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World Book Day isn’t far away and if you still need a costume for your little one then you’ll be pleased to know that you can still pull one together, with minimal effort or cost involved

Easy DIY costume ideas to make at home from your kids’ favourite books

World Book Day is an annual event dedicated to inspiring children to enjoy reading for pleasure. This year, it takes place on Thursday 3 March.

To mark the day, children are encouraged to dress up as their favourite book characters. While this is fun for them, it can be a bit of a nightmare for parents.

This is especially the case if you have a few siblings to dress. Costumes can be expensive, and many of them get put at the back of the wardrobe after being worn once too so they’re not always cost-effective.

You’ll be pleased to know that you can give your child a brilliant World Book Day costume using clothing they already own.

Here’s our guide to some of the best and easiest costume ideas for children of all ages, and how to achieve them.

If you do want to buy a costume, it’s not too late. We’ve rounded up some of the top World Book Day costumes with next day delivery from Amazon.

Okay, so this one is possibly a little bit of a cheat, but we know that many little girls already have a princess costume in their wardrobe and won’t need to be asked twice to spend a whole day wearing it.

Some princesses might be the focus of a film, especially when you think of those much loved Disney princesses, but there are plenty of books about them too so that still counts, right.

It wouldn’t be World Book Day without at least one child dressing as everyone’s favourite wizard from JK Rowling’s iconic fantasy book series.

If you have a cloak leftover from Halloween then you can easily repurpose it to become Harry’s cloak. Or, if you don’t have a cloak then simply dressing your child in an all-black outfit will do the trick.

The most important thing about Harry Potter, of course, is his signature glasses and scar. Both of these things can easily be drawn on your child’s face in moments using your eyeliner pencil.

If you can add some scarlet or gold accessories for those classic Gryffindor colours to finish the look - or if you have yellow and black accessories, they can go as a Hufflepuff wizard, or with blue and bronze they can belong to Ravenclaw, or green and silver they can be part of Slytherin.

A wand can quickly be made from a toilet or kitchen roll tube, and if they have time the kids could make it their own with any craft materials you have at home.

This is another classic World Book Day costume, but one that’s so easy to achieve.

Matilda is, of course, the sweet book-loving girl from Roald Dahl’s classic children’s book of the same name.

All you need to make your little girl look like her is a blue or denim dress and a red ribbon to tie in a bow in her hair. If you don’t have a ribbon then you can pick one up for just a few pennies at your local market or craft shop, but if you don’t have time to head out to buy one then you could even get the red felt tip markers out on a white ribbon or place a red hair clip in her hair.

Give her a pile of her favourite books to carry around too to finish the look. She can then share these stories with her friends, and that’s what World Book Day is all about.

Another costume inspired by a book by iconic children’s author Roald Dahl. This one is the titular character of Charlie and the Chocolate factory.

Charlie Bucket is the poor boy who finds one of chocolatier Willy Wonka’s famous golden tickets which allows him exclusive access to the chocolate factory - along with four other children.

Now, as Charlie comes from a family with very little money you don’t need to worry about what your youngster is wearing - a basic t-shirt and pair of jeans will do the job nicely. They don’t even have to style their hair if they don’t want to, their messy bed hair will actually compliment this look!

The most important thing is that golden ticket, which they can easily make for themselves the night before using a gold or yellow piece of card. You can encourage them to get creative with any craft supplies they have to create their own special invitation. Simply add some string so you can hang it around their neck.

For little ballerinas this is the ideal no-fuss costume because all they have to do is put on their pink leotard and tutu, as if they are getting ready for their dance class, and it’s job done.

Angelina Ballerina is the titular character of a book series of the same name, and is a mouse who dreams of being a prima ballerina.

If you have some face paints then you could paint your child’s face with a little mouse nose and whiskers, but if you don’t have them then these features can be drawn on quickly and easily using an eye-liner pencil.

Finish with a pink ribbon tied in a bow in her hair, or any kind of pretty hair clip. A sweet and easy outfit.

Another super easy costume, all you need for this one is a basic white t-shirt and black felt tip pen.

You simply have to draw some dalmatian spots on the t-shirt and that’s it. This really is an outfit that you can quickly pull together the night before, even if it’s 11pm.

If you have face paints then you could also paint some spots on their face, but this isn’t necessary. Perhaps just use a black eye liner pencil to draw a dalmation nose.

The Paper Dolls is a much-loved children’s book by Julia Donaldson about a young girl who creates a string of five paper dolls and then takes them on lots of adventures around her home.

The little girl depicted in the book is wearing a classic school dress, with a red cardigan and tigger slippers, with her hair pulled back in a ponytail.

So, all they have to do is put on their usual school uniform, and get cutting to make their own paper doll chain. Tiger slippers are not mandatory.

This one is pretty self explanatory. ‘The Boy in the Dress’ was the first book written by comedian David Walliams, and is about the star striker of the school football team, who feels different and just wants to wear a dress.

All that’s required for this one is a dress that will fit your son. If he has a sister perhaps she could lend him one for the day, but if there isn’t one in your house that will fit him then a quick dash to your local supermarket will surely provide one cheaply.

To make the costume a bit more obvious, he simply has to carry around a football too.

Tracy Beaker is the main character in Jacqueline Wilson’s best-loved book ‘The Story of Tracy Beaker’. She’s a young girl who lives in a children’s care home which she calls the dumping ground.

The character is known for wearing stripy tops, particularly red and blue, and a denim jacket. Pair with denim jeans and you’ve got yourself an outfit.

Tracy is also known for her dark curly hair, so if your child has this naturally then that’s another easy win, but if not then you can always curl her hair in the morning before she sets off to school using your hair straighteners or curling iron.

This is another super easy costume choice if you’ve already got a witches costume laying around from Halloween.

The Room on the Broom is another book by Julia Donaldson. This one is about a kind witch and her cat who invite three other animals to join them travelling on her broomstick.

There’s a cat, dog, bird, and frog, so - to make the costume more believable - encourage her to take in soft toys of all of these animals if you have them.

The broom of course can be a classic domestic broom which we all have down the cellar or in a cupboard somewhere.

If you don’t have a witches costume then you can still achieve this look using a classic black dress.

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