The Best (And Easiest) Book Week Costumes

These are some pretty novel ideas.

Book week is fast approaching, and costumes are being hastily thrown together across the country, so we’ve put together our favourite choices, from the classics to the out-there choices.

Harry Potter (or anyone from Harry Potter).

In terms of a book week costume, you can’t go wrong with Harry Potter, or literally any character from the franchise.

All you need is a pair of round specs, a robe and a wand, and boom, you’re suddenly the boy who lived.

Or chuck on a red wig for a bit of Ron Weasley, or a long white beard to take on Dumbledore.

Or you can go even further, like Student Edge’s Anica Mancinone, who put on a sheet and a Dobby mask to take on the iconic house-elf back in 2017.

Or just phone it in and go as a muggle.

Willy Wonka.

You might have to hit the op shops for this one.

But if you can find a purple blazer, a floral vest, and a brown top hat, and for some reason a giant bowtie, you can capture the chocolate-makers vibe.

 Some of the other characters in Roald Dahl’s classic are achievable too – paint yourself purple and put a balloon under your tracksuit to be Violet Beauregarde.

You can even go buck wild with it, paint yourself orange, dye your hair green, and slip on a pair of overalls to be the best Oompa Loompa you can be. Just like I did way back in 2007.

Alice in Wonderland.

Do you have a blue dress? A blonde wig? Then you’re pretty much all the way to a pretty good Alice in Wonderland. Carry around a stuffed rabbit or cat to accentuate this character from Lewis Carroll’s original book.

There’s also a bunch of other options here – chuck on a rabbit onesie and you’re the White Rabbit.

Or just repurpose last year’s Willy Wonka costume, and, with a few choice alterations, you’re the Mad Hatter.

Jurassic Park.

Yeah, most people think of the film, but it was a book first, and Michael Crichton’s original is one of my all-time favourites.

There’s a few great costumes here.

A denim shirt, chinos, a red bandanna, and a cowboy hat – the perfect Dr Alan Grant.

Laura Dern’s iconic paleobotanist Ellie Satler can be captured easily with a blue tee, a red shirt tied in a knot, shorts and boots.

White pants, a white shirt, a Panama, and a walking stick – John Hammond to a tee.

And finally, black pants, a black shirt, and a leather jacket plus shades – the iconic Jeff Goldblum as Dr Ian Malcolm.

Cruella De Vil

Last year’s modern take on the villain from 101 Dalmatians features some great fashion and dressing up as actress Emma Stone’s title character is a sure-fire way to wow all your classmates.

It’s going to be a little bit of work to get the hair right, but it’d be absolutely worth it. Either use or wig, or go all out with the dye, one side black and one side white. Add in a black dress and it’s perfect.

These are just some of the few options for a great book week, so suit up, strut your stuff and book in your costume.