Celebrating and inspiring the magic of reading with your little ones – the heart of Book Week, 17 to 23 August – doesn’t have to be complicated. Whether it’s for their school’s parade or for some fun family time at home, creating Book Week costumes can be an easy and fun-filled activity you can enjoy together.

This year, we’re highlighting an all-time classic, ‘The Gruffalo’, along with an out-of-the-box idea thanks to the Guinness World Records 2025 book, and a character from a brand-new novel by the beloved Australian author Andy Griffiths. Whether you have a toddler or tween, they’ll be sure to love these costume ideas. And the best bit? You can make them as simple or show-stopping as you like.

SEE ALSO: 3 Creative Kids’ Activities to Try at Home

‍Book Week Costume: The Land of Lost Things

series of overhead shots of two hands demonstrating how to create a ‘The Land of Lost Things’ adventure helmet, displayed against a blue surface.

You never have to twist their arm to wear a cardboard box on their heads, right? Andy Griffiths’ new novel ‘Adventures Unlimited: The Land of Lost Things’ provides the inspiration you need to create an easy, but still crafty costume, based on the official Make Your Own Adventure Helmet guide.

What You’ll Need:

An assortment of products for creating a ‘The Land of Lost Things’ costume, shown on various brightly-coloured backgrounds. Products include things like acrylic paint and brushes, and scissors.

‍Instructions

Step 1: Start by cutting open your box and folding it into a rectangular shape that will fit over your child’s head. You may have to remove some flaps and re-adhere them to make the right box shape.

Step 2: Once your box is ready, use scissors and cut open the mouth shape using the tip like a scalpel. The mouth will double as the eye-hole for the costume when worn.

Step 3: If needed, paint over any words on the box, then give the whole face of the box a coat of light brown paint.

Step 4: Using black paint, add a big rectangle above the mouth, then add a line around the edge of the mouth.

Step 5: Using a blue Posca pen, add in the blue markings and details to the face and sides of the box. Repeat the same with a paint brush and yellow paint as they are thicker.

Step 6: Take two cardboard rolls, and using hot glue, adhere them to the sides of the box.

Step 7: Paint the base of a scrubbing brush purple and the tips a grey-ish white before glueing it to the top of the box.

Step 8: Cut a long strip of white butchers paper to make the sash, and take a smaller piece of paper to glue over three pencils. Secure the sash with some tape once you are ready to put on the costume.

A series of images of author Andy Griffiths and illustrator Bill Hope. In one image, they are wearing the ‘Me’ and ‘You’ character costume made from cardboard boxes.
Andy Griffiths with ‘Adventures Unlimited: The Land of Lost Things’ illustrator Bill Hope.

Five Minutes With Andy Griffiths

We asked Andy for the details behind his soon-to-be-released book ‘Adventures Unlimited: The Land of Lost Things’ (available from 13 August).

What was your inspiration for Adventures Unlimited? 

“To create a heady mix of fantasy, adventure and comedy that sweeps the reader away in a heavily illustrated adventure that they’ll never forget, just like the sort of books I used to love as a kid and still seek out as a grown-up!” 

Tell us about your inspiration behind the characters of ‘Me’ and ‘You’ 

“Well, one of the most common requests from readers over the years has been, ‘Can you put me in your next book?’ So I thought it would be really fun to write a book in which ‘Me’ (the writer) and ‘You’ (the reader) have a wild adventure together. I figured if we were wearing adventure suits with cardboard boxes on our heads then all readers everywhere, regardless of their age, gender or nationality, would be able to easily identify with the ‘You’ character.” 

What do you hope readers take away from this book? 

“The idea that reading is a wildly imaginative adventure with no limits! And to always remember to take their lucky rabbit’s foot with them if they're going on an adventure… or else!”

The cover of ‘Adventures Unlimited: The Land of Lost Things’ by Andy Griffiths, which features two characters wearing decorated cardboard boxes on their heads.

SEE ALSO: 3 Boredom-Busting DIY Construction Activities for Kids 

Book Week Costume: The Gruffalo Beanie

A series of overhead shots of two hands demonstrating how to create a Gruffalo beanie and paws, displayed against a blue surface.

He’s the woodland monster we all know and love, and an iconic Book Week staple. Transforming an old beanie into The Gruffalo will make for a toasty warm costume your kids can wear over and over again.

What You’ll Need:

An assortment of products to help create a Gruffalo beanie, shown on various brightly-coloured backgrounds. Products include things like Posca pens, glue and felt sheets.

‍Instructions

Step 1: Using felt, cut out all the pieces you need for The Gruffalo’s face, like orange eyes, a brown nose, a green wart, teeth, horns, ears and purple prickles.

Step 2: Using a hot glue gun, adhere them to your beanie, tucking the teeth into the fold of the beanie.

Step 3: Then to make the paws, start with a thin strip of black paper, and using a glue stick, adhere the ends together to make a loop.

Step 4: On a piece of brown paper, roughly trace a hand, making the fingers fat with pointy ends. Then cut small white claws and glue them to the tips.

Step 5: Take a Posca pen and make fur markings across the paper.

Step 6: Glue the claw to the black paper loop, so a hand can slide in to hold it.

The cover of ‘The Gruffalo’ by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler, which shows The Gruffalo, a big, furry creature, and Mouse in a forest setting.

Book Week Costume: The Gruffalo Mouse Headband

A series of overhead shots of two hands demonstrating how to create a headband of Mouse from ‘The Gruffalo’, displayed against a blue surface.‍

If your child wants to go as the oh-so-brave Mouse instead of The Gruffalo itself, this simple felt and cardboard headband is easy to make, and will win over the book lovers at school.

What You’ll Need:

An assortment of products to help create a Mouse headband, shown on various brightly-coloured backgrounds. Products include things like a glue gun, coloured paper and wire.

‍Instructions

Step 1: Take a piece of A4 brown paper and cut two long strips (or one strip from A3 paper). Glue them together at one end, then measure around the child’s head, before trimming and glueing the other end to fit snugly.

Step 2: Using felt, cut out a base for the head, as well as the extra pieces for Mouse’s face, like white eyes, a pink nose, black whiskers and big brown and pink ears.

Step 3: Arrange all the pieces onto the brown base, and once you’re happy, glue them into place using a hot glue gun.

Step 4: Then take some fine wire, make a loop and glue it onto the back of the ears to stop them from flopping down.

Step 5: Once dry, glue the whole base of the face to the brown paper headband.

SEE ALSO: 5 Fun DIY Paddle Pop Stick Craft Ideas

Book Week Costume: Guinness World Records – World’s Largest Display of Candies

A series of overhead shots demonstrating how to create a candy display costume, shown against a green surface.

You can easily lose hours poring over all the cool records people broke in the past year when flicking through ‘Guinness World Records 2025’. But the record for world’s largest display of candy varieties, which was achieved by Tom’s Confectionery Warehouse in Melbourne in January 2024, has to be the sweetest to recreate for a Book Week costume. With a mix of tissue, crepe paper, cellophane and coloured pens, you can transform anyone into a bright shelf of lollies.

‍What You’ll Need:

An assortment of products to help create a candy display costume, shown on various brightly-coloured backgrounds. Products include things like crepe paper, ribbons and a glue gun.
The cover of ‘Guinness World Records 2025’, which features a theme for each letter to represent different records. For example, candy in the shape of the letter ‘E’ and a stopwatch for the letter ‘O’. 

Instructions

Step 1: To make paper lollipop candies, create a template that will help you trace the swirls onto your coloured paper. Once you’ve traced on your swirls and cut out the circles, use paint markers to add thinner coloured swirls.

Step 2: Create the chocolate freckles by taking scraps of coloured paper and making lots of little incisions, then trimming the paper into bowls, making a fine confetti. Cover some brown paper in glue, spread the confetti onto a clean piece, then press the brown paper, glue-side down, onto the confetti. Once dry, cut into little circles.

Step 3: Make more lollies by scrunching some tissue paper, taking a smooth piece and folding it over the top, then wrapping it bon-bon style with clear cellophane and finish with ribbons.

Step 4: For the base, take a plain piece of cardboard and cover it in bright paper. Pop two small holes at the top and thread ribbon through and secure so it can hang around a neck, like a necklace.

Step 5: Glue all your ready-made candies onto the base using a hot glue gun.

SEE ALSO: 5 Fun DIY Crafts With Cardboard Rolls