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The best Dorothy costume for girls is our Kids Dorothy Dress Costume: a blue and white gingham dress and headband in 4 sizes, ages 4 to 14. We also stock a women's Dorothy fancy dress costume, plus a Scarecrow and a Lion, so a child, a class or a whole family can go as the Wizard of Oz on one order. Across the six costumes below the sizes start at age 1 and finish at UK 24-26, and all six wash the same way.
Table of Contents
- The kids' Dorothy costume for World Book Day
- The sibling who is too young for Dorothy
- The women's Dorothy costume, for the parent helper or the teacher
- Dressing the whole Wizard of Oz group
- Sizes, packs and one rule for the wash
- Do you need a licence to dress up as Dorothy?
- Frequently asked questions
The kids' Dorothy costume for World Book Day
Our Kids Dorothy Dress Costume is a two-piece set: the blue and white gingham dress, with the white blouse styling built into it, and a matching headband. Nothing separate to find on the morning of the event. Four sizes run from Small (4 to 6 years) through to X-Large (12 to 14 years).
Thursday 4 March 2027 is the next World Book Day, and World Book Day's own guidance treats dressing up as one option for encouraging reading, not a requirement: schools are told to offer alternatives, and the same page tells families there's no pressure to take part. Taking part is not free, though. A Rakuten-commissioned Opinium survey of 2,000 people across the UK, covered by The Scotsman, found parents expected to spend £19 per child on 2025's costumes, up from £17 the year before. Dorothy earns her share of that spend: the gingham names the character from the back of a school hall, with no prop and no word of explanation.
1. Kids Dorothy Dress Costume: the school-day specific
The Kids Dorothy Dress Costume is 100% polyester, 125GSM+ breathable fabric, so it goes over a school jumper on a cold March morning without turning into a sweatbox once the hall heating comes on. It is a cold hand wash and an air dry, never a machine wash. This costume goes through over 30 measurement checks. Check the size guide on the product page before you order, and size up if your child is between two of the four bands.
The sibling who is too young for Dorothy
The Dorothy dress starts at age 4, so a nursery-age sibling needs another way into the same theme. Ours is the Kids Sunflower Scarecrow Toddler Costume, which starts at age 1. It is a one-piece dungaree dress rather than a pinafore over a blouse: one less layer for a three-year-old to manage, and nothing to come untucked by mid-morning. If neither suits, our kids' World Book Day costumes category holds the rest.
2. Kids Sunflower Scarecrow Toddler Costume: the youngest-in-the-family pick
The Kids Sunflower Scarecrow Toddler Costume is a three-piece pack: a check-printed dungaree dress, a sunflower-trimmed hat and a fabric straw bag with rope handles. Three sizes, T1 (1 to 2 years), T2 (3 to 4 years) and Small (4 to 6 years), bridge nursery to reception, and the T1 band is why this is the only costume here a one-year-old can wear. It is 100% polyester, and it takes the same cold hand wash and air dry as the rest of the range.
The women's Dorothy costume, for the parent helper or the teacher
The women's cut puts a teacher or a parent helper in the same gingham as the class, in five UK dress sizes, 8-10 up to 24-26. We'll be straight about the demand: on our own search data, the kids' Dorothy costume is searched for roughly three times for every two searches of the women's, and it's the kids' version that gets the clicks (12 months to September 2026). The adult dress still earns its place, for the staff member reading to the class.
3. Womens Dorothy Dress Costume: five sizes, one hand wash
The Womens Dorothy Dress Costume includes the gingham dress and a matching red headband, sized Small (UK 8 to 10) through to XX-Large (UK 24 to 26). Five bands from UK 8 to UK 26 is why we don't sell this as a one-size adult dress: a cape or a loose robe can fudge that spread, a gingham bodice can't. Like the kids' version it's 100% polyester, and the only safe wash is a cold hand wash followed by an air dry.
Dressing the whole Wizard of Oz group
A full Wizard of Oz group means four characters: Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion. We stock three; there's no Tin Man in the range yet, and we'd rather say so than sell you something that isn't one. Most families run the trio below. If the class or family theme is World Book Day characters generally rather than Oz specifically, our World Book Day costumes for teachers guide has a wizard costume that works as a fourth storybook character alongside them, even though he isn't the Tin Man.
4. Kids Scarecrow Patch Dress Costume: the Oz-group Scarecrow
The Kids Scarecrow Patch Dress Costume is a five-piece pack: a patch tunic, a capelet, a rope belt, straw-look ankle cuffs and a patch hat, in four sizes from Small (4 to 6 years) to X-Large (12 to 14 years). The tunic has an elasticated waist, so it goes on and off over a uniform without an adult, with room to sit cross-legged through an assembly.
5. Kids Lion Deluxe Costume: the Cowardly Lion
The Kids Lion Deluxe Costume is a plush jumpsuit with a separate fluffy hood, a detachable tail and shoe covers, in five sizes from Toddler (3 to 4 years) up to X-Large (12 to 14 years), the widest run in this post. Hands go inside or outside the paw-style sleeves, which sounds like a detail until a child has to hold a pencil for an hour. The hood is separate rather than sewn in, so it comes off for lunch.
Dorothy and the Lion are the two characters here we also make in an adult size, so a parent or an older sibling can be in the group rather than photographing it.
6. Men's Lion Costume: for the adult who's joining in
The Men's Lion Costume is a plush jumpsuit with an attached hood, paws and foot covers, in three adult sizes, M to XL, sized by chest measurement rather than one unisex fit. Read the chest measurement on the product page rather than going by your jumper size. Plush needs the same rule as everything else here: once the pile has matted in a machine, nothing brings it back.
Sizes, packs and one rule for the wash
None of the six is a "one size" costume; each is sized by age or dress size, pulled straight off the product page rather than the packaging. We run 500,000+ quality checks a year business-wide, a separate fact from sizing: it can't tell which side of a band your child falls on. Size up if between two.
| Costume | What's in the pack | Size range |
|---|---|---|
| Kids Dorothy Dress | Gingham dress with blouse styling built in, headband | 4 sizes, ages 4 to 14 |
| Toddler Sunflower Scarecrow | Dungaree dress, sunflower hat, straw bag | 3 sizes, ages 1 to 6 |
| Womens Dorothy Dress | Gingham dress, headband | 5 sizes, UK 8-10 to 24-26 |
| Kids Scarecrow Patch Dress | Patch tunic, capelet, rope belt, ankle cuffs, hat | 4 sizes, ages 4 to 14 |
| Kids Lion Deluxe | Plush jumpsuit, hood, detachable tail, shoe covers | 5 sizes, ages 3 to 14 |
| Men's Lion Costume | Plush jumpsuit with attached hood, paws, foot covers | 3 sizes, M to XL |
One rule covers all six, gingham and plush alike: a cold hand wash and an air dry, never a machine wash or a tumble dryer. It's ten minutes at the sink, and it's the only wash method we've tested against the print and the trims.
Do you need a licence to dress up as Dorothy?
No. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was published in 1900, and its author, L. Frank Baum, died in 1919. UK copyright runs for 70 years after an author's death, so, as UK copyright specialists have set out, Baum's book and its original characters, including Dorothy, the Scarecrow and the Cowardly Lion, have been out of copyright in the UK since 1990. That's why a costume retailer can sell a Dorothy costume with no licence to clear, unlike a costume built on a current film or television character. It also explains a detail that trips people up: in the book, Dorothy's shoes are silver, not red. The colour change to a bright red for the 1939 film is well documented, credited to new Technicolor film stock, but that film's specific costume designs stay under their own copyright. Our Dorothy costumes go with the red-shoe look most people picture today, styled as our own take on the character rather than a copy of any studio's film.
If the class theme is storybooks generally rather than Oz specifically, our World Book Day costumes for kids guide covers the wider range, and our last-minute World Book Day costumes guide is for when the letter came home late.
Frequently asked questions
What's included in a Dorothy costume?
The kids' version is the gingham dress with the white blouse styling built in, plus a matching headband. The women's version is the gingham dress and a red headband with bow. Neither comes with shoes, socks, a basket or a soft toy dog, so plan on red shoes, white socks and a basket from home.
What age does the Kids Dorothy Dress Costume fit?
It runs in four sizes, from Small for 4 to 6 year olds up to X-Large for 12 to 14 year olds, so one product covers most of primary school. If your child is between sizes, check the product page guide and size up.
Is it OK to dress up as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz?
Yes. L. Frank Baum's 1900 book and its original characters have been out of UK copyright since 1990 (70 years after Baum's death), so a Dorothy costume needs no licence, unlike a costume built on a current film or television character.
Can I wash a Dorothy costume in the machine?
No. Every costume in this range, Dorothy included, needs a cold hand wash and an air dry; a washing machine isn't something we've tested it against, so stick to hand washing.
