Parents are spending nearly £20 per child on average on costumes to celebrate World Book Day this year, a survey indicates.
The event, held on Thursday March 6 2025, helps to embed reading as a lifelong habit, with children being inspired to celebrate their favourite books, authors and illustrators.
According to research commissioned by cashback service Rakuten, parents estimate they will spend £19 per child this World Book Day on average – £2 more than the average of £17 per child that they typically spent last year.
The event also appears to bring out a competitive element in some parents, with just over a fifth (22%) feeling the need to impress, according to the Opinium survey of 2,000 people across the UK in February.
Some 11% of parents surveyed said they spend upwards of £50 per child on costumes.
Parents may potentially be able to keep their costs down by checking supermarket aisles for costumes, looking out for discounts, vouchers and cashback and “re-purposing” costumes for events and different times of the year when children need to dress up, such as parties, Christmas events and Halloween.
Passing costumes down from older siblings, swapping costumes that children have grown out of with other families, making home-made costumes, and asking the school whether they know of any local exchange schemes could be other ways for parents to save money.
Some families may also find it useful to set a spending limit, to avoid going over budget.
