Write way to cover World Book Day
Mum gives her no-sew guide
I’M a bit of a useless sewand-sew when it comes to making kids’ costumes.
So World Book Day can send me into an unnecessary lastminute meltdown.
On Thursday, millions of children will head to school dressed up as characters from their favourite read.
And the World Book Day charity will hand out 15 million tokens in a bid to give every child their own paperback to read. Which is great.
Especially when it turns out that you don’t have to be a seamstress or a tailor to run up an outfit to celebrate. It’s amazing what you can do with a bit of paint and glue.
I trawled the internet for the best lastminute, no-sew costumes to dress my ten-year-old son Theo and a mate’s fiveyear-old daughter Beatrice. So why not take a leaf out of my book?
Dark trousers and top, white wool, cardboard, red paint, an old bow tie.
Use white wool to create the cat’s tummy, then fashion a hat by painting red stripes on to cardboard.
Make a headband out of cardboard, measuring your child’s head. Take two more strips of cardboard and criss-cross them over each other before attaching them to the band to make a crown shape. Stick on some strands of grey wool for granny’s hair. Give your child an old pair of glasses (be sure to remove the lenses) or make some from cardboard. Accessorise your outfit with pearls and create a swag bag from a rattan bag, or use an old make-up bag.
An old T-shirt, trousers, jacket, oversized fedora/hat and face paint.
It’s all in the face painting skills. If you’re a dab hand, first paint your child’s face white before painting their eyes, nose and side of their face black to give them a skeletal look.