Feel quite sad today because my sons school didn't allow the kids to dress up as a character from a book, they were only allowed to take in a favourite book. Lots of my friends were putting pictures of their children's outfits on Facebook.
WELL I won't let it get me down too much, and thought I would add some of our old costumes to here and information on how they were made. There are lots that are easily made from clothes and items around your house.
CHRISTMAS PRESENT DRESS - This was very easily made. The dress (£5 in sale) already had the small round silver beads on it. I bought a roll of silver ribbon (£1 shop) and a silver bow (£1 card shop). I pinned the ribbon in place to make the cross shape and then stitched it to the dress.
CHRISTMAS TREE DRESS - This is my friend in her Christmas tree dress, she said it only took a couple of hours to make. She already had the green dress to which she added Christmas decorations (£1 shop) and some tinsel (£1 shop). She also added a set of battery fairy lights (£1 shop) to it again stitched in place.
REINDEER DRESS - This was a very quick last minute dress up idea. I already had the brown boots and dress in my wardrobe. The nose and antlers were from £1 shop and I bought the tights (£3 new look).
WEREWOLF OUTFIT - White top was 50p from a charity shop, the jeans were old and had rips at the knee. The mask and gloves were from £1 shop, the fur on legs were made from ladies fur boot toppers (£3 from eBay) and the long brown strands and fur patches were from a friends scarf. Was easily made and I think only took a couple of hours.
WITCHES CAPE - This cape was handmade by myself. I bought 5 scarf's from the £1 shop and stitched them together. I then added a piece of purple ribbon to each side at the top so I could tie it.
LEPRECHAUN - This was a very quick outfit from things we had at home. My son is wearing green pajama bottoms and his brothers green t-shirt. His bead was from my husbands wizard outfit he had for Halloween. The hat was initially made from cardboard and paper marche and is actually red, but I covered it (loosely) in green crepe paper and stuck a black ring of tape round and cut out a the buckle shape from gold paper.
WWII EVACUEE - My eldest son had to go to school as an evacuee. His hat was one that we had from their Victorian outfit, the gas mask was from the DIY section at £1 shop and its box was a small box we had that I added string to and the image was from Google of an original notice from gas mask box. He already had the white shirt, his tank top was a grey school jumper that I carefully removed the sleeves on, he was meant to have worn grey 3/4 trousers and long socks but it was a cold and wet day. His suitcase/lunchbox was from charity shop and contained a child's teaset. Labels were printed off the net.
LION OUTFIT - This was to represent the Lion from "the lion, the witch and the wardrobe." I think this was one of the hardest outfits I have made for book day (or any other event). The jumper was from a charity shop (it didn't have the wool ruff around neck), this was made with lots of 6" strands of wool and a crotchet hook - each strand was made into a loop and hooked through a stitch of the v-neck jumper. There is 3 different colours of wool, of which the balls came from a charity shop. The hat was a mustard colour beanie from matalan (£2 in sale-it didn't have the wool mane around it). The mane was made in the same way as the ruff and is about 3" deep on the hat. The mask is made from craft foam and elastic. The tail was made by plaiting long lengths of the wool together and then all the ends left as the fluffy ball on end. He wore beige trousers as you can see. This did take about a week to do.
GARGOYLE OUTFIT - This was fairly easy to make, it was to go with the books "Gargoylez". It was a grey onesie which had a tail and hood with ears. The wings were red devil ones from Halloween that had black paint applied to dull the red. The mask was from craft foam and elastic.
CHINESE DRAGON - This was made when the school were studying about china. The mask was a white cardboard box which eye holes were cut from. The dragon's face was drawn on white paper and it's nostrils were lined up with sons eyes and stuck onto the box. We then added strips of red, orange and yellow crepe paper all over the box. He wore red shorts and t-shirt as you can see.
EGYPTIAN - This was when the school were studying the Egyptians. The outfit was a pair of white 3/4 trousers (50p charity shop), a long white top that had silver studs on the shoulders (raided from sisters wardrobe), a gold chain belt (£1 charity shop), neck and wrists bits were local fancy dress shop about £3 and the plait in his hair was from a ball of wool in the cupboard.
FIREMAN SAM OUTFIT - This was handmade. The jacket came from a charity shop, it was a ladies size 8 that I cut and made smaller. The trousers were an old pair we had ready to donate to charity shop - I just added the reflective bands to the bottom and they came off a reflective vest from £1 shop. The belt was one we had anyway and so was the hat.
PETER PAN & CHARLIE BUCKET FROM THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY - Peter pan was a bought outfit (so I cheated BUT it was from a charity shop). Charlie was very easy to do. My son already had the brown trousers and red jumper. All I bought was the wonka bar and golden ticket (£2.50 from eBay). I just made his hair messy with gel.
PIRATE - My youngest son wanted to be a pirate like his older brothers, so I stuck my stripey vest top on him, with a belt round his middle, the bandanna was from an old pirate outfit that was outgrown and the hook was made from a broken plastic coat-hanger that I covered in black tape. Very quick and easy to do.
PIRATES - The bigger of the two was hand made. His trousers started out as a stripey skirt that came from a charity shop - I stitched leg shapes into the skirt and then cut the gap in the middle out, I added elastic to the ankles and waist. He already had the white shirt and his belt was a curtain tie (50p box at market), his waistcoat was from my sisters wardrobe and his bandanna was off eBay. The smaller of the two was a bought outfit.
CARPENTER & SOLDIER (Xmas at school) - The carpenter was very easy with an all brown outfit and a saw made from cardboard and painted. The soldier again was easy as it was black trousers and red top and a hat made from cardboard.
SPACEMEN - These were a summer holiday activity day. The oxygen bottles were made from empty pop bottles covered in tin foil (glued on), ribbon was then attached to them so they could be worn. The hats were made from food covers (2 for £1) and had a piece of of washing line from hat to oxygen bottle. The feet were car sponges and in place with ribbon.
BIG SKELETON - This was a really easy to do costume. The outfit was a skeleton one from Halloween, the hat was made from cardboard and paper march and then then painted.
VICTORIAN BOY OUTFIT - This was made but by things being bought. The trousers and waistcoat suit was off eBay (can't remember how much but not a lot), the brown shirt was from a charity shop (50p-£1) and I removed the collar from it. The necktie was from his cowboy outfit, the hat was from a charity shop, shoes and socks were his own. (He was a rich Victorian not a poor one.)
BUILDER - This was very easy to make. My son already had jeans and a check shirt. The hat and tools were from £1 shop as a set.
CHICK - This was made at school for an Easter play. It was a white t-shirt to which strips of orange and yellow crepe paper were glued on, the hat/beak was a strip of yellow card with an orange beak added to it. He was meant to have orange/yellow trousers but as we didn't have any he wore his grey school trousers.
