100+ World Book Day Costume Ideas

If you are having trouble coming up with some inspiration for a World Book Day fancy dress costume, then you’ve come to the right place!

Below are hundreds of ideas, any of which would make a great costume for World Book Day.

Picture Books and Books for Younger Readers

Julia Donaldson Characters

  • The Gruffalo
  • The mouse from The Gruffalo
  • The Highway Rat
  • Stick Man
  • The witch from Room on the Broom
  • Tiddler
  • Zog
  • Tabby McTat

Other World Book Day Costume Ideas Inspired by Books for Younger Readers

  • Percy from the Percy the Park Keeper books by Nick Butterworth.
  • Any of the Mr Men and Little Miss characters from the books by Roger and Adam Hargreaves.
  • Kipper, Tiger or Pig from the Kipper series by Mick Inkpen.
  • The Very Hungry Caterpillar from the book of the same name by Eric Carle.
  • Max or a Wild Thing from Where The Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak.
  • Charlie or Lola from the books by Lauren Child.
  • Meg (the witch) or Mog (the cat) from the books by Helen Nicoll and Jan Pienkowski.
  • Timothy Pope or the shark from Shark in the Park by Nick Sharratt.
  • Elmer the patchwork elephant from the Elmer books by David McKee.
  • Paddington, the bear from the classic books by Michael Bond.

Dr Seuss World Book Day Costume Ideas

  • Cat in the Hat
  • The Grinch
  • Sam-I-Am (from Green Eggs and Ham)
  • The Lorax
  • Fox in Socks

Roald Dahl Costume Ideas

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Characters

James and the Giant Peach Characters

  • James Henry Trotter
  • The Centipede
  • The Old Green Grasshopper
  • The Ladybug
  • Miss Spider

Other Roald Dahl Characters

  • George Kranky from George’s Marvellous Medicine.
  • Matilda Wormwood from Matilda.
  • Mr Fox from Fantastic Mr Fox.
  • The BFG
  • The Enormous Crocodile

Characters from Fairy Tales

  • Red Riding Hood
  • Cinderella
  • Snow White
  • The Seven Dwarfs (Doc, Grumpy,Happy, Sleepy, Bashful, Sneezy, Dopey)
  • Rapunzel
  • Prince Charming
  • Sleeping Beauty
  • Aladdin
  • Pinocchio
  • Little Mermaid
  • The Snow Queen

Harry Potter Charcaters

  • Harry Potter
  • Hermione Granger
  • Ron Weasley
  • Albus Dumbledore
  • Hagrid
  • Severus Snape
  • Draco Malfoy
  • Voldemort

J. R. R Tolkien Characters

  • Gandalf
  • Bilbo Baggins
  • Frodo Baggins
  • Thorin Oakenshield
  • Smaug
  • Gollum
  • Legolas
  • Gimli
  • Aragorn
  • Galadriel
  • The Nazgul
  • Samwise Gamgee

Other World Book Day Costume Ideas

  • Any of the Beatrix Potter characters, such as Peter Rabbit, Jeremy Fisher or Mrs Tiggy-Winkle.
  • Horrid Henry or Perfect Peter from the Horrid Henry series by Francesca Simon.
  • One of the musketeers (D’Artagnan, Athos, Aramis, Porthos) from The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas.
  • Gregory Heffley from the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books by Jeff Kinney.
  • Mole, Ratty, Mr Toad or Badger from The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame.
  • Alex Rider from the Alex Rider series by Anthony Horowitz.
  • Skulduggery Pleasant, the skeleton detective from the Skulduggery Pleasant books by Derek Landy.
  • Mildred Hubble from the Worst Witch books by Jill Murphy.
  • Alice, The Queen of Hearts, The Cheshire Cat, The Mad Hatter or The March Hare from Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll.
  • Jim Hawkins or Long John Silver from Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson.
  • Gangsta Granny or Mr Stink from the books by David Walliams.
  • Christopher Robin, Piglet, Eeyore, Tigger or Winnie-the-Pooh from the Pooh Bear books by A. A.Milne.
  • Prince Caspian, Aslan, the White Witch from the Narnia books by C. S. Lewis.
  • Peter Pan, Tinkerbell or Captain Hook from Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie.
  • Hiccup from the How to Train Your Dragon books by Cressida Cowell.
  • The young James Bond from the books by Charlie Higson.
  • Sherlock Holmes or Dr Watson from the books by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
  • Percy Jackson from the books by Rick Riordan.
  • Lyra Belacqua from His Dark Materials series by Philip Pullman.

Hopefully this list has given you some ideas for your World Book Day fancy dress costume.

If you’ve got any ideas to add to the list, please leave them in the comments.

Roald Dahl Fancy Dress: Veruca Salt Costume

Veruca Salt is a selfish character from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl. She is a spolied brat and constantly demands things from her rich parents.

A Veruca Salt costume is quite easy to put together. Wear an expensive looking red or pink dress, white tights and smart shoes.

Veruca Salt costume

If your costume is inspired by the 1970s film version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, you might want to add a golden egg prop.

If your Veruca Salt is the one from the original book, or from the 2005 film, you could carry a soft toy squirrel and pretend it is attacking you!

Roald Dahl Fancy Dress: Charlie Bucket Costume

Charlie Bucket is the main character in the Roald Dahl classics, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator.

If you’re are looking for a simple World Book Day costume or Roald Dahl Day costume, Charlie Bucket is a really good choice. It’s fairly simple to put together your own Charlie Bucket outfit. Simply wear old fashioned-looking clothes, such as a drab, dark-coloured stripey or checked top and plain trousers.

Make a golden ticket (just like the one Charlie Bucket found in his Wonka Bar in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory), and you’re done! If you’re feeling creative, you could also make the Wonka Bar, too.

Charlie Bucket Costume Ideas
(Image Source)

You can also buy Charlie Bucket costumes.

Click the link below.

Boys Charlie Bucket Costume