World Book Day: Costumes & Fancy Dress

As mentioned earlier the original idea for a day to celebrate reading and books came from Catalonia:

On Saint George's Day, which is April the 23rd in 1923, a rose was given as a gift for each book sold by booksellers in the town of Catalonia in Spain as a way to honour the author Miguel de Cervantes who died on that day.

As mentioned earlier the World Book Day is not on the 23rd of April, this is because the schools here are closed during that time and with the event really supported in the schools, the date is often in early March.

Here in the UK as well as Ireland, World Book Day is a registered charity and does not raise funds for itself but does support Book Aid International and Readathon as its nominated charities

The idea is to encourage schools to hold special fund-raising events for children less fortunate than themselves and this is often where the fancy dress element of the day comes in. One of the main aims of World Book Day in the UK and Ireland is to encourage children to explore the pleasures of books and reading by providing them with the opportunity to have a book of their own.

The funding for World Book Day activities comes mostly from the major sponsor, National Book Tokens as well as book publishers and booksellers in the UK.

One of the main sponsors of World Book Day in the UK is National Book tokens, National Book Tokens are the perfect gift for readers of all ages, and are suitable for any gift-giving occasion.

Education
Because these tokens can only be used for books they have become a firm favourite with teachers looking to reward or motivate their pupils.

Thanks to the generosity of National Book Tokens as well as many other bookshops, school children are able to receive a World Book Day £1 Book Token or the equivalent %u20AC1.50 Book Token in Ireland.

This Book Token can be exchanged for one of the six specially published World Book Day £1 Books.

National Book Tokens are sold and accepted in most bookshops throughout the UK and Ireland, even from the smallest local independent bookshop to the largest chains.

National Book tokens
www.nationalbooktokens.com

As part of the celebration of World Book Day, many children in the UK go to school dressed in a fancy dress costume that has some sort of a book theme.

Costume Ideas For World Book Day
Dressing up in the theme of a book can make reading more fun, so costumes like those listed below would be suitable:

• Harry Potter Costume


• Alice in Wonderland


• Tinkerbell Costume


• Red Riding Hood Costume


• Robin Hood Costume


• Snow White Costume


• Peter Pan Costume

The story of Peter Pan and the naught boy who can fly and his adventures on the island of Neverland is a classic and as such I think makes an excellent theme for your World Book day costume.

What is interesting is that most Peter Pan costumes tend to be pretty similar, with a green top and trousers and the similar style of hat with a feather in it. Why I say interesting is because the original author of Peter Pan, J. M. Barrie, did not really describe Peter in much detail, he wanted to leave that up to the imagination of the reader.

Other than the actual Peter Pan costumes, you could also dress in a Captain Hook pirate costume, or in a Tinkerbell costume if you have a girl.

Check out this blog post for more on Peter Pan costumes for World Book Day, including were to buy them.

If you are planning on buying a book themed costume for World Book Day, here are a few places that you may wish to check out:

In the UK

The best fancy dress company by far is Joker's Masquerade fancy dress and they have loads of kids costumes to help you celebrate the day in style, including Harry Potter costumes, a Dennis The Menace costume and many Charles Dickens inspired characters like the Artful Dodger and Oliver Twist, just to name a few.

Amazon also have an excellent range of children's fancy dress costumes suitable for world book day.

In the USA
Take a look at the huge range of children's fancy dress costumes on Amazon.com

Below are some links that I have found useful. If you have a website or page on or about the World Book Day, and you would like to add it, please contact me.

• World Book Day Costumes - Fancy Dress Costume ideas for World Book Day



• Kids Costumes for World Book Day



• About World Book Day in the UK and Ireland



• World Book and Copyright Day at UNESCO



• World Book and Copyright Day at UN

The future of The World Book Day looks good as it continues to grow in popularity, which is great news for book lovers all around the world.

The continued success of the World Book will rely on the support from authors, publishers, teachers, librarians, public and private institutions, humanitarian NGOs and the mass media, in every country to support the initiative and work together in a celebration of books, reading and authors.