14/11/2019
Dressing up for school projects doesn’t have to be a headache and doesn’t need to break your bank account.
For parents it can often mean a last-minute panic. To make it easier for you, we’ve rounded up the most popular school projects and created a list of cheap and easy DIY outfits that anyone can put together.
WW2 evacuee
Girl
For the girls, you can either use a pinafore dress or a white shirt and a grey skirt – it can simply be their school uniform. To add the authentic feeling, you can buy a cheap knitted cardigan or if you or someone in your family has the skills, knit one yourself - the more hand knitted it looks the better.
For their feet they’ll need knee length white or grey socks and black/brown school shoes.
To finish the look, you can put their hair in plaits and add a cotton hat or beret.
You can find more ideas here.
Boy
Boys are very similar as they can also wear their school uniform. Long shorts with long socks work best but if the weather is cold trousers will work just fine. Pair with a white top with either a cotton tank top jumper or a blazer if you have one of those for school.
Gas mask box
- Get a small cardboard box – you can get these from the post office if you’ve not got one at home.
- Get some string and measure out the size so it goes around your child’s body and so the box sits in a comfortable position just on or below your child’s waist.
- Attach the string to the box by cutting 2 small holes and threading the string through. Once through, tie a knot to secure the string to the box.
Luggage labels
For the luggage label you can create your own. All you need is the child’s name and address, there are templates online which you can use if you’re struggling to make one yourself.
Egyptians
This is an easy one to make that keep the costs low. All you need for the clothes is a large white t-shirt or a white dress. You can get a gold belt or a gold tie back for curtains to go around the waist but this isn’t essential.
Neck Plate
The neck plates are so easy to make and are the perfect finishing touch to any Egyptian costume! You’ll need a paper plate, paint, felt tips and any other accessories you might want to add, such as beads or pasta shapes.
Firstly, you’ll need to cut out the middle section of the plate like below.
Then paint the plate with your chosen base colour; a yellow/gold colour works best as it’ll make the necklace look like it’s made of gold.
Now you can decorate the plate how you like.
You can find the complete instructions here. Or if you’d like to add more to the costume you can either make a mask or a amulet.
Victorians
Girls
For this you’ll need either a long black dress or a black skirt and blouse, these can be found in a charity shop or in your own wardrobe – Victorians wore hand-me-downs so the bigger the better! To shorten the length of the dress/skirt you can put a belt around the waist to bring it up.
Plimsols or dolly shoes on the feet will work just fine. To finish you can pick up a shawl from the charity shop or you can use a scarf to put around her shoulders.
For the apron you’ll need to use some sewing skills. Take a white pillowcase and make a one-inch snip straight down the middle of the open end and cut across from the base of the snip to each side until you have created straps that you can use to tie around the waist. If this doesn’t fit, you can cut a hole in each side of the straps and attach a belt or ribbon so it can tie around your child’s waist.
You can find more costume inspiration here.
Boys
Boys can either wear their school trousers or shorts with their school shoes. For the top half, an oversized white shirt will work with the collar tucked in – if their dad or a male in the family has one then this will be perfect to use. If not, a school shirt will work just as well.
On top of their shirt they can either wear a waistcoat or a sleeveless jumper. These can be found easily in charity shops. To finish, a flat cap can finish the look if you have one in the house. Alternatively you can make one, instructions can be found here.
We hope these ideas have helped you and the prospect of dressing up for school projects isn’t too scary!