Bastarding World Book Day

[SinkGirl]

Sigh. My twins started at their specialist school in October but have barely been since Christmas due to COVID. They are 4 and autistic. They don’t have a favourite book or have any concept of dressing up. Just had the email of doom re: dressing up.

AIBU to say fuck world book day? I’m hanging on by the skin of my teeth and the thought of finding two sensory appropriate book related costumes without parts they will just rip off is tipping me over the edge.

Or if I don’t make the effort will I be marked as that parent who can’t be arsed?

@SinkGirl

Thanks so much everyone. It’s good to know that at specialist schools it’s understood that it may not happen. I would just feel awful if all the other kids in their class are dressed up (given that they all have similar limitations to understanding) and mine aren’t. So I’ll have to come up with something.

I think the PP who said it’s not really about WBD is right - just another thing that they can’t engage with, which makes me sad.

Mainstream school are just as understanding. We have kids that come in uniform and kids that come in their own clothes that do want to be out of uniform but don't dress up for various reasons . No one cares really or makes a judgement on the parents.

@SinkGirl

Someone asked what they like, but unless I can find a book about raisins and biscuits I don’t think we’ll have much joy there 😂

Plenty of biscuit books actually,less so on raisins.

Biscuit bear is the one I've read recently (for work I swear!).

Own clothes and a bear shaped cookie or barney bear?

My son has severe autism so I feel your pain. We also did the normal clothes with a prop. So Harry and bucket full of dinosaurs. Going on a bear hunt (just take a teddy) etc

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dMqiANWuzX4

Or cardboard bear that they decorate themselves if they like that... with raisins.

At my daughters school it was even worse. The class would be allocated a book and each child was assigned a character from it and they had to dress as it 🙄. Alice in wonderland one year and she was a playing card. I may have sworn a lot 😂

My asd don never did it either. Don't worry about it

Absolutely ignore the whole headache. They could just take a book they enjoy or know to share. It's always nice when children do that.

You could (If they have) put on single colour outfits and say they're colours from the crayons on strike book. Or pretty much any outfit and claim a JW book.

Their normal uniforms could easily be from a kids book too.

Biscuits: gingerbread man- brown t shirt each and a cardboard gingerbread man to hold?
A bunch of daisies by Nick Sharatt has a story about trying to get the bottom biscuit from the jar.
I love WBD but I love dressing up (as do my kids) and am the annoying teacher who has organised it at school since it first started but the supermarkets have totally killed it dead. It should be about what have you already got that you can use, not what can you buy that gas been mass produced. I have done Harry and his Bucket full of dinosaurs before myself- t shirt, turned up jeans and a bucket. Yes to Chatlue- ordinary clothes holding a ticket made out of an old feral packet. James and the giant peach- own clothes and some toy creatures to carry. Thing one and thing two would be perfect- tshirts and a felt tip. Don't worry about favourite books, just have a look at the books you have got. And yes, the teachers won't mind what they are wearing

I was all set to try and make something last year, then struck with ennui- fortunately OH had brilliant idea of layering orange shorts over black trousers, plus a tiger t shirt we already had = Tiger who came to tea! If you can be arsed (and most kids/parents didn't at my site last year), look at what clothes the twins have then do something colour blocked or with a character t shirt. Or don't bother & claim you thought it was next week...

Oh God is this shit back.

It truly is the cockroach of festivals - we could be surrounded by nuclear winter and there would still be a fucking miserly bookday voucher and a tacky Asda costume aisle.

I thought the kids were supposed to share stories this year, not dress up?

Most of the children round my way dress up as Disney characters, not book characters. I think the original idea was great but it has been corrupted and has become an opportunity for the super markets to flog more tat.

DS2 struggles with costumes - has asd also, and can’t wear any of the shop bought ones. One Halloween I made him a werewolf costume using some old trousers and a T-shirt that I stuck some fake fur patches on so it looked ripped and the fur was sticking out. He wore that with a mask. He’s insisted on having the same costume every Halloween since, and just declared he wants to wear the same for WBD. Now I just need to find a kids book with a werewolf in!

I know what you mean by it being something else he can’t engage with. He’s been invited to birthday parties before where they’ve asked him to wear a superhero costume or whatever, and he just can’t do it. He ends up a screechy, sweaty mess within 5minutes.

Normal clothes, red t shirts and a plastic bucket each with dinosaurs - Harry and his bucketful of dinosaurs - my son did this for 3 years!

It does raise the interesting question of just how bad things have to get before they stop doing World Book Day.

Well quite Jesus I'm taking this WBD thread as a sign that normality is slowly resuming.

@JesusInTheCabbageVan

It does raise the interesting question of just how bad things have to get before they stop doing World Book Day.

Nothing can stop it!

I've just checked the nursery app, off the back of this thread, to see if they're doing WBD this year.

They're not.

They're doing World Book Week. Send gin. Lots of gin....

Find a book with a masked character and send them with a face mask on .

A week? oh dear, surely they don't expect five costumes!

The funniest costume I saw was a little lad struggling to walk with a huge cardboard square stuffed down his t shirt (Flat Stanley) I imagine he just laid on the class carpet as he couldn't actually bend.

@ipswichwitch love it! what age is he??
There's a book - the Bailey street kids series - werewolfs don't go to summer camp
It's an older series but loved in this household.. Prob enjoyed by say age 7 and up

They can go as muggles in Harry Potter!

I picked up a gruffalo sweatshirt in the Sainsbury’s sale. He loves the book and at least it’s something he will wear again.

Don't know how many of these will be working normally during the pandemic, but it's worth keeping in mind the Party Kit Network. They offer costumes on loan, with a view to reducing waste (because after Hallowe'en, nobody needs to dress up as a pumpkin and next year the clothes are too small to be reused) and saving money (because if a costume only gets used once or twice, it's a bit of a waste). And it's not just about WBD, although there are obvious benefits about borrowing a Gruffalo for the afternoon. You can use them for all sorts of parties.

Quite a good interview with the Planet Friendly Parties organiser up in Durham here: vocal.media/families/parties-to-save-the-planet If you look around, you might find someone local.

DD loves dressing up but she's asked to go as Charlie Cook (red stripy T-shirt, jeans and trainers) and I am 100% there for it.