How to celebrate World Book Day without dressing up

It’s not about fancy dress…

While dressing up for World Book Day may sound fun, it’s not the only way to encourage a love of reading or celebrate the day. Even if the aisles of shops advertising, ‘World Book Day costumes’ and the ‘Check out my World Book Day costume’ posts all over social media may have you thinking otherwise. And look, I say this from someone who loves fancy dress – any excuse to dress up and I will. I have done so for World Book Day multiple times in the past. But here’s the thing, asking students to dress up can be quite problematic, putting pressure on parents/carers to be able to source costumes when they may not have the time or money to do so. Not to mention, staff in school may feel a similar pressures if they are asked to dress up. This is incredibly divisive when World Book Day should be an inclusive event for everyone to share in the joy of reading. It also could make individual children and young people feel uncomfortable too, who don’t want to dress up being expected to do so and, if they don’t, being the ‘odd ones out’.

So how can we celebrate instead?

• Role play corner – If you are a primary/early years setting who is really keen to have fancy dress opportunities, then this is where your school role play corner comes in handy. This gives children the chance to dress up if they want to and without putting any burden on the adults at home (and in school)! You could even theme the corner on a specific book or selection of books for a really immersive experience.
• Give the gift of a book – In 2024, the National Literacy Trust found that 1 in 10 children do not have a book of their own. 3 While school budgets are tight, the gift of a book that a child can own, that’s theirs, is so incredibly meaningful. If you need support, reach out to local charities, businesses and others in your community to see if they can help with some book donations, or maybe you could hold a fundraiser. You could also review if you have any books in your school library that could be re-homed with pupils.
• Make story time fun – One year, the school I taught in hosted a cosy clothes and story time session where children could wear something they were comfy in (like pyjamas or joggers) and enjoy having a book read to them by staff and parent/carer volunteers with a nice warm hot chocolate. This time together was such a lovely way for children to be read to. You could also use these BBC videos of celebrities reading stories to try something new for your story time.
• Share your love of reading – Talk about what your favourite books were when you were X age and why and share what you love about reading. Ask other staff if they’ll share too. If any pupils also want to talk about their favourite books include this as well.
• Book choosing time – Dedicate time for children to choose books they want to read in school and at home so they can pick something of a real interest to them.
• Peer reading – Why not have an older year group read to a younger one and vice versa so they can enjoy stories, and the older pupils can support the younger children. You could even organise this between schools so say secondary school pupils could be reading buddies for primary school ones.
• Learn about book related careers- Inspire your pupils by discovering the different roles within the world of books such as authors, illustrators, publishers etc. If possible, you could even have your pupils interview role models in these careers too!