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 fromSeveral stories.Black shirt, Black skirt, black hair, mole...Miss Viola SwampPink sweatshirt and sweat pants....attach pink ears to plastic headband, add tail and nose... make aweb to carry...WilburI 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 tieunder my chin.Grey sweat shirt, grey sweat pants, attached pink ears to head band, pant nose, whiskers onto facewith acrylic pant, borrowed by son's toy motorcycle and was the Mouse of the mouse and themotorcycle 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 saidThing 1. Can change to a blonde wig and use a headband with flowers sticking up from it, (got fromTarget) 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 attachedand 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 apiece of cardboard and had it jumping out of the bowl. I put on a hat like theCat 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 ablack sweater or jacket. Then add a hat. If you do not have a Cat in the Hat - hat, then you can makeone easily enough. Take a piece of bulletin board paper and add stripes. Make it into a cylinder thenroll the bottom.Harry Potter would be easy enough to do using a pair of glasses, a cape, glasses and a broom. Add afew 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 themon."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 carrieda "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 drapinga green plastic (the throwaway kind) tablecloth over herself with a hole cut out for the head andgluing leaves on the outside. She held up her arms for branches.Another year she wanted to dress as a chinese girl from a book she read (I don't remember the title).She had some silk pajamas and we made hera coolie hat from the top to a wicker hamper.I dressed up as Gandolf, the wizard in the Hobbit by taking a large piece of purple fabric andwrapping it around myself robe style. A piece of poster board rolled into a cone became my wizard'shat. 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 bePeter rabbitThe Mystic Connecticut library has children dress up as their favorite books. Get large boxes - or Iwould use posterboard made into sandwich boards - and hang from children's shoulders (I think youhave all seen those people with walking bulletin boards on them). The children decorate the posterlike the cover of their favorite book.Last Halloween I was "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom." I wore a brown turtleneck & pants. I cut palmfronds and hole punched them and used yarn to tie them to my shoulders. I cut more fronds and madea headband. Then I cut lower case letters using the Ellison machine and stapled themonto long strips of felt. I carried a couple of coconuts for effect and put the verse on cardboardaround my neck.Pippi Longstocking--The key identifier was my hair which I braided and then stuck a cut up coathanger 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. andmaking a simple jumper. My hair is not frizzy but that could be overcome by using a curling iron.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--Iraided my hubby's closet for rubber boots, flannel shirts etc.)

The scarecrow from Wizard of Oz (flannel shirt, overvalls, straw, straw hat...overdone stagemakeup)Mrs. Frizzle from the Magic Schoolbus series (I glued fabric fish onto a bright pink dress that I didn'twear much and put fish on my shoes)Mary Poppins (the thrift store should have a black blazer and I have a black skirt the white blouse--acarpetbag and umbrella should do it)Pecos Bill from folklore--jeans, a flannel shirt, a cowboy hat, belt and bootsThe Pied piper with others as the mice. Costumes are grey sweats, headbands with mouse ears (greywith pink center) and a grey tail.Captain Underpants this year.Cow (Cows that Type)Emily Elizabeth in Clifford booksLittle Bill - from books by Bill Cosby; baseball cap, too big shirt, too big pants, sneakers, and ahamsterOlivia - pig ears, nose and tail; red ballet tutu, or any red clothingMan in the yellow hat from Curious George - yellow hat, yellow shirt, yellow pants tucked intoboots, and a George dollConductor from Polar Express - or EngineerWitch from Van Allsburg's "Witchs Broom"Dorothy, etc from Wizard of OzAlice in Wonderland - Alice, Cheshire cat, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, March Hare, MadHatter, Queen of Hearts, etc.Little Women - hoop skirt dress, book for Jo, sewing for Meg, music for Beth and art for AmyPinocchio - Gepetto - white wig, glasses, bib apron, short pants tucked into white socks and dark shoesCruella De Ville - black sleeveless v neck dress, long red gloves, kitten heel dark shoes, lavenderbutton earrings, old-style black purse with black and white fur attached; fake fur coat; Black andwhite wig (or color hair with temporary color)Cinderella - Blue leotard; blue tutu; blue tights; blue or see through heelsSleeping Beauty - fancy dress, long blonde wig, spindle, and maybe a pillow to lay your head onwhile you snore gently