Today’s Top Ten Tuesday is a Halloween Freebie, so I’m going to do a combination of Six Bookish Costumes I’ve Had and Four That I Want to Dress Up as Someday.
Nancy Drew
I was Nancy Drew for Halloween in second grade; I’d just finished reading the entire original series and I was absolutely obsessed. I probably wasn’t that recognizable, both because it’s a bit obscure and there’s not much in the way of identifiable clothing, but I had a magnifying glass at least.
Hermione Granger
This was my third grade costume. Hermione was the first character I ever loved and I remember being so excited to dress up as her. We’d all gotten character wands at Universal Studios the previous year, and it was one of the rare occasions where my mom bought us a portion of the costumes, so I got to have actual Gryffindor robes, which, despite being a Ravenclaw, was very exciting.
Athena
I was Athena in fourth grade, which was basically just a tunic-type thing with a paper-machĆ© helmet and a cardboard shield, but I loved it. This isn’t an inherently bookish costume, but my interest in mythology was connected enough that I feel like it counts.
Katniss Everdeen
I was Katniss in sixth grade; I hadn’t even liked the Hunger Games books that much, but I still felt very cool in the leather jacket we borrowed from one of my mom’s friend’s daughters and with my (very much child-safe, don’t worry) bow and arrows.
Little Red Riding Hood
I actually made my cape and hood for this myself, so I was particularly proud of that; this was my seventh grade costume. Like Athena, it isn’t necessarily bookish, but I figure it counts.
Annabeth Chase
This was my eighth grade costume. This… this pained me slightly, because my mom wouldn’t let me order a Camp Half-Blood t-shirt, and instead bought a orange t-shirt to do a transfer of the design onto, which was about the same price overall but looked a lot worse, but overall it didn’t matter for only one night. I still loved getting to be Annabeth though. After that year my friends and I stopped trick-or-treating, so I stopped having costumes for a couple years before transferring to boarding school and starting to do group costumes with my friends.
Ćponine ThĆ©nardier
I’ve wanted to dress up as Ćponine for ages, and I am going to do it someday. I’ve never actually read Les Mis, but because the musical is based on a book I am counting it as a bookish costume. Maybe next year.
Nina Helnik
Dressing up as a Grisha and making the kefta would be super time-consuming and definitely a test of my relatively-limited sewing skills, but I would give it a shot for Nina because I love her.
Isabelle Lightwood
A Shadowhunter would just be such an easy and effortless costume, and, although not very recognizable, I’d still love to do it someday.
Elizabeth Bennet
I just love her so much, so even though it would come off as “generic old-fashioned girl” costume, I would still want to dress up as her. Could be a good couples costume.
Dressing up as Athena is so cool!
Here is our Top Ten Tuesday.
It was super fun for a fourth-grader deep in a two-year-old Greek mythology phase.
Little Red Riding Hood is such a cute costume idea. š
My post: https://lydiaschoch.com/top-ten-tuesday-halloween-picture-books/
It was super fun, and the hood/cape scenario was actually much easier to make than I was expecting (keeping in mind it was a good 6 years ago, so I may be remembering it through rose-colored glasses), so it was a very low-effort high-reward scenario.
I’ve never been a fan of dressing up, even as a kid, but I do love it when I see someone dressed as a character from a book. I love that so many kids want to dress up like HP characters! So fun.
Happy TTT!
Susan
http://www.blogginboutbooks.com
Can’t relate to not being a fan of dressing up, since that’s the main appeal of Halloween for me (I don’t like most candy), but I can appreciate your enjoyment of bookish Halloween costumes!
So many fun costume ideas! Dressing up as a Grisha would be amazing. (Nina is my fave too!) I was obsessed with the Nancy Drew books when I was a kid so I also love the idea of dressing up as Nancy.
I know; Nina’s the best!
I’m a teacher, so I went as Professor McGonnegal a few years ago. Your costumes all sound so fun!
Thanks! I love Professor McGonagall; she’s definitely in my top five Harry Potter characters, and I bet she was a fun costume!
I love your list! I’ve never dressed as a bookish character (for Halloween or a Comic-Con), but my husband has. A few years ago he went to a convention as Arthur Dent from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: picture pajamas, a bathrobe, and a towel.
Thanks! I want to go to a Comic-Con someday so badly; your husband’s Arthur Dent costume sounds great.
Those are some awesome costume choices! My favorite would be Red Riding Hood though, red hooded cloak and basket should be fun to arrange. š
Thanks so much! Little Red Riding Hood really was so fun; it was also the first time I made a costume all by myself, so I was very proud my cloak.
Omgggg I’m obsessed with all of these characters! I would love to dress up as any/all of them. Such a great post!
Thank you so much!!!
Nina would be so cool to dress up as!
Lauren @ Always Me
I know!!! It would definitely be a lot of work, but I feel like it’d be worth it.
I didn’t like reading when I was a kid, so I never dressed up as book characters. This post makes me wish I could get a do-over on my childhood costumes. š
Dressing up as book characters was definitely super fun, but I feel like the best costume was always the one that you ended up doing
This year I dress up like Peter Pan at work, i dressed as Ginny a few years ago. This list is great, nice ideas and costumes
Thanks! Peter Pan sounds like a fun costume
I have to admit I don’t really ‘celebrate’ Halloween as it just wasn’t really a thing when I was growing up here in the UK, although people have started to more recently. However I would love to dress up as many of these characters for World Book Day! š
So many great costume ideas.
Thanks so much!