Our primary school celebrates Book Week in a big way - it's fantastic! There are art competitions, guest authors, a week long book fair and the highlight of the week - dress up day! This year I was not at all surprised that Lily asked if she could dress up as Qui-Gon Jinn (a Star Wars Jedi). I was just grateful that she didn't ask to be Chewbacca (a request in the past that has not yet been fulfilled. I'm just waiting for some furry brown fabric to go on sale so that I can buy 5 metres of it).
I didn't have any brown fabric (Jedi robes are always brown), but I was able to get my hands on some grey stretchy fabric. Once Lily gave it the thumbs up (I think she knew that if she said no she'd be choosing between a purple tutu or pink fairy costume from the dress up hamper!) I set to work googling DIY Jedi costumes. I shouldn't have been surprised at all the sites devoted to Jedi costuming, but I was!
A few days later a costume had evolved which was then left out in plain site to ensure that Lily was extremely good and very obedient in the lead up to dress up day (actually, she's a good girl!).
It was a bit tricky to show the entire costume without showing Lily's face (I don't put photos of my children on my blog, though I did leave a bit of her chin to show you the beard that she asked for. Luckily there was some brown amongst the face paints. Failing that I don't think Lily would have minded if I had used chocolate!)!
Lily thought the costume was fantastic, so of course I was absolutely wrapped that she was so happy!
Jed decided to team up with a friend and chose the book 'Harry and his Bucket Full of Dinosaurs'. Jed's friend is obviously a very good friend, as Jed went as Harry while his friend willingly dressed as a dinosaur. Jed assures me that he isn't actually
reading this book. Lovely - plain clothes and a bucket for Jed. He's done.
So that leaves Zoe. Or should I say Hermione Granger. Zoe would dearly love to actually
read the Harry Potter series (so would Jed for that matter), but after reading it recently myself I decided that I would like my children to be older before reading it. But that doesn't mean you can't dress up as the very clever Hermione. After visiting four op shops I finally found a woollen skirt that I was able to shorten to fit Zoe. Unfortunately I didn't find a grey, woollen V-neck jumper to go with it. After a quick phone call to my sister to see if any of the cousins had one I remembered that I had a grey V-neck cardigan that would be great. I call it my maths teacher cardigan. Because I used to be a maths teacher and it makes me look hilariously like the stereotypical maths teacher from way back. I made a mental note to call my sister whenever I have forgotten something, as she obviously has some ability to help me recall things!
So, the only thing left for Zoe was to find the set of Harry Potter wands that Granddad sent over to us a few years ago. I couldn't find them anywhere (I should have called my sister!). The last time I saw them was to take them out of the drawer where they were being kept and move them somewhere where a certain someone wouldn't touch them (they were all still in their packets - helpful to identify each of them). A certain someone - and they youngest child shouldn't always be blamed - had unwrapped Voldemort's wand. After some very avid searching I finally found Voldemort's wand on the floor behind our low bookcase. I still don't know where the other wands are. Like Lily, Zoe was willing to make a compromise and used Voldemort's wand as Hermione's.
Eli (who insisted on dressing up too - as a princess) and I spent the morning of dress up day at school. We watched the entire school parade past in their absolutely amazing costumes (
everyone gets dressed up - even the staff), read books on picnic rugs and enjoyed some morning tea. The weather was glorious. A little too glorious - it was very warm and I felt more than a little sorry for the teacher sitting next to me who was dressed in a very thick Pikachu onesy!
