Book Party Ideas
  A book themed party works well for any age as long as the guest of honor has a passion for reading. Book parties are also great to help get others excited about reading and books. Here are a few ideas to help you get started:

Invitations
     Book Invitations – Transform your invitations to look like a mini book. Use your computer to create two or more pages. The first page should have your title (Ellie’s turning 5) and your author (hosting by Katie). The second page should include: where, when and a phone number. Then any other details you add on other pages. If this is for a kids party you can add a few extra pages of puzzles or other activities just for fun. When all your pages are complete, put them together by using ribbon or staples.
     Bookmark Invitations – Make bookmarks from poster board or print them off your computer, inviting guests to your party. For a sturdier finish, laminate them. WalMart and most office supply stores sell laminate that you can do yourself.

Where to Host the Book Party?
   Many book themed parties are held at home, but some book stores will host a party for you.

Activities
    Making Bookmarks – Set up a craft table for your guests to create their own bookmarks. You can use poster board or use string and beads for the bookmarks.
     Story Telling – Start off by telling your guests a beginning of a story and let them take turns finishing the story. Write down the story as they tell it. Then you can send everyone a copy of the story in their thank you cards.
     Create Book Bags – Have your guests create their own book bags. You can pick up simple book bags at many craft stores. Watch for them to go on sale and you can pick them up a buck a piece. Then buy some paints for your guests to decorate them.

Games for a Book Party
    Who is it? – Write down different clues about certain storybook characters and read them out loud to your guests. As you read each of the clues for each of the characters have your guests write down who they think it is on a piece of paper. Then reward the person that gets the most correct with a small prize.
    Charades – To prepare for this game you will need to come up with a list of book titles that your guests will likely be familiar with. Write each title down on a separate note card. To make it a little easier, use popular little kid’s books. For example, The Three Little Pigs or 10 Little Monkeys. You will need to break your guests down into two teams and nominate a group to go first. One member of that group will pick one of your note cards and act it out. Their team members will have two minutes to guess what book they are acting out, if in that time no one guesses it, all other teams will be allowed to guess. The team that gets it right will get a point and it will be the next teams turn. If no one gets it right, no points are awarded and it is then the next team's turn.

For Younger Kids
    For younger kids, have them come dressed as their favorite story book character.

Party Favors
    Bookmarks
    Book Bags
    Books –Find some cheap books on line or if your kids bring home scholastic book orders, they are a great place to find cheap books. You could even look at your local used book stores. Here are a few websites you might want to look at:
http://store.doverpublications.com/
http://www.scholastic.com/kids/stacks/
http://www.ebay.com/