So it is that time of year again, a time of magical storytelling that encourages children to tap into their creative minds. Yes that’s right! It’s book week again here in Australia. Books are timeless, they are a magical part of childhood, for they encourage children to go on an adventure and travel to far away worlds. Why not celebrate the charm of children’s books by hosting a children’s book swap party.
Whether you are trying to come up with some last minute birthday party ideas or want to celebrate book week with a party – then we have got some great party tip ideas on how to host a book swap party.
At a book swap party, each child brings a book (or two) from their own bookshelf to exchange. All the books are set out on display and the children take turns to choose a different book to take home. And yes, the air does get filled with endless giggles and excitement as the children go around enthusiastically choosing their new book.
A book swap party encourages a love of reading and creative storytelling; it celebrates tradition and old fashioned fun in a modern world that has become so technology focused. Plus it is a great way to dust off those books that your child no longer reads and pass them on to a new home for another child to enjoy.
Book Week dates for 2014: Saturday 16 August - Friday 22 August: Click here to find out more about book week. http://cbca.org.au/bookweek.htm
Send out invitations and organise costumes
Get the party started by sending out invitations to all the kids. Most schools have dress-up day for Book Week so try and organise the party to fall on one of these days, this way the kids will already be dressed up as their favourite story book character. To help out busy parents, it is always a nice gesture to put a note at the bottom of the invitation, directing them to their nearest party and costume supply store. Here at Party Savers we have plenty of costumes that the kids will love - view our kids costumes here.
Display your books
Create a buzz by setting up a colourful and whimsical book display for kids to place their books as they arrive at the party. Towards the back of the table set up a bouquet of colourful balloons and add a vase filled with pinwheel fans. Sit a big bowl towards the front of the table that is overflowing with help-your-self blow-outs and party hats. When designing the book display table it’s important you set it up in an area where the book titles are easy for kids to reach. Display a couple of picture story books on one or two wooden easels, and as the books arrive, stand some of the hard cover books up to give a bit of depth to the book display.
Lolly jar guess
To keep kids entertained as they wait for all the guests to arrive have someone go around with a big jar of jellybeans and get kids to guess how many jelly beans are in the jar. Write down each kids guess on a piece of paper, and then at the end of the party give the jar of lollies to the child who guessed closest to the number. Buy jelly beans in bulk here.
Choose your books
Now for the fun part of the party, choosing the books! Before the kids make a dash for their favourite picks, it's important to explain the process for choosing books so that there are no tears or tantrums. To make it fair why not get kids to draw straws or sticks from a glass jar to decide the order of who gets to pick a book. Mark the sticks with numbers - so for example number 1 gets to choose first etc.
Food, decorations and party activities
A good party is not complete without yummy treats. To take the hassle out of food preparation stick to something simple like cupcakes, cheese and crackers, popcorn, fruit platters, veggie sticks and jelly cups. To give a bookish feel decorate the table with a few decorations, two or three framed illustrations from a popular kids book like ‘The Cat In The Hat’ always makes for a lasting impression.
Story Time: Create a magical space for story time. Set up comfy mats or cushions for children to sit on in a spare room. Pull down the blind or draw the curtains so that the room is dark, then stick glow-in-the-dark stars on the roof and hand out glow sticks to each child. Then get one of the adults to dress up in costume and read the children a book. Just a hint, why not read the children one of the books shortlisted for the Book Of The Year. You can view the list here.
Party Favors: For something simple yet fun; fill a coloured loot bag with some yummy gummy crawlers. Then design a label that says ‘Bookworms’ to attach to the loot bag. This no fuss party favour stays true to the book theme, and the kids will think they are pretty great.
