Favorite Book Character Costumes
Dress up as your favorite book character for Halloween and have a Happy Bookish Halloween (or World Book Day)! How about one of these book character costume ideas from the favorite children’s picture and chapter books?
Go with a classic character like Alice in Wonderland, Madeline, or Max of Where the Wild Things Are.
Or, choose a more recent favorite character like Elephant and Piggie!
Whatever you pick, it’s a celebration of reading and books, right?
And that’s something to celebrate!
I’ve linked to many costumes you can buy and some you can make.
Hopefully, this list will inspire you to find a fun book costume that works for you!
Inspired by board books, picture books, and chapter books, there are so many costume ideas here, I think you’ll find one that you can’t resist.
(Updated 8/2022; originally published in 2009.)
Table of Contents
A to E Book Characters
Ready for the A to E book character costume list? Start with Alice, Amelia, and Artemis and continue on to Captain Underpants, Clifford, and the Cat in the Hat…
The Mad Hatter girl child style 1 or style 2, boy child size
Cat in the Hat
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Charlie Brown (DIY Charlie Brown here)
Cow (Click Clack Moo, Cows that Type)
Crayon (The Day the Crayons Quit) / DIY Crayon Costume
Curious George 
Dragon (Dragons Love Tacos, Puff the Magic Dragon, How to Train Your Dragon, Eragon)
Dr. Seuss Characters:
The Cat in the Hat child / adult
F to R Book Characters
Think of all the characters in fairy tale stories…There are so many good options. But, anyone from Harry Potter is also a great costume choice. Or what about Miles Morales?
Fairy Tales:
Sleeping Beauty / Prince Philip
Goldilocks & the Three Bears
Harry Potter
Kids love to dress up as their favorite book characters from the most popular book series of all time — Harry Potter.
The Hobbit / Lord of the Rings
How to Train Your Dragon
Hunger Games
Knight toddler, child (King Arthur, The Knight and the Dragon, St. George & the Dragon)
& 
Magic Tree House Jack and Annie
Max (Where the Wild Things Are
*This might be my favorite book character costume on the list. How cute is this?
Miss Frizzle from The Magic School Bus
Nursery Rhymes:
Percy Jackson
Camp Half-Blood t-shirt Gladiator Knight Athena
, 
S to Z Book Characters
The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Winnie the Pooh are two favorite book character costume ideas for babies and toddlers — talk about cute!
Strange Case of the Origami Yoda
& 
Witch *see all the books about witches here
Wizard of Oz:
What other book character costume ideas do you have?
Which Halloween costume ideas are your favorite?
KEEP READING:
Favorite Halloween Books for Kids
3 Responses
So many great ideas to check out!
These costumes are so, so great! I only wish I had young children (or even grandchildren) I could make some fun costumes for! I’ll have to save this page for when the grandkids start to arrive.
I agree, aren’t these ideas fun!?