To HATE World Book Day (or rather kids dressing up for it)?

[Silverbook]

That's it really-
As a parent and a teacher I absolutely hate the yearly "dress up as your favourite character".

As a teacher it is such a visible divide of the haves/have nots.
As a parent I feel under pressure and it adds to the mental load.

I'm absolutely on board with promoting literacy and reading for enjoyment but think WBD has become very commercialised.

I do understand the the issues regarding what some children have compared to others. However is world book day really the issue rather than a society issue. Can we stop children doing everything because some can’t ? Where does it stop.

My girls aren't of school age yet so we've not experienced this. We did go into Tesco the other day and there was a World Book Day section which consisted of fancy dress costumes ranging from Toy Story, Sleeping Beauty to The Little Mermaid. To me, these are Disney/Pixar characters, not book characters and shouldn't be sold as anything other than that.

Definitely doesn't promote a love of reading, just a love of Disney+!

I hate it too. Luckily my daughter has to go in PJs and we have loads of them. My friends child, age 4 has been asked to dress up in something Dolly Parton themed, wtaf

Sleeping beauty, The little mermaid and so on started as stories. Grimm brothers ring a bell?

I don't get the snobbery of ohhh it's a movie. You know it as a movie, odds are there is a related book too. It's irrelevant if it cane before or after. If a child loves a character that much, they're just as likely to have read a book about it. Which is actually a good thing, particularly for reluctant readers.

This snobbery doesn't help anyone, whether it's about reading/books in general or WBD in particular.

I hate all dress up days. Effort time and money that would be better spent elsewhere like buying a book instead of a crappy £1 token to use in an expensive bookshop. Wear red, wear yellow, wear green, wear your favourite book character, dress up for St David’s day, wear pyjamas, wear Victorian costume, dress up for friggin Children in Need. Times number of children x six - Nightmare for poor people, working mums and mums who hate frivolous spending on stuff that is never going to be worn again. She says looking at a fucking monkey costume that was £15 and worn once and is now logging up my garage.

I think if you’re making it a whole school thing then yes you need to go with the needs of those with the fewest resources. There’s no need to extrapolate to children not being allowed to do anything, that’s just being silly.

My DC's school asked to make a hat or a mask based on a favourite literary character this year, rather than dressing up. I groaned a bit at the thought, not being at all arty or crafty, but thankfully DH is, so he cracked on this morning with helping them making a Tom Gates mask (easy), and a Wings of Fire dragon mask (less easy!)

They enjoyed doing it and are happy with the results, so job's a good 'un. Although in previous years we've tended to put costumes together from what we already had, rather than buying more plastic tat to use once and send to landfill.

When the DCs are in school and the requirement to remember WD day, sports kits, musical instruments, cookery ingredients, often on the same week, I for one am pleased to be able to shoehorn DC into an outfit where they won't feel 'different' to their friends and they know the character.
The true origin of the character - Disney, Brothers Grimm, Traditional folk story - no one gives a flying toss, apart from those who really have too much time on their hands.

Honestly, have taken Halloween costumes from the school as this was not expense I was willing to fork out for. I do take your point on board that not all parents will feel the same.

Our primary has: wear yellow for mental health, world book day, Easter theme, Halloween, Christmas theme in terms of dress up days. It does all add up and thinking back to my school days we only had the odd afternoon party and that was just wear what you want.

@DomPom47 DD's school has dress up for all the 4 patron saints too on top of all the usual stuff. Fun times.

It seems very toned down this year - ours are going in wearing whatever they like. Anything they are happy in!

I love WBD, but we're avid book readers and I quite enjoy crafting obviously-DIY-but-fun costumes.

Our school has themed WBDs (school meal goes with theme, as does any decor in hall) but children can dress up from any book or in pjs if they prefer. They used to ask for a £1 donation but have stopped this a year ago or so.

Our local primary used to go completely over the top, but with a change of headmaster they’ve stopped the dressing up element and do craft activities in class instead.

Absolutely agree that this is an excellent in-road for reluctant readers.

It's the commercialisation that forces pressure on parents. These outfits were 15 quid each!

There's a PP about making the outfits and I think that's for more in the spirit of WBD.

@Twinlife2 definitely agree that’s more in the spirit but would still need to buy the materials to make the costumes which is out of the reach of many?

Our school have asked children to come dressed as a word...both my children are decorating old t shirts with felt tip pens . Having a "main word" and then using a thesaurus to find synonyms

Completely agree OP it’s total nonsense. So far this year I’ve had a knights and dragons day and a pirate day - both dressing up. Who do they think is paying for this ? It’s the poor parents who are struggling already and have to end a full day at work trying to cobble together a costume that won’t make their kids feel crap. It’s become ridiculous.

I think it depends. I'd be spending 30 quid on two outfits when chances are I'd have bits and pieces lying around to make into some semblance of a costume.
It feels like the reading element is being lost in favour of dressing up.

It isn’t an excellent in-road for reluctant readers - that’s the point people are making. When your children are older (and I’m sure fully compliant with your ideals tor WBD) then you can knock yourself out with imaginative and low cost costume ideas, but many people with experience don’t feel that the dressing up element is actually that great for many children.

Without being too outing I do remember the year when a mum knitted teletubbie costumes for her four children. It was quite impressive.

I've said that the reading element is being lost in favour of dressing up, that was my point with the costumes in Tesco.

No, you don’t get to decide that those who have “bits and pieces lying about the house” and time and resources to put that into making a costume that their child is prepared to wear are the only ones getting into the WBD “spirit”

Same at my daughters pre-school, PJ's their favourite book! I saw the WBD costumes in the supermarket and they were between £15 and £20 😲 to wear once??

I used to love it when my older ones were at primary, in those days it was cobbled together costumes (if wanted), some really imaginative and creative and it was brilliant to see them on the playground on WBD morning. Since the supermarkets and amazon got on to it its just not the same. Identikit costumes, no originality and expense for parents, time it was a thing of the past as far as the dressing up element goes.

Absolutely agree that it’s commercialised nonsense. I love to read and luckily my kids do too but I just don’t feel like dressing up really promotes reading at all 🤷‍♀️

Our primary school does a ridiculous amount of dress up days throughout the year, it’s tone deaf given the current economic climate imo. Who has the money or indeed the time to be buying/making all these costumes? I know I certainly don’t!

When they had to dress up for career day I quietly told my year 1 child’s teacher we couldn’t really afford to dress up (I’m a newly single parent and the teacher is aware of this) so I’d be sending her in her normal clothes - teacher said that wasn’t in the spirit of the day (apparently no one wears normal clothes to work?!) and suggested I should “find a way” whatever that meant. Luckily when I asked DD what she wanted to be when she grows up - she said a bat, which worked perfectly because that’s what she was for Halloween last year 😂