With CBCA Book Week 2025 just around the corner, it’s time to start thinking about costumes. Choose a favourite book and start planning what character your child wants to dress up as.
Book Week 2025 runs from 16 August to 23 August 2025 and the theme for this year is “Book an Adventure”.
Creating a Book Week costume that your child loves and doesn’t drain the family budget can be a challenge, especially if you have more than one child at school. You’re not alone if you find the process overwhelming and even stressful.
To help out we’ve put together a list of 14 simple Book Week costume ideas that are both budget-friendly and will have your little one parading with confidence.
Character Masks
There are heaps of DIY masks and character masks available online. Download one and involve your child by having them colour it in. Glue the mask to a piece of cardboard, cut it out and add some elastic. Then, scour your little one’s wardrobe to find clothes that match the colour of their character and you’re done! Some character ideas:
- The Gruffalo
- Wolf (Little Red Riding Hood, Three Little Pigs, White Fang, Wolf Girl)
- Giraffe (Giraffes Can’t Dance, Celeste the Giraffe Loves to Laugh)
- Sloth (The Speedy Sloth, The Sloth Who Came to Stay)
Face Paint
Transform your child into their favourite book character with face paint and a little creativity. As above, search your little one’s wardrobe to find clothes that match the colour of their character. Some easy face paint ideas:
- Tiger (The Tiger Who Came to Tea)
- Dog (Runt, The Poky Little Puppy, any of Holly Webb’s ‘Puppy’ books)
- Butterfly (The Very Hungry Caterpillar, A Butterfly is Patient)
- Kitten (Coco series, Itty Bitty Kitty)
Annie Shearer and Runt
If your kids enjoyed this heartwarming book by Craig Silvey as much as the rest of the country (voted Australia’s Favourite Kids Book in Better Reading’s Top 50 Kids Books 2023) dress them up as Annie Shearer. Grab a pair of overalls and a tool belt and accessorise with a can of dog food and a plush dog toy. Done!
Unicorn
Pick up a unicorn headband (you might even have one lying around), add some pink clothes (and a tutu for Thelma) and finish off this costume with lots of face and hair glitter. Some book ideas include:
- Thelma the Unicorn
- Ten Minutes to Bed Little Unicorn
Sports Star
If you have a child who is hesitant to dress up, convincing them to wear their sports uniform, rather than a character costume, might be more achievable. Some ideas for books to match:
- Little Ash (Tennis)
- Sam Kerr series, I Can be a Soccer Star (soccer)
- Little Legends (AFL)
- Sporty Kids series
Add a Prop
Here’s some book characters that wear normal, everyday clothes but have one special prop. A great choice for older kids or kids who aren’t too keen on dressing up:
- Wolf Girl (add a backpack)
- Ninja Kid (add a mask)
- Percy Jackson (add a sword/shield)
We’d love to see your costumes! If you choose one of the above ideas tag us at #newywithkids.