Both Kids and Teachers Will Love These Easy Book Character Halloween Costumes (2025)

Spooky season is here! It's hard to decide what the best part of the Halloween season is, but costumes are pretty high on the list. There are tons of places to find inspiration for your costume, from '90s pop culture to scary movies to upcoming movies like Wicked. One source of costume inspiration we're loving this year is books. We've rounded up the best book character costumes you can wear this year, from Dr. Seuss characters to Jane Austen characters and more. These Halloween costumes are great for kids and for teachers who want to make a lesson come to life. Many of them can be made into trio costumes or group costumes by dressing as other characters from the same book.

There are plenty of places to look for costume inspiration for your book character costume. Consider your favorite childhood tales, classics like The Great Gatsby and Little Women, and contemporary books like Twilight and The Hunger Games. Don't be afraid to get creative with a DIY costume.

Looking for even more costume inspiration? Don't miss our roundups of couples Halloween costume ideas, DIY Halloween costumes for kids, last-minute Halloween costumes, superhero costumes for women, and family Halloween costumes.

Keep it classic with this Dr. Seuss-inspired costume. It'll keep you plenty cozy while you're out trick-or-treating, since it's a comfortable onesie made with warm materials. It's also a great couples' costume or friend costume.

Looking for a fun costume for your whole crew? Go as the March sisters from Louisa May Alcott's Little Women. You'll need 1860s-inspired dresses and if you're going as Jo, a manuscript. Just keep it away from whoever dresses as Amy.

What could be more fun than dressing as Daisy Buchanan from The Great Gatsby? You'll need a flapper dress and headband to emulate the famed characters style. If you're looking to make it a couples' costume, have your partner dress up as the famed Jay Gatsby himself.

Lord of the Rings is one of the most famous book-to-movie adaptations in modern history. Dress up as Frodo or one of the other characters, like Gandalf or Legolas this Halloween for a book character costume everyone will recognize.

While this character was popularized in later TV and movie adaptions, the book Anne of Green Gables was originally published in 1908. To dress as the beloved character of Anne, you'll need a colonial dress, wide-brimmed straw hat, and those iconic braids (you can buy a wig if you don't already have thick auburn hair).

How fun is this? This costume is perfect for teachers, since it's easily recognized and simple enough to wear through a full day of school.

Another iconic book character costume is Elizabeth Bennet from Pride & Prejudice. You'll want a regency-era dress for the costume. It's also easy to make this a couples' costume with the addition of Mr. Darcy or a group costume with the rest of the Bennet sisters.

Another simple kids' book character costume is Waldo from Where's Waldo. This set comes with the iconic sweater, glasses, and beanie and is available in three children's sizes.

You'll take everyone on a trip to the past when you're dressed as the kooky Miss Frizzle from Joanna Cole's The Magic School Bus.

Dressing up like fearless French schoolgirl Madeline simply requires a blue cape and yellow hat just like Ludwig Bemelmans' character always wears.

Fans of Marcus Pfister's Rainbow Fish will love that this costume doesn't require any other pieces (though, of course, you can feel free to accessorize however you'd like).