Children are always having to dress up at school aren’t they? Luckily with three girls, our outfits do get worn and recycled but If I can save money on them I will. Each year we buy one new World Book Day outfit for one child and then recycle the older ones. Then we have a collection of others we’ve picked up as needed over the years including Pirate, Egyptian, Viking, Victorian and so on. These are always kept separately from our usual dressing up clothes so they can be used again.

When I saw that they needed to dress up this week as Emergency Services, my heart sank and I was reluctant to rush to order three new costumes. The girls are 6, 8 and 10 now and the need to dress up in them again would be pretty slim. Anyway I decided to do it on the cheap and here’s how I did it:

Raid the dressing up box:

We had one teeny, tiny nurses outfit which we have had since Poppy was about three (she’s 10 now). It was from the ELC so one of those small one size fits all. Luckily Daisy (aged 6) still fits in it but it is quite short so we added leggings underneath. Total cost £0.

Use cheap accessories instead of whole outfit:

Poppy decided she wanted to be a Police Officer so we found a cheap set on eBay which included a checked scarf and epaulettes. Luckily they arrived 2 days later and we attached them to one of her school polo shirts with the glue gun. We had considered buying a shirt but they only came in packs of two or three so we decided against it as she doesn’t wear shirts. We teamed it with black leggings and she was thrilled with it. If your child has a black school skirt that would work perfectly too. Total cost £2.99.

Make your own Doctors Coat:

Rosie wanted to be a Doctor so we googled how to make your own costume. There were lots of ideas on Pinterest and Rosie is very arty so she was super keen. We tried raiding Daddy’s wardrobe but he had nothing we were allowed to cut up, so I brought her a cheap men’s T-shirt in Sainsbury’s. I then let her have a look on Pinterest and gave her a black marker, fabric pens we already had and just let her loose on it. She did a fantastic job and couldn’t wait to wear it to school. Underneath she wore leggings and a long sleeved T-shirt as she had PE and wouldn’t have to get changed. Total cost £4.00.

I think you will agree they all look pretty good and it didn’t break the bank either. Smiles all round:

Thanks for reading and hope I’ve given you some inspiration too.

Karen xx