Easy costume hacks for Book Week 2021

During Book Week every year we celebrate the importance of reading by sharing our favourite books with others and dressing up as a fictional character. Here are a few ideas for quick and easy costumes for your Book Week parade in 2021.

Bluey

ABC Kids’ most popular TV Show, Bluey, is now a bestselling collection of books that have been dominating the charts since their release in November 2019. Pick a story based on a hit episode, such as The Beach, Grannies, Fruit Bat, Bingo, Mum School, The Creek, Bob Bilby, Daddy Putdown or Verandah Santa and dress up as a member of the Heeler family.

It can be as easy as wearing all-blue or all-orange and downloading one of our Bluey and Bingo paper masks.

Fart and Burp are Superstinkers

Whoosh! Weeeee! Zoom around school saving people from bullies and other trouble with our smelly friends, Fart and Burp. Wear all-brown or all-purple and put on a blue or red cape! Go all out by making something puffy, or putting a face on it, like these legends featured on Zoë Foster Blake’s Instagram.

Buy the book: Fart and Burp are Superstinkers by Zoë Foster Blake and Adam Nickel

Where Are You, Magoo?

Magoo is a rascally red dog who can’t help but get into trouble! Frank Woodley really captures the essence of Magoo in his read aloud video of We Love You Magoo. Draw some red puppy ears and attach them to a headband, then create a red tail and attach it to a belt. Alternatively, download the Magoo mask made by illustrator Briony Stewart.

Buy the latest book: Where Are You, Magoo? by Briony Stewart

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

A celebrity in their own right, the Very Hungry Caterpillar has a special place in all our hearts. Dress up as a caterpillar by wearing all green and downloading the Very Hungry Caterpillar mask (you won’t even need to colour it in!). The masks work best when you stick them to a piece of cardboard and tape it to a ruler or small stick on the side – like a masquerade ball mask.

Buy the book: The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

Where is the Green Sheep?

Everyone loves a beloved Mem Fox story for Book Week. Dress in all green, download the Green Sheep mask and get prepared to hear ‘THERE’S the Green Sheep!’ all day long.

Buy the book: Where is the Green Sheep? by Mem Fox and Judy Horacek

Little Gem

Little Gem is the most adorable witch you’ll ever meet. When dressing as Gem, think: Baggy is best. Find an oversized shirt (preferably with long sleeves), stitch a green and a purple patch to the front, don a witches hat and some stripy socks. Don’t forget your broomstick!

Buy the latest book: Little Gem and the Mysterious Letters by Anna Zobel

Roald Dahl’s Matilda and The BFG

When dressing up as the BFG (which stands for Big Friendly Giant), it’s all about the huge ears! Download and print the BFG’s ears and stick them on a plastic headband. For the rest of the outfit, wear a light-coloured shirt, vest, and long pants. For a prop, roll up a piece of paper as the BFG’s trumpet, so you can blow good dreams into children’s windows at night.

Buy the book: The BFG by Roald Dahl

Matilda is total bookworm #goals. A read-a-holic and smartypants with just a little bit of magic, Matilda is a popular Book Week parade costume every year. Simply wear a blue dress and carry a big stack of books! Make it extra cheeky by carrying a toy newt in your other hand.

Buy the book: Matilda by Roald Dahl

Alice-Miranda

Alice-Miranda is confident, brilliant and relentlessly kind – a fabulous role model and great character choice for a Book Week parade. The best news of all is that this is a very flexible character. There are now 20 books in the series and Alice-Miranda embarks on a new adventure (and often a new location) in all of them. Forgot that it was costume day? Wear a school uniform with a pink hairband or download this Alice-Miranda mask and voila! Dress as Alice-Miranda in Egypt by using a wide-brimmed sunhat, pink scarf and a white dress with tights underneath.

Buy the latest book: Alice-Miranda in Egypt by Jacqueline Harvey

Diary of a Wimpy Kid

Greg Heffley from the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series is one of the most iconic children’s book characters of this generation. Greg is drawn as a simplistic stick-figure-style character, so you’ll need to wear plain clothing – a white t-shirt and jeans or neutral-coloured pants – and download this Wimpy Kid mask.

Buy the latest book: Diary of a Wimpy Kid 15: The Deep End by Jeff Kinney

Ginger Meggs

Celebrate 100 years of Australia’s legendary larrikin and longest-running comic strip, Ginger Meggs! All you need to dress as Ginger is a white t-shirt and black vest, red pants, red hair and a toy dog and/or toy monkey.

Buy the book: Ginger Meggs by Tristan Bancks and Jason Chatfield

Friday Barnes

She’s bold, she’s intelligent, she solves a lot of mysteries but misses a lot of social cues – meet Friday Barnes, girl detective. Friday is most known for rocking her ‘daggy’ outfit: blue jeans, a yellow and white stripy shirt, cheap red shoes, brown cardigan, hair in pigtails and pork pie hat. Learn a little more about Friday and her adventures in this series recap video.

Buy the book: Friday Barnes 9: No Escape by R.A. Spratt

Ranger’s Apprentice

Dive into the fantasy world of the Ranger’s Apprentice series by dressing as Will Treaty. This costume will require some layers, so round up some light-coloured pants, a long-sleeved shirt and then a tunic to go over the top – any oversized, short-sleeved shirt will do. Add a belt, brown or green hooded cape and pick up your toy archer’s bow or toy cardboard sword. For a more involved costume, make your own Ranger’s Apprentice cloak.

Buy the latest book: Ranger’s Apprentice The Royal Ranger 4: The Missing Prince by John Flanagan