If you've not already noticed it's World Book Day this week and you might have found yourself in a tizz over what your little one will wear.

With a survey from Blinds-Hut showing one in three parents are feeling 'stressed' about the event, we're doing our bit to make it a little bit easier.

Whether you plan to make your own, order online, or head to the shops, there are loads of options to choose from.

To celebrate the event - which takes place on Thursday, March 2 - World Book Day supported charity Book Aid International is encouraging children to donate £1 and dress up as their favourite book character.

To help, it has put together 38 costume templates that children can choose from.

Many of them can be assembled for free in just a few minutes, using items you already have at home.

Nine of them also feature step-by-step videos, and all of the costumes are no-sew.

Roald Dahl characters are always a popular choice on World Book Day. Here, the charity's video shows a step by step guide to making a mini Willy Wonka hat...

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Other options include Katniss from The Hunger Games, The BFG, Fantastic Mr Fox, Where’s Wally? and many more.

For more videos, including guides to making Geek Girl, Harry Potter, The Cat In The Hat and more visit the website here .

The £1 donations will go towards sending more books to schools and libraries in Africa.

Figures from eBay.co.uk show that in the last six weeks alone, Brits have spent a whopping £386,000 on World Book Day costumes.

Its range of costumes include the likes of Goldilocks (£6.99), and a host of Roald Dahl characters including Matilda, Miss Trunchbull, Fantastic Mr Fox, Charlie Bucket and more (from £9.50).

Online retailer Amazon also has a wide range of costumes on offer as do the main supermarkets including Sainsbury's , Tesco and Asda .

Aldi has a small number of costumes, including a pirate and a wizard , priced at £4.99 and standard delivery is free.

Blind Hut's survey suggested this year's most popular choices will be:

  • Harry Potter
  • Horrid Henry
  • Hermione Granger
  • Peppa Pig
  • The Gruffalo

With the survey also finding that 28 per cent of children will choose to dress up as fictional characters that aren’t even from books, and a further 33pc as a character from a book they have never even read, the company is reminding people to not lose sight of the real meaning of the event.

Ann Baskeyfield, director and designer at Blinds-Hut said: " World Book Day is such a brilliant event for children and it’s great to see so many parents and children getting involved.

"Getting kids excited about reading is so important for learning and development, and can be really great during their bedtime routine too.

"Our research highlights that many parents feel stressed about preparing for the day however, we wanted to let them know that they are not alone in this. The most important thing isn’t how fancy your child’s outfit is, but that they are encouraged to read more."

For more details about the event visit www.worldbookday.com .

Take a look at our gallery of some of your World Book Day pictures from last year: