Tinkerbell Costumes for World Book Day

About Tinkerbell
Tinkerbell comes from the Peter Pan book written by J.M. Barrie. In the story, In the stories, Tinkerbell is generally kind to Peter Pan, but she also has a slightly wicked side to her and can be a mean and vindictive fairy. In some ways Tinkerbell has almost a split personality, this is said to be because of Tinkerbell's small size which prevents her from holding more than one feeling at a time.

World Book Day costume ideas: Tinkerbell Costume
I think that a Tinkerbell makes an excellent fancy dress idea, especially as a costume idea for world book day for girls. The story of Peter pan is well known. Most children only know about Peter Pan and Tinkerbell because of the Disney film, but if by dressing up, you can also get them interested in the book, then so much the better.

Tinkerbell Costumes
Of all the fairy costumes, Tinkerbell costumes are the most popular, most Tinkerbell costumes for children are green in colour and she has wings and often a wand as well. Most Tinkerbell costumes will come with the fairy wings, but as with the way many fancy dress costumes are sold these days, you may find that you will have to buy the wand separately.

UK Shoppers
Tinkerbell Costumes on Amazon.co.uk

US Shoppers
Tinkerbell Costumes on Amazon.com

Related Posts:
Fairy Costume Ideas
Peter Pan Costumes
World Book Day 2009

Zorro Costumes

The Zorro Fancy Dress Costume
Zorro is usually depicted in films and books wearing a black costume with a flowing Spanish cape and wearing a flat-brimmed Andalusian style hat. Zorro also wears a black face mask that covers the top of the head from eye level upwards.

For authenticity, you should use a rapier as the correct style of "sword" Zorro uses this to slash his famous "Z" as his mark. Most Zorro costumes come with the Zorro sword, or you can purchase it as a separate accessories. Zorro has also been known to use a bull-whip and some costumes come with one included. If you cannot find one being sold with the Zorro costume, you could check the accessories for Indiana Jones as their whips are similar.

Child Zorro Costumes - World Book Day Costume Idea
The Children's Zorro costume available is almost miniature replica's of the adult costume and for me makes an excellent fancy dress idea for World Book Day as not only has Zorro been featured in many books, but the costume is undeniably cool, which you know as well I do, is extremely important at school!

Why a Child Zorro Costume makes a perfect World Book Day Costume
Did you know that Zorro who was often called Señor or El Zorro in the original stories about him was first created in 1919 where he appeared in the serialized story of "The Curse of Capistrano" written by Johnston McCulley. The original story "The Curse of Capistrano" was reprinted by Tor books in 1998 under the title "The Mark of Zorro". ISBN 978-0-8125-4007-9 (see below for links to the books, DVD's and costumes)



Adult Zorro Costume

Of all the Zorro costumes, I think the official deluxe version is the best. The Zorro outfit comes with a one-piece black jumpsuit complete with a padded muscle torso, chest, bicep, triceps and deltoid muscles, that makes you look like you have spent the past decade in the gym! The costume comes with attached black knee-high vinyl boot covers that makes it look like you are wearing Zorro's boots. This costume also comes with the long black cape, Zorro's black Andalusian style hat has a 3D raised golden trim and Zorro logo. Finishing touches include a belt with printed decoration and Zorro logo and the Zorro face-mask.

To complete the look you will probably have to buy the Zorro sword and whip separately.

Other Zorro Fancy Dress Costumes
Other than the child and adult Zorro costumes, there are also infant Zorro costumes, Pet / Dog Zorro costumes and women's Zorro costumes (La Bandida) costumes available.


Where to Buy Zorro Costumes
To buy the adult, child, women's, infant and pet Zorro costumes, I would suggest the websites below:

UK Shoppers:
Zorro Costumes on Amazon.co.uk

The Mark of Zorro on Amazon.co.uk

Amazon have the adult men's and woman's Zorro costumes as well as the child and infant outfits. There are also the accessories like the masks and swords. As well as the books and DVD's!

US Shoppers:
Zorro Halloween Costumes on Amazon.com

The Mark of Zorro on Amazon.com

Like the UK site, Amazon.com have every Zorro costume that you could ever want including all the available accessories for sale.

Children's Book Week & The World Book Day

It seems as if there is some confusion as a few people have asked me if the Children's Book Week, is the same event as The World Book day. I have done a little research and as far as I can tell they are different events:

Children's Book Week
In 2008 the 77th Children's Book week was held in October which focuses on reading for pleasure amongst children of primary school age and is one of many campaigns aimed at getting children to read organised by the BookTrust. The Booktrust is an independent national charity dedicated to encouraging people of all ages and cultures to engage with books and the written word. As far as I can tell there is no link with fancy dress costumes and Children's Book Week.

World Book Day
World Book Day traditionally took place on 23 April (Shakespeare's birthday and St George's Day). In the UK this date clashed with the Easer Holidays and so to allow schools to take part, this was changed to the first Thursday in March. Many schools organise fancy dress days where the children can dress in a costume representing their favourite book character, so outfits like Harry Potter costumes, Peter Pan costumes, Wizard Of Oz Costumes, Alice in Wonderland Costumes and Snow White Costumes are popular.

For more, check out: World Book Day Costumes & Ideas 2009.

World Book Day: Peter Pan Costumes

As an idea for a world Book Day costume theme, I think that any Peter Pan costume would make an excellent choice. The magical story of Peter Pan, written by J. M. Barrie, tells of a naughty boy who refuses to grow up and his adventures on an island called Neverland is a classic and one that every child should know.

The Peter Pan Costume & Look
What is interesting is the way that most of the Peter Pan costumes all look pretty similar to each other, even though the author never really described Peter's appearance in much detail. It was probably his intention to allow the reader to use their imagination.

Most of the Peter Pan costumes available on the web are green and consist of a fleece like shirt and darker green trousers. Most costumes also come with the hat and feather to complete the look.


Apart form the actual Peter Pan costume, you could also wear a Captain Hook costume, especially if you would rather dress in a pirate costume. Or as a girl, a Tinkerbell costume would also really work.

UK Shoppers
Peter Pan Costumes on Amazon.co.uk Amazon have a good selection of Peter Pan costumes, including Captain Hook and Tinkerbell costumes and so are worth checking out.

Peter Pan at Jokers' Masquerade - joke.co.uk also have an excellent selection of Peter Pan Costumes, as well as Captain Hook & Tinkerbell for both children and adults.

US Shoppers
Peter Pan Costumes on Amazon.com - Like the UK, Amazon.com have all the Peter Pan themed costumes for adults as well as children that you could ever hope for.


Check out this post for more World Book Day Costume Ideas.

Harry Potter Costumes

With the popularity of all the Harry Potter novels written by British author J. K. Rowling and then the film and merchandise spin off's, it is no wonder that one of the most popular fancy dress costumes for World Book Day was last year and will probably be again this year a Children's Harry Potter Costume.

For anyone who has been living in a cave, the story of Harry Potter is basically about the adventures of a boy wizard named Harry Potter during his struggle against an evil wizard named Voldemort, who killed Harry's parents. Even though you are born a Wizard, Harry and his friends, Ron Weasley and Hermoine Granger attend the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry, to learn the skills necessary to become a successful wizard.

Harry Potter Costumes
As you would expect, there are plenty of kids Harry Potter fancy dress costumes available, all of which consist of his basic costume, that being a robe. For the deluxe version pictured, the costume comes with the maroon and black hooded robe with clasp with an embroidered Gryffindor badge over left breast. Unfortunately as with many of the harry potter costumes that I have found you will also have to buy the Harry potter glasses, wand and possibly a wig and tie separately. (You could also just use you school tie)

Other Potter Characters Costumes
Other than Harry's costume, you can also find Dumbledore Masks and costumes, Voldemort costumes and masks, Hermione Granger costumes and Death Eater Costumes.

UK:
Harry Potter Costumes on Amazon.co.uk

USA:
Harry Potter Costumes on Amazon.com

World Book Day Costumes 2009

This years World Book Day in the UK and Ireland will be on March 5th 2009. The rest of the world celebrates the day on St.
George’s Day, 23rd April every year. The reason that the UK celebrates it on a
different day is because here there is a large involvement with the
schools and it is placed during the school term.

One of the main aims is to encourage children to read more by making books and reading more fun and by providing them with the opportunity to have a book of their own. There will be a number of events associated with this day and one of them
being Fancy Dress.

World Book Day Costumes

The idea of getting kids to dress up in fancy dress costumes, with a book theme, I think is excellent. Dressing up is always good fun. It is hoped that this fun with the costumes will also encourage children read more, to find out more about the character of the costume that they are wearing.

Costume Ideas for World Book Day
So what fancy dress costumes are there that come from a book, or have a book theme, here are a few fancy dress ideas that I can think of. If you can think of any more ideas, please feel free to comment below.

Boys Costume ideas for Book Week:

• Harry Potter Costume
• Robin Hood Costume
• Dennis The Menace Costume
• Wizard Of Oz Costume
• Child Tin Man Costume (Wizard of Oz )
• Child Scarecrow Costume (Wizard of Oz )
• Aladdin Costume
• Peter Pan Costume
• Noddy Costume
• Wombles Costumes
• Paddington Bear Costume
• Puss in Boots Costume
• King of Hearts Costume (Alice in Wonderland)
• Zorro Costume
• Dracula Costume
• Frankenstein Costume
• The Cat in The Hat Costume
• Jungle Book Costumes
• Oliver Twist Costume
• Wind in The Willows Costumes
• Peter Rabbit Costumes
• Costume ideas from the Bible
• Gulliver's Travels
• Dr. Dolittle Costumes
• Pinocchio Costume
• Aladdin Costume
• Winnie The Pooh Costume
• Lord of The Rings Costumes
• Jack & The Beanstalk Costume (Jack & a Giant Costume)
• Pirate Costume
• Young Bond - James Bond Costume
  

Girls Costume ideas for Book Week:

• Alice in Wonderland Costume
• Queen of Hearts Costume (Alice in Wonderland)
• Little Red Riding Hood Costume
• Cinderella Costume
  
• Snow White Costume
• Tinkerbell Costume
• Teen Dorothy Costume (Wizard of Oz)
• Heidi Costume
• Witch Costumes - From many books including Winnie The Witch & Shakespeare!
• The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe costume ideas
• Little Miss Muffet
• Goldilocks & The Three Bears costumes
• Princess & The Pea Costume
• Beatrix Potter Books - Think Rabbit costumes
  

Where to buy World Book Day Costumes
Amazon.co.uk has an excellent range of fancy dress costumes for children:
Children's Costumes on Amazon.co.uk

Pimp my Iron Man Costume!

The Ultimate Iron Man Fancy Dress Costume for Kids?
There are plenty of official and not so official Iron Man costumes for both children and adults available for sale. But none have the gadgetry of this one.

One very lucky and cute kid had his father spent two months modding and pimping out the standard child's Iron Man Costume available on the market.






Not only did he add a CO2 air compressor to fire missiles or repulsor waves, but a complete BeagleBoard computer running a makeshift JARVUS along with an Arduino board to handle all of the advanced suit functions.

Below are all the additions made to the IronMan Costume:

• Missile launcher - Uses CO2 air pump can to launch a paper missile.
• SA magnetic switch sensor lights his repulsor hand light and fades out and in his glowing eyes.
  
• Sound Effects - configured Elightenment17 to playback sound effects using Mplayer script. Mouse buttons activated by Arduino Digital output triggered by sensors.
• A LED night light from Costco embedded in his the chest of the Iron Man Suit.
• Powerful Computer - With BeagleBoard already running in JARVUS box on the back of the Ironman Suit they plan to add more features including a Web cam, mobile router with hotspot and a head-mounted display, VoIP, streaming video of Iron Man view.

The standard Iron Man Costume is available from Amazon.com - is still pretty cool, even without all the extras'

Homemade Christmas Elf costume

How to make a Christmas Elf Costume

There are plenty of fancy dress elf costumes available to either hire or buy, but if you would rather make your own childrens elf costume, I managed to find this very easy way to make an elf costume that will also be a great way you can spend some quality time together with your children doing something creative as you make the costume together.

This elf costume is recommended for children of 4 years or older.

To make your own elf costume you will need:

• About two yards of red felt per elf costume (Fabric other than felt can be used, but it will probably require hemming.)
• A few smaller pieces of other colours of felt like green, white, yellow and black
• Non-toxic glue
• Measuring tape
• Tiny bells
• Needle and thread.

Measuring and cutting out the fabric

• Start off by folding over the felt, then ask your child to lie down on it. This fold will become the shoulders of the elf costume which is great news as you don’t have to sew them!
  
• Use a marker to mark the sides of the neck, the lower edges of the armholes and the length of the costume that you want.
  
• Cut out the costume and try it on over your child’s head.
  

The Elfs Hat

• Measure the circumference of your child’s head and mark it on the felt leaving about an inch as spare.
  
• Then Mark the desired height around 1 foot is about right, if it is too long the hat will tend to easily fall off
• Cut out the rectangle that you have just marked out
• Roll it into a cone and place it on your child’s head, it should go down over their ears, to get the right size.
  
• Keep the shape and size, but remove it from your childs head to pin it together.
  
• An extra flap of material will be left over – don’t worry about this. It won’t be seen once the hat is turned inside out.

Time for the Sewing

• Don't worry, there is not much sewing involved and so and it won’t take very long. It is probably best you do this away from your child for safety reasons.
• If you are sewing the costume by hand, use a double thread.
• Sew the sides of the tunic together leaving ample room for the arms.
• Then Turn it inside out so the seams don’t show.
• Then sew the cone hat along the line of safety pins in the hat and turn it inside out.
• Finish by sewing a little bell onto the point of the hat.

And that is the main part of the costume done, you can then encourage your child to decorate the costume by sticking the other pieces of coloured felt to the costume. If he / she is old enough they can cut out shapes.

And that is it - The Easy Peasy Homemade Elf Costume for Kids!

Top 10 Childrens Halloween Costumes 2008

Top 10 children’s Halloween costumes for 2008

Every year the range of fancy dress costumes seems to grow and the largest market for Halloween costumes are children's costumes. With the traditional bricks and mortar stores and on-line merchants offer a vast range of children’s costume ideas. Ranging from traditional ghosts, vampires and scary monsters to the South Park Muscle Devil Costume, from witches to the latest movie and television characters.There are literally thousands of childrens Halloween costumes available and you only limited by your imagination and of course your budget!

So what are the most popular Children's costumes for Halloween?
According to the fancy dress company HalloweenExpress.com the top 10 kids Halloween costumes this year are:

1. Indiana Jones Costume
2. Iron Man Costumes
3. Batman Costumes
4. The Joker Costume
5. Hannah Montana Costume
6. Sharpay (“High School Musical”) Costume
7. Clonetrooper Cody (“Star Wars: Clone Wars”) Costumes (Darth Vader Costume) (Yoda Costume) (Princess Leia Costume)
   
8. Transformers Bumble Bee Costume
9. Monkey Costume (by Tom Arma)
10. Monster bride Costume (Funny Halloween Costumes)
    

A trip down any high street or shopping center is also a good indication of what is popular, yesterday I found plenty of Batman, The Joker and Incredible Hulk costumes for boys. As for the girls there were Hannah Montana costumes including countless accessories including make-up, jewellery, blonde wigs and the sparkly microphone!

We all know that Halloween costumes can get pricey, this is especially true for older children who are less likely to re-use the costume for games of dress-up throughout the year. Discount retailers such as the Wal-Marts Woolworths and Targets of this world have their aisles filled with children’s Halloween costumes which can cost anything upwards from $15, quite a bit of money for just one night of use.

So is the solution to buying, a Homemade Halloween costume? It could be, but as you probably well know as well as me, with children it is hard to beat the glamour and glitz of the commercial costumes! If this still does not help see my earlier post on Kids Halloween costumes for less than $20/£10 and Kids Halloween Costumes

Homemade Halloween Costume Ideas

A little like Christmas, Halloween seems to come around earlier and earlier every year, this to me is because like Christmas there are many people including fancy dress companies out there that are relying to on Halloween to make money and so compete to get noticed first in the market place.

Halloween Costumes On a Budget
Sometimes I feel that we spend far too much on Halloween costumes and fancy dress in general and so if like me you are looking for fun and unique Halloween costumes on a budget what should you do? A good place to save money is with Kids, have you ever noticed that young children often find the boxes more fun on Christmas day than the presents? Well if you follow this logic, I think it is very easy to have homemade Halloween costumes for Kids and they will be more than satisfied with the result. In fact, if you include them in the process of making the Halloween costume that can increase the fun of Halloween and bring you together as a family.

Homemade kids Halloween costume ideas:
Gypsy Costume: Made simply by layering all of the necklaces you own and layering several skirts or putting scarves on as skirts as well as putting on a bit of make-up, makes excellent girls Halloween costumes.

Ghost Costume: The simplest Halloween costume of all made with a sheet and a pair of scissors or for a toddler Halloween costume of a ghost, use a pillowcase!

Clown costumes: Made from a sweat outfit and loads of make-up and buying a multi coloured wig is fairly inexpensive. Clowns can be made into scary costumes depending on how you use the make-up and always make great childrens Halloween costumes.

Zombie Costumes: Made using a old pair of jeans, a torn T-shirt, jacket and shoes. All you need to get then is a makeup kit and add dark circles, blood and whatever other creepy effects that will complement your face paint kit and hey presto a perfect zombie costume!

Unique Halloween Costume Ideas
Apart from the children, you too can make your own adults Halloween costumes for stuff that you already have laying about the house, these outfits are not only cheaper than buying, but can sometimes make the best Halloween costumes.

Quick Fancy Dress Idea for Halloween:
Dress up as a head on a platter by putting a table cloth on card board and gluing paper picnic settings to it. Then all you need to do is put the costume on around your neck so that just your head is sticking out of the centre. Not only does this take very little work but you will be amazed by the reactions you will get from this unique Halloween costume.

Kids Costumes for World Book Day

Started by UNESCO as a way of promoting and developing reading throughout the world, World Book day is now entering its 2nd decade in the United Kingdom.

Support for what is an excellent idea is growing year on year. In the UK and Ireland, it is celebrated on the 6th of March and free book tokens are given to school children. Different schools who have registered and will approach the World Book Day differently, with some inviting a book seller to visit. Other schools will invite a story teller. Many schools encourage their pupils to come dressed as their favourite book character.

Some of the best fancy dress ideas for World Book Day?
One of the best ways I have found for looking for inspiration when deciding on a fancy dress costume is to browse on-line costume shops. This does not mean that you have to purchase your costume, but it can give you some excellent ideas on what to make.

Girls Costume ideas for World Book Day:

• Alice in Wonderland Costume
• Queen of Hearts Costume (Alice in Wonderland)
• Cinderella Costume
• Princess & The Pea Costume
• Snow White Costume
• Tinkerbell Costume
• Teen Dorothy Costume (Wizard of Oz)
• Heidi Costume
• Witch Costumes - From many books including Winnie The Witch & Shakespeare!
• The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe costume ideas
• Little Miss Muffet
• Little Red Riding Hood Costume
• Goldilocks & The Three Bears costumes
• Beatrix Potter Books - Think Rabbit costumes

Boys Costume ideas for World Book Day:

• Harry Potter Costume
• Robin Hood Costume
• Dennis The Menace Costume
• Wizard Of Oz Costume
• Child Tin Man Costume (Wizard of Oz )
• Child Scarecrow Costume (Wizard of Oz )
• Aladdin Costume
• Peter Pan Costume
• Noddy Costume
• Wombles Costumes
• Paddington Bear Costume
• Puss in Boots Costume
• King of Hearts Costume (Alice in Wonderland)
• Zorro Costume
• Dracula Costume
• Frankenstein Costume
• The Cat in The Hat Costume
• Jungle Book Costumes
• Oliver Twist Costume
• Wind in The Willows Costumes
• Peter Rabbit Costumes
• Costume ideas from the Bible
• Gulliver's Travels
• Dr. Dolittle Costumes
• Pinocchio Costume
• Aladdin Costume
• Winnie The Pooh Costume
• Lord of The Rings Costumes
• Jack & The Beanstalk Costume (Jack & a Giant Costume)
• Pirate Costume
• Young Bond - James Bond Costume
  

Where to buy World Book Day Costumes
Amazon.co.uk has an excellent range of fancy dress costumes for children:
Children's Costumes on Amazon.co.uk

More on World Book Day 2009