Book Week gets a lot of attention for the costume parade, and fair enough, it is the bit everyone photographs. But some of the best Book Week memories in our house have had nothing to do with what anyone was wearing. Here are three activities I keep coming back to, at home or as ideas to pass along for a classroom or party.
1. Set up a character makeover station
Instead of arriving already dressed as their character, let the kids do the transformation together as the activity itself. Set up a little table with a mirror, a couple of makeup brushes, and a simple palette like the Natural Eco Pressed Eyeshadow and Blush Pack, then let each child choose a character and build the look with help from a friend or an older sibling.
This works brilliantly for a birthday party, a home Book Week morning before school, or a classroom activity if a teacher is happy to run it. Kids get invested in the process, they learn a bit about the character while deciding how to "become" them, and the getting ready becomes part of the fun rather than a rushed job in the bathroom at seven in the morning.
2. Run a book character scavenger hunt
Pick five or six much loved books and hide a clue or a small object connected to each one around the house, garden or classroom. A carrot for Peter Rabbit, a teacup for Alice in Wonderland, a red cape scrap for Little Red Riding Hood, a fake spider for whichever creepy crawly book your child is obsessed with this month.
Kids follow the clues, and each one leads them to think about a different story, a different character and often a discussion about what happens in that book along the way. It costs nothing, takes about fifteen minutes to set up the night before, and keeps kids moving and thinking rather than sitting still, which is a nice change of pace during a week that is often full of sitting and listening.
3. Host a story themed afternoon tea
Pick one book and build a simple afternoon tea around it. The Very Hungry Caterpillar works beautifully with a plate of fruit cut into the shapes from the book. Alice in Wonderland turns into a proper little Mad Hatter's tea party with mismatched cups and a "eat me" label on a plate of biscuits. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory needs nothing more than a small chocolate treat and a lot of enthusiasm.
Read the book together first, then sit down to the afternoon tea and talk about the characters and what might happen next. It is a low effort way to make a story feel like an event, and in my experience it is the one Book Week activity that kids ask to repeat with a different book the following month, long after the parade photos have been forgotten.
Why these work
None of these three need a big budget, a costume shop or hours of preparation. They all put the story itself back at the centre of Book Week, which is really the whole point of the week to begin with. A child who spent twenty minutes on a scavenger hunt or a themed afternoon tea usually remembers the book a lot longer than they remember what they wore to the parade.
