A book tasting party can have a lasting impact on the birthday child as well as his or her friends! Here is how we planned a special birthday party for our 10-year-old (Clara) that she claimed was “the BEST birthday party EVER”!
The Idea
Clara seems to have an unending appetite for books. With this book tasting birthday party, she was excited to share her favorite novels with her friends in such a creative and fun way! For the menu, Clara chose several books from a variety of genres so each of her friends could find a few new books to sample. We created a book bistro and served up novels, did a book-themed craft, and enjoyed some tasty cupcakes. In addition to choosing a new book to take home, the kids added several titles to their Summer reading lists!
The Location
We rented two rooms from a local bookstore, Let’s Play Books, to host our special book tasting birthday party. This gave us plenty of space to have a light dinner and craft in one room, and hold the main book tasting event in another room. Let’s Play Books provided all of the books for the tasting portion of the party. Instead of sending each of the kids home with a party favor bag, each kid went home with a book of their choice in a restaurant
Exciting News – If you are located near the Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania, I have partnered with my friends at Let’s Play Books for a special book tasting event on January 12th. Get all the details and grab your tickets here. We would love to have you join us!
The Party Menu
Since our party began at
Book Tasting Party Craft
Next, we decorated the
The Book Tasting
Time for the main event! First, the kids’ names were announced when their reservations were ready. The kids entered a separate room that had been decorated to look like a bistro restaurant. We had white tablecloths, faux rose centerpieces, battery-powered candles, plastic utensils, plastic plates, and fancy paper napkins. The kids were all smiles and it was lots of fun to watch their eyes light up with excitement! Our hostess seated the kids 2-3 at a time with a menu of exciting book choices that Clara had curated herself. The hostess then explained that the book tasting restaurant was featuring a prix fixe menu, and they were to chose one appetizer, one main course, and one dessert item.
As soon as the first group of kids was ready to order, a server would write down their choices of books onto a restaurant order notepad. The server would then collect the menus, and pass them to the hostess to use with the next group of 2-3 kids waiting to be seated.
As the orders were being collected, a second server would be preparing the books. This same server would then present the books, one at a time, using a silver plastic plater with a dome lid. We allowed about 5 minutes to get just a “taste” of each book before moving on to the next course of the meal.
Once each of the kids had sampled 3 books, the server went around to collect “take out orders”. These orders consisted of the book each child chose to take home with them. The books were then packaged into restaurant take-out containers to take home!
Cupcake Time
Next, it was time to sing Happy Birthday and enjoy our cupcakes! The cupcakes were store bought with plain icing. We printed out mini book covers, cut them out, and taped them to toothpicks to make cupcake toppers. The cupcakes were a big hit!
Don’t forget to take a group photo before everyone leaves to go home!
Get Your Tickets to Join Us
Kids ages 8-12 are welcome to join us for a special upcoming book tasting event at Let’s Play Books on January 12, 2019. Tickets available here!
What a fun idea! And also I want to protest that your sweet girl is TEN! How?!? What?!? I guess it must be so. Sigh. Happy birthday, Clara! What a lovely young woman you are!
How fun! And I was also wondering – how is Clara ten already?! Best wishes to the birthday girl. 🙂
Dear Lenetta,
If you wish to feel very old, like I do, know that Emily is now in High School. If all goes to plan, she’ll be college bound in just over three years. Thanks for being a loyal reader all of these years! 👍
Mark