For little readers, Children’s Book Week is an exciting chance to dress up and flex their imaginations. But for parents, it can mean late nights, last-minute crafts, or even just lots of head scratching figuring out costume ideas!

The 2024 Children’s Book Week theme is ‘Reading is Magic’. So mum of three, Eleesha from @the.quinn.girls has shared three costume ideas, easy enough for any parent to feel like a costume wizard. 

1. The Cat in the Hat

Not only is the Cat in the Hat a beloved Dr. Suess character, but it’s an easy and playful costume for boys and girls of all ages.

For the clothing, simply cut out the chest piece of a plain white t-shirt, and glue it to a black long-sleeve tee with a red bow tie. Pair this with black tights, white gloves, an umbrella and black shoes.

Then, create the ‘crown’ of the hat (aka, the main tubular part) by pasting large, red card stripes on white card paper. Roll up the card around your child’s head to determine the size, and tape it up accordingly. For the base of the hat; cut out a brim from white card paper. Outline the size of the crown in the middle of the brim. Then, cut strips from the centre of the brim up to where you’ve just outlined. Once you’ve cut strips in the centre of the brim, turn them up and stick them to the inside of the crown to attach the two pieces.

Lastly, you can use some face paint or even a liquid eyeliner to paint on some cat features. Make sure you add some whiskers, a small cat nose, and some black freckles.

You can find card paper at Crazy Bargains, eyeliner at Priceline, and simple t shirts at Kmart.

2. Matilda

If you haven’t heard of her before; Matilda is the young protagonist of Roald Dahl’s classic children’s novel, and her main outfit is an easy Book Week costume.

Style the look with a blue dress, an off-white cardigan, Mary Jane shoes, and a red ribbon for the top of the hair. This costume is perfect with short hair, styled in a bob, or a short brown wig for that classic Matilda look.

 Find ribbon at Hot Bargain and children’s clothes at Best & Less.

3. Taylor Swift

 This costume is perfect for young music lovers. Taylor Swift is admittedly better known for her music career than her book appearances, however her touring success has been nothing short of magical! She’s even inspired several children’s books, like the one pictured with this costume.

You can pull this costume together with some clothes at home, or a few additional items. Pick out a sparkly dress and heart-shaped sunglasses, with a toy guitar to hold.

Don’t forget her iconic cowboy boots! If the pair you have is a little plain, you can spruce them up with glitter and diamantes from Crazy Bargain Warehouse or Hot Bargain.

Find children’s shoes at Williams, and toys for props at Kmart.

 Take the stress out of Book Week and drop by Lake Haven Centre to pick up everything you need to create fun and easy costumes. We wish every little reader a magical Book Week.