Book Character Dress-Up Ideas
culled from listserv postings from LM_NET, OZTL_NET, and SLN
 Straw hat, rolled up jeans with rope belt and suspenders-- Jack and
the Bean Stalk, or a farmer from several stories.
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Black shirt, Black skirt, black hair, mole...Miss Viola Swamp
 Pink sweatshirt and sweat pants....attach pink ears to plastic
headband, add tail and nose... make a web to carry...Wilbur
 I have worn a black skirt, black long sleeved blouse, made white
paper cuffs to cover sleeves,enlarged Amelia Bedelia's hat on tag
board, colored it, laminated it and attached tie strings to tie under
my chin.
 Grey sweat shirt, grey sweat pants, attached pink ears to head band,
pant nose, whiskers onto face with acrylic pant, borrowed by son's
toy motorcycle and was the Mouse of the mouse and the
motorcycle or carry a lunch box and be the mouse in If You Take a
Mouse to School...
 Make a princess hat out of cardboard...weave a long braid from thick
yarn and attach to princess hat. Wear an old gown purchased from
resale shop....Rapunzel
 Wear a simple plaid skirt, white button up shirt and become
Madeline.
 Try a bonnet and an apron as an easy costume for Laura Ingalls
Wilder.
 Thing 1, using a red sweatsuit and a blue wig (got at Spencer's Gift)
with a tag I made that said Thing 1
 Can change to a blonde wig and use a headband with flowers
sticking up from it, (got from Target) wore a dress to be Daisy Head.
 Clifford is an easy costume to make using a red sweat suit, a red
stocking cap with felt ears attached and a dog collar.
 Once I was the fish and the cat from the Cat and the Hat. I made a
big fish bowl out of huge laminate, but you could use bulletin board
paper. I used a sandwich board types design. Then I drew a fish on a
piece of cardboard and had it jumping out of the bowl.
 I put on a hat like the Cat in the Hat and painted my face with
whiskers. Cat in the Hat--You can wear a black pair of pants, white
shirt and red tie around your neck. Put on a black sweater or jacket.
Then add a hat. If you do not have a Cat in the Hat - hat, then you can
make one easily enough. Take a piece of bulletin board paper and
add stripes. Make it into a cylinder then roll the bottom.
 Harry Potter would be easy enough to do using a pair of glasses, a
cape, glasses and a broom. Add a few freckles than fly on over to the
party.
 Waldo: blue jeans, striped shirt, and striped hat. Add stripes to a
stocking cap with felt or paint them on.
 "A Proper Little Lady" (Nette Hilton)
 Strega Nona--just used a long skirt, long apron from the cafeteria and
a scarf on my head and carried a "pot" for my pasta (a black plastic
cauldron I found somewhere during Halloween).
 The Paper Bag Princess (a big sack over the head)
 "The Giving Tree" by Shel Silverstein--to dress up as the giving tree,
my daughter started by draping a green plastic (the throwaway kind)
tablecloth over herself with a hole cut out for the head and gluing
leaves on the outside. She held up her arms for branches.
 I dressed up as Gandalf, the wizard in the Hobbit by taking a large
piece of purple fabric and wrapping it around myself robe style. A
piece of poster board rolled into a cone became my wizard's
hat. I added a tinfoil star and was ready to go!
 I wore a brown velvet dress, a light blue blazer ($2 at a thrift shop)
and made felt bunny ears to be Peter rabbit
 The Mystic Connecticut library has children dress up as their favorite
books. Get large boxes - or I would use posterboard made into
sandwich boards - and hang from children's shoulders (I think you
have all seen those people with walking bulletin boards on them).
The children decorate the poster like the cover of their favorite book.
 Last Halloween I was "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom." I wore a brown
turtleneck & pants. I cut palm fronds and hole punched them and
used yarn to tie them to my shoulders. I cut more fronds and made
a headband. Then I cut lower case letters using the Ellison machine
and stapled them onto long strips of felt. I carried a couple of
coconuts for effect and put the verse on cardboard around my neck.
 Pippi Longstocking--The key identifier was my hair which I braided
and then stuck a cut up coat hanger on either side to enable it to
stick straight out sideways. As a final touch I sprayed it red. My
"costume" was a sailor-ish outfit to go with one of her seafaring
books.
 Miss Frizzle--At fabric stores there are a variety of prints that have
items like dinosaurs, fish, etc. and making a simple jumper. My hair is
not frizzy but that could be overcome by using a curling iron. Mrs.
Frizzle from the Magic Schoolbus series (I glued fabric fish onto a
bright pink dress that I didn't wear much and put fish on my shoes)
 Amelia Bedelia. Wear a black dress with a white apron with pockets,
a hat with an artificial flower. Have a box of dusting powder with a
powder puff with which to "dust" the furniture.
 The wolf from the true story of the three pigs (your vest and stuff,
with wolf ears and nose added)
 Mrs Whatsit from Wrinkle in time (as you may recall, she wore a
bunch of castoffs in many layers—I raided my hubby's closet for
rubber boots, flannel shirts etc.)
 Mary Poppins (the thrift store should have a black blazer and I have a
black skirt the white blouse--a carpetbag and umbrella should do it)
 Pecos Bill from folklore--jeans, a flannel shirt, a cowboy hat, belt and
boots
 The Pied piper with others as the mice. Costumes are grey sweats,
headbands with mouse ears (grey with pink center) and a grey tail.
 Captain Underpants this year.
 Cow (Cows that Type)
 Emily Elizabeth in Clifford books
 Little Bill - from books by Bill Cosby; baseball cap, too big shirt, too
big pants, sneakers, and a hamster
 Olivia - pig ears, nose and tail; red ballet tutu, or any red clothing
 Man in the yellow hat from Curious George - yellow hat, yellow shirt,
yellow pants tucked into boots, and a George doll
 Conductor from Polar Express - or Engineer
Witch from Van Allsburg's "Witchs Broom"
Dorothy, etc from Wizard of Oz
 Alice in Wonderland - Alice, Cheshire cat, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle
Dum, March Hare, Mad Hatter, Queen of Hearts, etc.
 Little Women - hoop skirt dress, book for Jo, sewing for Meg, music
for Beth and art for Amy
 Pinocchio - Gepetto - white wig, glasses, bib apron, short pants
tucked into white socks and dark shoes
 Cruella De Ville - black sleeveless v neck dress, long red gloves, kitten
heel dark shoes, lavender button earrings, old-style black purse with
black and white fur attached; fake fur coat; Black and white wig (or
color hair with temporary color)
 Cinderella - Blue leotard; blue tutu; blue tights; blue or see through
heels
 Sleeping Beauty - fancy dress, long blonde wig, spindle, and maybe a
pillow to lay your head on while you snore gently
 Eloise
 Any professor from Harry Potter by finding a black graduation robe
at a thrift store. If you have someone with short hair, they could rat it
out like professor Sprout's
 Elphaba from the Gregory Maguire's Wicked, if you have someone
willing to paint themselves green. Wear all black, long sleeves and a
pair of cheap reading glasses (I took the glass out) I also had a
long wig which I braided and a black beanie (similar to the way she is
portrayed in the musical version of the book)
 You could also do Galinda or the more recognizable Glinda by finding
a poofy prom dress at a thrift store. Princess tiara's are pretty easy to
come by as well.
 Humpty Dumpty
 Tweedledum and his twin Tweedledee
 Charles Schultz "Peanuts" characters
 Arthur
 Franklin
 Junie B. Jones
 Nancy Drew
 Bartholomew Cubbins and other Seuss characters
 Blackbeard the pirate
 Peter Pan/Captain Hook/Lost Boys/Tiger Lily/Tinker Bell
 Sir Lancelot
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Robinson Crusoe
Winnie the Pooh characters
Ramona Quimby
Lyle the Crocodile
Stan the Hot Dog Man
Pizza Pat
Dora the Explorer
Train Engineer : A pair of blue jeans, a blue Jean jacket, a red and
black bandana. A blue and white engineer hat, a whistle, and play
lantern—This description could easily become Casey Jones, the
famous train conductor of American tall tale fame.
Grace from Amazing Grace
Kate the Cowgirl
Miss Allenious
Paul Bunyan- Jeans, flannel shirt, suspenders, fake axe.
Little Boy Blue - dress all in blue and carry horn
Jack be Nimble - dress like boy & carry candle.
Fancy Nancy
The pigeon from Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus-a gray hooded
sweat shirt and sweat pants, make eyes and beak out of posterboard
or material.
The hungry caterpillar-costume made using 3 plastic hula hoops with
a tube of green spandex stretched over them. I simply bought a
length of green spandex, sewed a channel at both top and
bottom for elastic, stitched the length into a tube, stretched the tube
over the hula hoops and sewed the spandex in place on the hoops. I
then sketched the caterpillar's face mask on poster board and
trimmed and painted it to match the illustration. The whole
production probably took me 3 hours (including shopping). I used the
sewing machine at school and painted the mask using the supplies in
the art room (after school). The hula hoops cost about $12 and the
spandex about $8 (on clearance). Elastic was around $3 for a total
cost of $23.
Harold the purple crayon--made out of a cardboard tube
I was Little Red Riding Hood once. I had on a long skirt and regular
shoes and a white blouse. I bought a red cloth table cloth and fit it
around my head and down my back to resemble a cloak.