Ah good old World Book Day - the event loved and despised by parents in equal measure.
Even those who fall under the former category can find themselves hating it by the time the day arrives.
If I'm honest, I love the idea of it. I even quite like the end results - well most of them - but let's face it, getting there can be a rocky road with tears and tantrums along the way, and that's just us mums.
It all starts off with that letter from school revealing whether they're actually joining in with the fun this year.
Are they choosing the easy 'let's just have the kids in PJs with their favourite book' option, or are they going all out with a ridiculous request to have children dress up as 'a verb', or 'an adjective' - yes this actually happens.
Whatever they decide, they can't win. While some parents will moan if their school does join in World Book Day, others will complain if they don't.
After last year's pyjama day, I was quite excited for my kids to be taking part for once.
Of course half term came and went without any urgency to get costumes sorted. Who needs to be organised so early anyway.
With their character choices of Demon Dentist and Billionaire Boy - good old David Walliams - I thought we'd have it in the bag. I mean how hard can it be? A dentist's coat for daughter and a cap and some fake money to stick on my son and we'd be sorted.
Oh how we scoffed!
Because a shop bought costume is one thing. It's all there isn't it. Take it out of the packet and it's just ALL THERE.
Try to cobble your own together and it's not that easy. The devil's in the detail and when you realise that Demon Dentist Miss Root just HAS to be accompanied by her angry white pussy cat, and just HAS to be carrying that all-important drill, that's when it all becomes a bit like pulling teeth.
Made worse by an 11th hour character change by the boy. Because of course it's much easier to recreate a little known character from The Midnight Gang with a bandage round his head, wearing old fashioned striped pyjamas that are now as rare as rocking horse s**t, and carrying a trumpet.
Cue frantic eBay searches and messages to family and friends in search of miscellaneous items.
Whoops of delight on finding said trumpet are short lived on realising it's made in China and will be delivered on or after August 30, 2021. As is the excitement over tracking down the perfect stripey pyjamas, at just £30 a pop! Maybe not then.
Those organised folk, the ones who used half term to create a masterpiece with a papier mache head and rare golden spider silk ordered while their child was still in the womb, are busy showing off their outfits on Facebook, while you're still hunting round the market stalls of Wigan because one of them must have a 'bleed**' plastic trumpet somewhere.
If you really have to make a costume, here are nine easy to make ideas for you
A text to sister eventually comes good and, while her soft toy pussy cat is not particularly angry looking, at this stage it'll do. Beggars can't be choosers.
With just a few days to go there's still the little matter of a trumpet and stripey pyjamas to find.
Mind you, if the other half pipes up with 'you've known about this for weeks', one more time, you know exactly where that trumpet will be going - and it won't be the classroom.
