I’ve had an email to say that my order of a Camp Half Blood t-shirt has been despatched and now I’m holding my breath. Is it really possible that it will arrive in time for Thursday and that for once, I will have managed to organise World Book Day costumes with minimal fuss?

Now, it’s not that I dislike the whole idea of World Book Day. Like I said last year, it’s great that children are given the opportunity to celebrate books and reading. But despite the teachers attempting to keep it low key (they sent us an email to say that the children can come to school dressed as their favourite book character, or they can bring a clue), my eldest daughter informs me that in actual fact they award a prize for the best costume. Once you start adding a competition in to the mix, you’re in trouble. In previous years, my overly competitive daughter has had us tearing our hair out trying to create the perfect outfit. She hasn’t been content to go to school dressed in any old costume, no, it has to be the exact costume of her favourite character of the time.

Luckily, my middle daughter sees World Book Day as an opportunity to wear one of the many dressing up costumes that she has inherited over the years, regardless of whether the character even comes from a book. Thank goodness for that. This year she will be wearing some hand-me-down clothes, teamed with a Viking helmet and axe and going as Astrid, from ‘How to Train your Dragon’. Voila. Job done!

As it’s my son’s first WBD, I have cheated and bought him a Batman costume. My justification for this is:

1. He loves dressing up and will wear it all the time
2. He isn’t partial to wearing Princess costumes, so doesn’t have many dressing up costumes that have been handed down to him.

So, if all goes well and the t-shirt arrives, my eldest will go as Annabeth, from the ‘Percy Jackson’ series. This year, I am proud of how calm she is being about the whole thing. She even told me that if the t-shirt doesn’t arrive, she will write ‘Camp Half Blood’ on an old t-shirt and make that do. And she doesn’t mind not winning the competition. Shock, horror, we may have turned a corner at last.

For once I am actually looking forward to World Book Day. Long may it continue.