in a shop-bought costume, it means I bought it, if you see them in a home-designed imaginative crafty thing, it means DH was in charge that day

How this "day" actually gets more children reading is a mystery.

The whole point is talking about books, making books interesting. If your own home is full of books, for children and adults, you all read a lot, you wouldn't go on holiday without half a dozen books in your luggage, then it probably doesn't make much difference and it's a bit of fun.

Some kids don't have books at home, have parents who do nothing but watch tv or play on their computer. Schools are trying to make books attractive and encourage reading, so it's not seen as a boring chore. Fun character is part of that.

Most of my daughter's friends came out of class requesting a trip to the library because someone came to read the funniest story ever and they all want to read the book.

How can encouraging learning by different means be a negative? Shame some parents moan because they have to be involved in it for once.

I knew this was going to be a judgmental thread and it sure delivered!

'How can encouraging learning by different means be a negative? Shame some parents moan because they have to be involved in it for once.'

Enforced dressing up is difficult for some families for all kinds of reasons. Try and use a little bit of imagination.

hopeishere every single school child gets a voucher for World Book Day that they can use on a choice of especially published books for free. You don't even need to step into a bookshop - the supermarkets have the books.
Dressing up is just one part of the day. Dressing up gets the children excited. The voucher gets the children excited. All good.

My kids would literally look like potatoes i i made their costume!! DS is going in a shop bought one & DD is going in something we already had

YABAT - (You are being a twat)