Reading Rocks! Party
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IMAGE CREDIT: Kelly Sikkema @kellysikkema
Books are Off the Hook!
Everyone knows that. If you have a youngster in your life who loves books, celebrate that! Throw a book-themed birthday party, or start a kids’ book club, or heck, celebrate Dr. Seuss’s birthday (March 2nd, BTW), also known as Read Across America Day (which can be celebrated year-round). Find out more about this initiative and their full calendar of themes at readacrossamerica.org.
Check out your local library or bookstore for possible party space.
Venue
Of course, you can invite the littles over to get cozy in the family room for this get-together. But if you need more space or want to change it up, try your local library, a bookstore, or even a classroom. Ask around to see if any of these spaces offers a way to bring in a group of kids for a few hours.
Whether it’s a birthday or a book club, these invitations are fun and kitschy!
Invitations
I was inspired by the amazing Dr. Seuss, who’s books we all know and love, and many other classic children’s book illustrators like P.D. Eastman (Go, Dog. Go!), Clement Hurd (Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown), Ezra Jack Keats (The Snowy Day), and Virginia Lee Burton (Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel). Using a retro spin on a primary color scheme along with black line doodles and organic shapes, I came up with a fun, kinda goofy but kinda cool, kitschy design meant for kids of all ages who love to read.
Plus, the invitation comes with an envelope liner and BONUS 3 different patterned papers. You’re welcome.
Food & Drink
If you’ve ever heard of Pinterest, 😉 you know there are a bazillion ideas out there for good grub to match just about any children’s book title. Here, we’re keeping it simple, yet tasty and hopefully kid-friendly. (Those of us with picky eaters know what I’m talkin’ about.)
Labeling each dish is optional, but helpful. Extra fun if you display the books that inspire each dish. If you don’t own them, try the library. You can set them out with each tray or group the books all together on a shelf. (especially if you don’t want to mix food and books directly ;)
Here’s the menu for our little party:
Main Course
Egg Salad sandwiches & Ham ’n Cheese sandwiches, cut into quarters for little hands.
Book: Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss
Fruit & Veggie Tray; make it a rainbow if you can!
Book: The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
Chips’n Salsa
Book: Chicks and Salsa by Aaron Reynolds
Goldfish Crackers; especially the rainbow kind!
Book: The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister
Side Salad (green, pasta, potato, or whatever is your fave)
Book: Side by Side by Chris Raschka
Drinks
Bottled Water
Book: All the Water in the World by George Ella Lyon
Apple Juice or Sparkling Apple Cider (little boxes, bottles, or in a beverage dispenser)
Book: The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
Pink Lemonade (especially if you have some fans of the color, or the singer!)
Book: Pinkalicious by Victoria Kann
Dessert
Cookies; chocolate chip is great, but any kind will do.
Book: If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff
Ice Cream, of course!
Book: Should I Share My Ice Cream? by Mo Willems
Bonus
If this is for a Book Club get-together, definitely try this:
Soup; any favorite or offer a few choices.
Book: Stone Soup by Marcia Brown
Keebler CLUB Crackers, of course! (Get it?)
pantry packs or minis and NEW! CLUB minis mix
Decorations
Garland & Pennant Banners
Get your very own All-Purpose Party Playbook for a complete list of decorations with definitions! (Find it in the Bonus Material.)
Raid the kids’ book section at your local thrift shop for some colorfully illustrated gems. Don’t be scared; lovingly take the pages out and use a craft punch to get the shapes you want. This is a good 3” circle punch. Then sew them together for a festive (and cheap!) garland. Use the less colorful pages to cut out pennant or flag shapes (triangles or notched rectangles). Use a black sharpie to doodle (or use pre-cut) letters and numbers and string together for a banner.
Drinking Straw Bunting
I found these straws on Amazon that are a pretty good color match for this party suite.
And HGTV Handmade gives us a super quick YouTube tutorial on how to string these together a few different ways. Just straws and string!
Pom Pom Garland
Inspired by those Truffula Trees in The Lorax by Dr. Seuss, a garland made of pom poms is the perfect complement to all the good books we celebrate. Make your own out of yarn or visit Etsy for lots of handmade options. I like this one from YippeeDaisy and she’s from GARLAND, TX! You can request the length and colors you like best.
Activities
For sure, a little story time is in order. Maybe limit the selection or let the guest of honor choose. Also, see if there are any children’s book authors in your area. If available, they might be very happy to come read their story to your group! We have Erin Dealey locally, author of Little Bo Peep Can't Get to Sleep and Goldie Locks Has Chicken Pox. She’ll sign your books for you and even throw in a little swag! Find her at www.erindealey.com
Printables
So easy to print out the number you need and let the kids have some pencil time. These are available for purchase in my Shop. Each can be printed on 8½ x 11” paper. You can print back-2-back if you want. Check out this FREEBIE Word Search and the FREEBIE Build Your Own Bookmark too!
(These activities are best for children who can read and write. Some may need a little help here and there. You know your group of kids better than I, so use your best judgement.)
1) Matching: A whole page of matching the children’s book titles to their authors, for kids who are old enough to recognize titles and authors, of course.
2) Literature Libs: (Mad Libs style ;) Silly make-up-your-own story about a critter who’s a little “different”, but in a good way! Funny for any age.
3) Roll-A-Character: Cute way for kids to come up with their very own unique storybook character with just a roll of the dice.
All 3 are available as one download in my Shop. Purchase once and print as many as you need!
Games
Again, check out the All-Purpose Party Playbook for a complete list of party game ideas. (Find it in the Bonus Material.)
Book Charades: For kids who are old enough to act out characters, write the names on slips of paper. Fold them up and drop them into a hat so they can be mixed up. Players take turns pulling a name from the hat and acting out that character for the other players. Use names that everyone will recognize, like Winnie-the-Pooh, the Cat in the Hat, Captain Underpants, Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Wimpy Kid, Katniss Everdeen, Cruella de Vil, Cinderella, and Willie Wonka.
Guess How Many: This can be a prize in and of itself. Use a clear jar full of Teddy Graham crackers, inspired by the Berenstain Bears Stories by Stan Berenstain. Everyone gets to guess how many teddies are in the jar. You can use the empty box as the guess receptacle! (Just make sure you didn’t put exactly the number of teddies from the box into the jar, in case you have some math wizzes in attendance.) Whoever guesses the closest, without going over, wins the jar of Teddy Grahams!
Favorite Illustrator: Have the guest of honor choose a favorite book character. Provide paper and crayons or colored pencils. Each guest “illustrates” their version of the character, but doesn’t put their name on it. The guest of honor can try to guess who’s is whose or can select their favorite from the bunch. (A prize is optional.)
Music
You can always do a playlist of Indie or Bookstore Instrumentals. Depending on the age group, you could also put together a playlist of songs from the soundtracks of various movies that were based on books, like these:
Alice in Wonderland
Bridge to Terabithia
Charlotte’s Web
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
Holes
James and the Giant Peach
Mary Poppins
Ramona and Beezus
A Wrinkle in Time
Zathura
Party Favors
It’s always nice to send your guests home with a little token of your thanks. These are easy peasy! All you need are some Bookworms, otherwise known as gummy worms. You might find packages small enough for individual favors at your local dollar store. Or you can buy in bulk and divvy up yourself using little foodsafe baggies. Either way, fold and staple a header across the top.
Enjoy this FREEBIE Header (meant for 4” baggies)!
Any which way you look at it, books are the best! Celebrate them as often as possible.
