World Book Day 2022

World book day is just around the corner & as family portrait photographers, we have lots of excited little ones sharing their plans of who they want to be for World Book Day. They are always so excited to tell us which of their favourite characters they’ll be dressing up as this year.

So what’s it all about?

Every year, on the first Thursday in March, every child in full-time education in the UK and Ireland is given a voucher to spend on books & get’s to go to school dressed up as a character from their favourite book. This year’s event will be held on Thursday 3rd March.

For me, books were such a massive part of my childhood & reading was always such a comfort and set me up for a lifelong love of learning and books, and that’s partly what World Book Day is all about. Encouraging children to love reading. When I was little I used to love curling up with a Roald Dahl classic or Jacqueline Wilson. My favourites were Matilda & The Lottie Project, and then as a young adult I completely fell in love with the Harry Potter books. Even as an adult I could still pick them up & escape in to that magical world and this is a love I’ve been able to share with my nephew by reading my favourites to him and now he now likes to share his favourites with me too. He loves the David Walliams books, his favourite is Gangsta Granny.

There’s loads of different ways you can celebrate World Book Day at home too! Why not have a whole day dedicated to the occasion and have a world book day themed dinner or treats – get the kids to help you prepare it and talk about each ‘book’ dish you prepare. Click here for some ‘book themed’ food to try with your little ones. How yummy do these Gruffalo crumble muffins look?!

But obviously the most important & exciting bit is….THE COSTUMES!

Are you a last minute mum or super organised? I know I’m not the most organised since becoming a Mum as there’s always something to do but I’m definitely trying to make the effort to prioritise special moments like this. Is your little one dressing up as their favourite character for school or nursery? I know I’ve already started worrying about how to put together an impressive costume for my little one so I had a good rummage through Pinterest & put together a board with some brilliant costume ideas to share with you!

Last year I saw kids dressed up as Harry Potter, The Gruffalo and even Mrs Hinch! Here are a few of my personal favourites from last year’s World Book Day as seen in the Liverpool Echo.

Source – Liverpool Echo 

Click here to visit our Pinterest board. You don’t have to be a professional seamstress to make these! All you need is some inspiration and an ‘I got this’ attitude. Make sure to take lots of photographs of your little ones all dressed up! I’m sure all of our social media newsfeeds will be filled with them!

We’ve done lots of themed dress up photo shoots over the years in the studio. I love this princess themed shoot we did a few years ago but my favourite type of dress up shoots are always our capow superhero shoots!

There are lots of baby and toddlers classes joining in on the fun too! If you have younger children and don’t want them to miss out, check out this list I put together of my favourtite baby & toddler classes in Liverpool. And if you want to keep the book appreciation going, February is ‘Library Lovers’ month! It’s the perfect time to visit your local library to get your kids reading new books. Central Library in Liverpool have so many resources for children including, help with homework, story and rhyme time and even a ‘Bookstart’ campaign aiming to help families and children discover the excitement of reading. Visit the Bookstart website to find out more about their awesome activities for your little ones.

The most important thing is to have fun this World Book Day, and that means parents as well as the kids. If you prefer to go buy a costume and spend the time you saved, having fun with the kids, then that’s all good too. Don’t feel guilty about buying an outfit that will only be worn for a few hours, kids love to play dress up any day of the year. You could even have a look on Facebook Marketplace to see if anyone is selling costumes. That’s what I did for halloween last year and I bagged an adorable costume for Niamh at a bargain! You could even see if any friends on your social media might want to swap costumes and make it a fun play date for the kids!

My baby girl Niamh in her Halloween outfit last year.

I really hope you found this blog useful, I’d love to see your costumes and activities for World Book day so please share them on social media and tag me @peekaboo_by_xposure or use #peekaboobyxposure

Do you know a parent who is stressed out about world book day? Share this blog with them! And if you want more inspo then take a look at our gallery of dress-up photoshoots. Whatever you do to celebrate this year, I hope you have a magical fun filled World Book Day with your little ones.

Fiona x