Oh jolly good - another 'dress up' request from the school. Ideas for WW1 era please?

[SirChenjin]

So - one 7 year old boy, one absolutely and completely disinterested mother (he's DC3, it goes with the territory) with neither the time nor the inclination to traipse about the shops looking for WW1 era inspired outfits.

Any ideas please?

Bah humbug

We had to do this.
Bought them shirts with knitted waistcoats from Next for sale on EBay cost me about £6. Then a flat cap, again from ebay for about £2. Long socks.
They wore them with their normal long grey school shorts.

Thanks Little - good ideas

Aargh! Dressing up - bane of my life. 3dc, youngest 10. Almost there, save Greeks or Romans (one of the two - can't remember). Have old sheet at the ready, anyhow.

Sorry, no brilliant ideas, just empathising!

Biggles style pilot costume.

I'm not sure we have anything that I could use to fashion a biggles style outfit...! Kudos to you for having the wherewithal to do that
His wardrobe options and my imagination are very limited - as it I'm going to have to shell out for WW1stuff that will now sit unused in his wardrobe. Why do schools do these bloody dress up days? Why, I ask you, why????

Any good - not saying spend this sort of money but ebay for ideas that some old clothes /charity shop purchases and maybe a tin of fabric dye could replicate.

School shorts, long socks, school shirt if they have them (if not any shirt that's not a really bright colour), knitted type over garment-jumper or as suggested up thread. Flat cap if you can get one. The hat makes the look more than anything else I think as it is what is strikingly different to modern clothing.

Thanks - yep, sounds as if the easiest outfit is school shirt and shorts, plus flat cap and waistcoat courtesy of eBay/charity shops (gives me a good excuse to hit the charity shops if nothing else )

you don't really need the cap or waistcoat tbh.

shirt, shorts, a cardboard luggage tag on a bit of string round his neck and a cardboard box on a bit of string for his gas mask would do it. (DS did it last year)

I don't know why schools do it but DD has just gone in to year 1 and has, since starting in reception, had 9 dress up days and that's before we start counting own clothes days.

Bramwell, you are mixing your wars. That was ww2 not ww1.

Gas mask and luggage tag sounds more WWII?

oh, i thought it was both?

No, you're right, I just asked DS, he tells me it was WWII they did

So not only am i mixing my wars but mixing the children up too, it was dbro5 that did WWI, he wore an old grey pullover, shorts, white shirt and a flat cap.

Did they evacuate children in WW1 as well? I didn't know that...

Around 1.5 m children were evacuated in world war one but they didn't have gas masks, only soldiers in the trenches had those as they were developed in world war one.

The famous pics of kids with labels and has mask boxes are all world war two.

My way of dealing with this was to make friends with someone in the year above. (I do like a dress up day though, it breaks the monotony of school for the kids)

Bramwell you are covered for all war related dress up days!

Well, you learn something new every day!

DH's Grandfather (long dead) was gassed in the Somme - poor guy survived but was never the same afterwards. Not sure if he just didn't manage to put his mask on in time, or if it just didn't work.

Anyway, I digress....yes, I need to make friends with someone with DC in the year above, definitely. The older 2 DCs are now in their teens and the dressing up clothes from their days at school are long gone. Now I'm right back to cobbling outfits together for these interminable dress up days