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Storybook costumes are fancy dress outfits based on characters from books and traditional tales, and for World Book Day a child can go as any of them: one of the Three Little Pigs, the Little Mermaid, King Arthur, Sherlock Holmes or Oliver Twist, to name five we make a costume for. The oldest characters are the safest bet. The Little Mermaid was first published in 1837 and Le Morte d'Arthur was printed in 1485, so every teacher in the building knows them. World Book Day is on 4 March 2027.
Table of Contents
- What counts as a storybook costume?
- For the fairytale fan
- For the knights-and-legends reader
- For the child who loves a classic
- For the character who isn't in one book
- Sizes and pack lists, side by side
- Getting it through the school day
- Frequently asked questions
What counts as a storybook costume?
A storybook costume is any outfit a child can trace back to a book or a traditional tale, and the traditional tales give you the widest choice. In the UK, copyright in a written work lasts for 70 years after the author's death, so stories by Hans Christian Andersen (died 1875), Charles Dickens (died 1870) and Arthur Conan Doyle (died 1930) now belong to everyone. That's why we can name those characters outright on this page, and why we describe a couple of newer looks further down without naming them at all.
Schools know these stories too. The national curriculum for English has Year 1 pupils in England "becoming very familiar with key stories, fairy stories and traditional tales", and by Years 3 and 4 the list widens to "fairy stories, myths and legends" (Department for Education). A fairytale costume is about as on-topic as World Book Day fancy dress gets.
We see the same pull in our own numbers. In our Search Console data for 22 April to 20 September 2026, four of the 20 most-seen World Book Day and fairytale searches we appeared for were Goldilocks phrasings, against one for Red Riding Hood. The old tales still pull their weight.
This guide is the catch-all for every other book character you get asked for. We've cut it by the kind of reader you have at home, with seven costumes from our range. If you want the ranked shortlist instead, that's our best World Book Day costumes for kids guide, and the grown-ups are covered in our World Book Day costumes for teachers and adults guide.
Which storybook costumes suit a fairytale fan?
A fairytale fan is best served by a tale the whole class can finish the sentence for, and a pig in dungarees or a mermaid passes that test in Reception. Fairy tales are the oldest stories on the school bookshelf: Joseph Jacobs fixed the version of The Three Little Pigs we all know in his English Fairy Tales of 1890, and Andersen's The Little Mermaid was first published on 7 April 1837.
Kids Little Pig Costume: the Three Little Pigs, no straw required
The Kids Little Pig Costume is four pieces: denim-effect dungarees with a tail attached, a red and white striped top, a pig nose on elastic and a cap with pink ears. It works for a boy or a girl, and it's the easiest group costume in this guide, because three friends in the same outfit are the whole story. The nose is the piece that ends up in a coat pocket by lunch, and the costume still reads without it. Four sizes, from S at 4 to 6 years up to XL at 12 to 14 years.
Kids Mermaid Fishtail Dress Costume: Andersen's mermaid, on dry land
The Kids Mermaid Fishtail Dress Costume is a one-piece dress with a sparkly pink bodice, frilly mesh sleeves and a green metallic scaled skirt that flares into a fishtail hem, plus a jewelled tiara headband. She can walk, sit on the carpet and manage the stairs in it, which a full tail can't promise. Wear it over tights in early March. The caveat is the size range: the selector lists M (7 to 9 years) and L (10 to 12 years) only, so this one is for juniors, not infants.
Goldilocks and Red Riding Hood are the two named fairytale characters in that search data. Both are covered in our top ten World Book Day costumes, so we won't repeat it here. For princesses, see our best fairytale costumes for girls guide. The dresses, capes, princes and queens all sit in our kids' fairy tale costumes collection.
What can a child who reads knights and legends wear?
King Arthur and his knights are the best-known British legend a child can dress as, and both halves of that story are in our range. Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur, the first English prose version of the legend, was printed by William Caxton in 1485. Myths and legends are named in the Key Stage 2 English curriculum, so a Year 4 class has usually met a round table already.
Kids King Costume: one crown, a lot of books
The Kids King Costume is a crested tunic, a red cape, a brown belt and an embellished gold crown. A king costume gets reused more than most: King Arthur this year, the emperor from The Emperor's New Clothes next year (clothed, thankfully), Old King Cole for a nursery sibling. The trousers and shoes in the photo aren't in the pack, so plan for black school trousers underneath. The selector lists S (4 to 6 years), L (10 to 12 years) and XL (12 to 14 years).
Kids Crusader Knight Costume: the round table, minus the sword
The Kids Crusader Knight Costume has the most in the box of anything in this guide: a white tunic with a red cross, a red cape, a belt with a scabbard, a chainmail-effect headpiece (the pack list calls it the helmet) and faux leather boot covers that slip over school shoes. The sword in our photo is a prop and isn't included. For a school day that's a feature, because a toy sword is the kind of prop many schools ask you to leave at home. It covers the whole band, S at 4 to 6 years to XL at 12 to 14 years.
Which costumes work for a child who loves a classic?
Two Victorian characters cover most classics readers: Sherlock Holmes and Oliver Twist. Oliver Twist was serialised from 1837 to 1839, and Holmes first appeared in A Study in Scarlet in 1887. The Victorians are also a popular Key Stage 2 history topic, so either costume tends to come out again for a class Victorian day.
Kids Victorian Detective Costume: Sherlock Holmes in two pieces
The Kids Victorian Detective Costume is a long tan coat with a tartan cape attached at the shoulders, and a deerstalker hat. That's the whole pack, and the deerstalker does the work: put one on any child and the class says the name for you. The magnifying glass in the photo isn't included, but it's a prop no teacher will confiscate. The coat goes on over uniform, so it adds a layer instead of replacing one, which is the right way round for a March playground. Sizes run the full span, S at 4 to 6 years to XL at 12 to 14 years.
Kids Dickensian Boy Costume: Oliver Twist, or the Artful Dodger
The Kids Dickensian Boy Costume is a green tailcoat, brown trousers with a patched knee, a red necktie and a soft green hat. With the hat tipped back and a cheeky grin it's the Artful Dodger; hold out an empty bowl and it's Oliver. We'll be honest about the hat: it's a soft, slouchy one, not a stiff topper, which suits a pickpocket and survives a book bag. The selector lists M (7 to 9 years), L (10 to 12 years) and XL (12 to 14 years), so there's no infant size.
More caps, pinafores and waistcoats sit in our kids' historical costumes collection, including evacuee outfits for wartime stories.
What about a character who isn't from one book?
Some of the most requested looks are character types, not one named character, and a type is a fair World Book Day answer as long as your child can name a book it appears in. The pinstriped gangster turns up in any number of 1920s capers and detective stories. The young wizard in school robes has a whole shelf of boarding-school fantasy behind him.
Kids Little Gangster Costume: the 1920s caper, in pinstripes
The Kids Little Gangster Costume is a black and white pinstripe jacket with matching trousers, a white shirt insert with a black tie already attached, and a black hat with a white ribbon. The insert is the practical bit: there's no real shirt to iron and no tie to knot at ten to eight. The pencil moustache in our photo is drawn on, not part of the pack. The selector lists S (4 to 6 years), L (10 to 12 years) and XL (12 to 14 years).
For the young wizard, look for a school-robe costume with a striped scarf or tie in our kids' World Book Day costumes collection. We keep that one generic on purpose, and your child will tell everyone exactly who they are anyway. If one particular book is the brief, we've written separate guides to Alice in Wonderland costumes and Wizard of Oz and Dorothy costumes.
How do the seven costumes compare on sizes and pack contents?
Only three of the seven cover the full S to XL band, age 4 to 14, so check the table before your child falls for one. Every costume we make goes through over 30 measurement checks. Tedious work, honestly, and it is the only reason we can put a separate age band in each row of this table rather than one label stretched over all seven.
| Costume | Story it fits | In the pack | Sizes listed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kids Little Pig Costume | The Three Little Pigs | Dungarees with tail, striped top, pig nose, cap with ears | S, M, L, XL (4 to 14 years) |
| Kids Mermaid Fishtail Dress Costume | The Little Mermaid | Dress, jewelled tiara headband | M, L (7 to 12 years) |
| Kids King Costume | King Arthur, The Emperor's New Clothes | Crested tunic, red cape, belt, gold crown | S, L, XL |
| Kids Crusader Knight Costume | Knights of the Round Table | Tunic, red cape, belt with scabbard, helmet, boot covers | S, M, L, XL (4 to 14 years) |
| Kids Victorian Detective Costume | Sherlock Holmes | Coat with attached tartan cape, deerstalker hat | S, M, L, XL (4 to 14 years) |
| Kids Dickensian Boy Costume | Oliver Twist | Tailcoat, trousers, necktie, hat | M, L, XL (7 to 14 years) |
| Kids Little Gangster Costume | 1920s capers and detective stories | Pinstripe jacket and trousers, shirt insert with tie, hat | S, L, XL |
Between two sizes, size up. Our own sizing notes say exactly that on the pig, the mermaid, the Dickensian boy and the gangster, and anything going on over a jumper in March wants the extra room anyway.
How do you get a storybook costume through a full school day?
Pack the book, skip the weapon, and check the school letter first. World Book Day, the charity, says that "dressing up should be inclusive, affordable and optional" (World Book Day), and its advice to parents is blunt: "The book choice matters more than how the costume looks" (World Book Day). So the costume is the fun part and the book is the point.
- Send the book in too. Some schools ask for it. One primary school's letter asks children to bring "the book of the character they have dressed up as", and to pick characters "from books and not characters who are just from films" (Garboldisham Primary). Every costume above passes that test.
- Leave swords at home unless the letter says otherwise. The knight reads perfectly well with an empty scabbard.
- Name the loose pieces. Pig noses, crowns and deerstalkers are what end up in lost property. A marker pen on the inside saves a Friday search.
- Hand wash it and air dry it. None of these seven goes in the washing machine, so Thursday evening is the wash slot if the costume is out again on Friday.
Six hours, one PE-hall assembly and a wet break are harder on a seam than any birthday party. That is what the 125GSM+ breathable fabric is doing in a costume worn over a school jumper, and why we run over 500,000 quality checks a year. All of our kids' products are safety tested by accredited labs. And if 4 March has crept up on you, our last-minute World Book Day costumes guide covers what can still arrive in time.
It's worth the effort. The National Literacy Trust's 2026 survey of 125,375 children found that 36.1% enjoy reading in their free time, up from 32.7% in 2025 (National Literacy Trust). One Thursday spent as a character from a favourite book is a small nudge in the same direction.
Frequently asked questions
What storybook characters can kids dress up as for World Book Day?
Kids can dress up as any character from a book or a traditional tale for World Book Day. Popular storybook characters include Goldilocks, Red Riding Hood, one of the Three Little Pigs, the Little Mermaid, King Arthur, a knight of the Round Table, Sherlock Holmes and Oliver Twist. Characters from stories old enough to be out of copyright are the easiest choice, because every teacher and classmate already knows them. Character types count too, such as a 1920s gangster or a young wizard in school robes, as long as your child can name a book the character appears in.
Does a World Book Day costume have to be from a book?
The charity sets no rule, but some schools do. World Book Day says that "the book choice matters more than how the costume looks" (World Book Day), and some primary schools ask for characters from books, not characters who only appear in films. Check your school's letter. A fairytale or classic character is the safe answer either way.
When is World Book Day 2027?
World Book Day will be held on 4 March 2027, a Thursday (World Book Day). The charity is marking 30 years in 2027. Check the date in your school's letter before you order.
What is a good Goldilocks or fairytale costume for World Book Day?
A good fairytale costume is one the class recognises at a glance and a child can sit, run and eat lunch in. Goldilocks is the fairytale character that shows up most in our own search data, with four of our top 20 World Book Day and fairytale searches between April and September 2026. For Goldilocks, look for a simple dress with an apron and bring a teddy bear; the full range is in our kids' fairy tale costumes collection.
How do you wash a storybook fancy dress costume?
Hand wash it and leave it to air dry, away from direct heat. None of the seven costumes in this guide should go in a washing machine. Check the garment label first, as it is the final word on care.
