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A personalized Halloween book for kids, where the costume is the adventure

The costume is on, the pumpkins are glowing and the street is full of friendly frights. A story about the thrill of pretend, with your child as the one in the costume.

Halloween falls on October 31, with costume parades and trick-or-treating in the days around it. Many families also use the story for a school dress-up day or an autumn party.

Start their Halloween book

See where the story is heading before you confirm.

Cover of Wait, a Better Idea!: Adam, in a colander helmet, foil sleeves and a paper-sheet cape, crouches on a porch step beside his friend Liam dressed as a pumpkin, with a black cat and a wagon of costume bits
Wait, a Better Idea!, made for Adam, 6

Look inside

A real book, made for Adam

Adam was 6. These are pages from Wait, a Better Idea!, in Handmade Paper Worlds.

  1. Adam stands in the hallway with his hands on his head, smiling, beside a basket of foil, a colander, socks and egg boxes, with the clock ticking and the black cat watching
    Page 1
  2. Adam in a colander hat and foil arms does a stiff robot pose beside Liam the pumpkin, who zigs and zags with his arms out
    Page 4
  3. Adam points proudly at his costume as a neighbour holds out a bowl of Halloween stickers and Liam gasps, wide-eyed
    Page 9
Tick-tock, tick-tock. One hour to go! No costume for Adam. Oh no, oh no! He'll make one from home. His rule is clear: "Something NOBODY else will wear this year!"

See how Adam’s book was made

Why this story

What it does for them

For most children, Halloween is not about being scared. It is about being someone else for one night, and the quiet pride of a costume that is theirs. This story puts the dressing-up at the centre: the fiddly bit, the idea that arrives at the last minute, the moment the porch light clicks on.

It keeps the fright small and the fun large. Shadows turn out to be a pair of paper wings, a spooky noise is a giggle, and the scariest moment is spotting three more sheet-ghosts just like yours. A child who finds the night a little big can read it first, and walk out the door already knowing how it ends.

Our sample book follows Adam, who has one hour and only what is already in the house. His colander becomes a helmet and his foil becomes sleeves, and the costume he builds is his own. Whatever your child’s version is, whether a homemade robot, a cape that trips or a pumpkin that refuses to sit still, it can be the story.

By age

How the story changes with age

  • Ages 2 and under

    One silly costume and a grown-up holding up the mirror. Who is THAT? Every new sound gets a bigger giggle back, with glowing pumpkins to point at and nothing remotely scary.

  • Ages 3–5

    A costume with one thing that doesn’t work: a cape that trips, a mask that slips. With a little help and one try at a time, it’s fixed before the very first door.

  • Ages 6+

    A big plan and a short clock. A costume made from whatever is in the house, and a street full of children who are all about to see something they have never seen before.

How every story changes by age

Make it yours

The same moment, a hundred different stories

A few ways it could go. Yours starts with one sentence about your child.

  • Soraya’s witch hat keeps falling over her eyes, and her little brother has the fix.
  • Dev’s costume is a dragon, but the tail keeps getting stuck in the door.
  • A night when the neighbours’ lights go out and a very small ghost needs a guide home.
  • Greta is too scared to knock on the first door, so the whole street waits with her.
  • A school dress-up day where everyone else came as a pumpkin, and one child came as a spoon.

Not quite this moment?Write your own. A book for any moment, big or small, in a sentence.

Write your own

Yours to choose

What you can personalise

  • Their photo

    One clear photo. We draw your child as an illustrated character who looks like them on every page.

  • Up to 3 people they love

    A parent, grandparent, sibling or friend, from a photo or a few words of description.

  • 6 art styles

    From glowing watercolour to bold gouache and handmade paper worlds.

  • A dedication

    Your own message at the start of the book, such as “For the best costume we’ve ever seen, and the one wearing it.”

  • Read-aloud

    Every paid book comes with a narrated version to play at bedtime.

Start their Halloween book

See where the story is heading before you confirm.

Before you start

Questions parents ask

Will it be too scary?

No. The idea is spooky season made fun, not frightening. Shadows turn out to be paper wings, and the biggest scare is a street full of costumes just like yours. The excitement is sized to your child’s age.

We don’t celebrate Halloween. Can it still work?

Yes. Write a costume party, a school dress-up day or a night of lanterns and torchlight, and the story follows you. The heart of it is making something of your own and showing it off.

Can it be about a costume my child has already picked?

Yes. Tell us the costume, and the story is built around it, props and all. If they haven’t picked, the story can be about the picking.

Can a sibling or friend be in it?

Yes. Add up to 3 people with a photo or a description and they join the night, drawn to look like themselves when you add a photo. In our sample, Liam the pumpkin trots along beside Adam the whole way.

Will it arrive in time for October 31?

The finished pages are made once you confirm the story, so start a little before the night. Printed copies need time for printing and shipping, so order those early.

More ideas

Other moments worth a book

See every story idea

Their moment, their story

Add a photo and check the idea. Before you confirm, you will see where the story is heading, and you can ask for up to three changes.

Start their Halloween book

Digital books from A$12.99, printed copies shipped to India, Australia, NZ, the US and Canada. See pricing