I’ve used this DIY Winnie The Witch Costume a couple of times (one of the great things about having a family of girls is re-use!) and I absolutely love the end result. It’s one of our favourite World Book Day costume ideas because it’s colourful, easy to recreate using everyday clothes, and instantly recognisable from the books.
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Why Choose Winnie the Witch For A World Book Day Costume
Winnie the Witch by Valerie Thomas and illustrated by Korky Paul is such a popular and much-loved book series that most children (and teachers!) instantly recognise the character.
That makes Winnie a brilliant choice for World Book Day.
She has some key pieces that really define her character and make her easily recognisable. We chose to focus on
- Her mad striped tights and black boots
- Purple coat
- Pointy witches hat
- Crazy hair
- Red nose
- Black lips
- Her broomstick
- And of course, her scruffy black cat Wilbur
The bold illustrations and distinctive colours in the books mean that as soon as children see the striped tights, purple coat and scruffy black cat, they know exactly who she is.
Other World Book Day Costumes You May Like
If you like this then you’ll probaly love my
Pulling Together Winnie’s Clothing
For Winnie’s clothing, we focused on the stripes, purple jacket and witch’s hat.
Extra Materials
- blue tulle
- bright yellow paper
- striped tights
- witches hat
- purple jacket
Luckily, my girls love their stripes, so we already had a great pair of striped tights and a stripey armed top. I found an inexpensive, long woollen waistcoat type cardigan in one of our supermarkets, and our dressing-up box is full of witches’ hats (having three girls comes in handy sometimes).
Winnie’s hat has blue and purple stripes with a yellow moon and star on it. So we picked a hat that already had some purple/pink colour and then wrapped and stapled some blue tulle onto it to create the stripes.
Finally, we cut out a paper moon and star, sticking the star on the front and the moon on the back (the hat wasn’t quite long enough to have both on the front).
How To Make Winnie’s Crazy Hair & Makeup
Winnie’s wild black hair is one of the most recognisable parts of her look — and it’s surprisingly simple to recreate.
Materials Required
- black tulle (6″ rolls are easiest)
- black cotton (you could use any dark colour)
- sewing needle
- scissors
- black Face paint
- red/pink facepaint or makeup
Step-by-Step Instructions
To make her crazy hair, cut lengths of black tulle approximately 60-80cm in length. Fold each piece of tulle in half and sew it securely around the outer edge of a plain witch’s hat.
Keep stitching the folded ends along the brim until you’ve worked your way all around the hat.
I then used black face paint on the lips, and some pink/red makeup on the nose. This really pulls together Winnie’s distinctive facial features.
How to Make Wilbur the Cat
Wilbur turned out to be loads of fun, and my girls kept him as a toy pet for a few years after we made this costume.
Materials Required
- black tulle
- 2 large green pom poms
- 1 red pom pom
- 6 black pipe cleaners (sparkly if you can get them)
- white printer paper
- black sharpie
- glue gun
Step-by-Step Instructions
First, make a large pom pom out of black tulle. I used the back of a wooden chair to wrap the tulle around, tied it tightly in the middle and then snipped through the ends just like you would with a standard wool pom pom.
Don’t worry about trying to neaten the tulle pom pom — the messy, uneven texture actually makes Wilbur look more authentic and scruffy.
Next, glue the two large green pom poms towards the centre of Wilbur’s pom pom body to form the eyes, and attach the red pom pom just below for the nose.
Draw a big, slightly crazy smile (with lots of teeth!) onto white printer paper using a black Sharpie. Cut it out and glue it underneath the nose.
Cut out two large white circles for the eye whites and attach them onto the green pom poms.
For whiskers, push pipe cleaners (or wired tinsel ribbon if you have it) deep into the centre of the pom pom and secure firmly with hot glue.
Finally, glue the finished scruffy black cat securely onto the broomstick just in front of the bristles.
The finished ball of scruffy black cat was then glued to the broom stick just in front of the bristles.
How to Make a Simple DIY Broomstick
Materials Required
- cardboard (old packing boxes)
- masking tape
- scissors
- glue gun
I always keep a stash of cardboard from flat-pack furniture — it’s brilliant for costumes and quick crafting projects.
Step 1: Make the Broom Handle
Cut a long rectangular piece of cardboard. Fold it lengthways into a triangular tube shape (this makes it stronger than a round tube) and secure it with masking tape along the length.
If you need a longer handle, simply flatten a large cardboard box and cut a longer strip before folding.
Step 2: Make the Twig Brush
Cut several long rectangular strips of cardboard. These should be roughly twice the width of the triangular handle.
- On one end, cut a slight angle so it can slide neatly into the open end of the handle.
- On the other end, cut thin strips upwards (leaving about 2–3 cm uncut at the top). These will form the twig effect.
Slide these angled ends into one open end of the triangular handle and secure with glue if needed.
And that’s it — a sturdy, lightweight cardboard broomstick ready for costume adventures.
I totally love World Book Day and how my girls embrace getting dressed up and having fun.
It gets them talking about books — the ones they love, the ones they’ve read, and the ones they’re excited to discover next. They immerse themselves in faraway lands and characters that live on paper and in their imagination.
What would we do without books?
More Book-Inspired Crafts for Kids
If your children love bringing stories to life, you might also enjoy these book-inspired crafts…
- Splat the Cat paw print decoration
- Book of Kisses based on the book ‘The Kiss That Missed’
Oh Wilber is just adorable. I want a Wilber. Fab costume and model!