Circuses with high flying trapeze artists, brave lion tamers or swashbuckling pirates sailing the seven seas searching for buried treasure, any story can open a whole new world of wonder for your children.
Ornate illustrations and delicate, descriptive words set their imagination ablaze, causing them to construct these imaginary worlds in their heads. For this reason books are not only a form of entertainment but a powerful tool that can send your child’s mind to a place for imagination, a place to learn to dream, a place that is safe. Books are important and are often a part of our first memories and become treasures of our childhood.
Most of us can remember the first time our parents told us a special story or a favorite book that we read over and over again. They created our imagination and determined how we played; they gave us happiness and joy that many of us still hold on to today.
However, buying and building your children’s library can be expensive and time consuming. Therefore one way to resolve this is to have a book themed party where guests are encouraged to buy books instead of toys for gifts. It could be to “build baby’s first library” at a baby shower, or for a birthday or a special religious event. You could have a theme that revolves around a particular book, author or subject. For example, you could throw an “Alice in Wonderland” or a “Winnie the Pooh” party and have cakes, decorations and games all based on events or characters in the books.
You could even ask your child what their favorite illustration is and then have a fantastical cake designed to look just like it! Or the theme could be more traditional such as a princesses or pirates and use a well-known fairy tale to frame it. In this sense book themed parties will be easy to plan because they provide ideas and a template on which you can continually grow and expand upon. Decorations and games could all be in the spirit of the chosen book, creating a fun and entertaining atmosphere.
You can easily let your own imagination run wild while getting your kids interested in books and reading. Parents will enjoy these parties too because it has educational value for their own kids and the children will have fun because of the fantastical atmosphere. You could also encourage guests to buy books you desire by providing in the invitation a suggested book list and even include special editions of well-loved books you already own. This way you could offer some direction for guests who might not know what type of books your child likes, while potentially receiving keepsake books that your child could hold on to as they grow older.
Also instead of asking for cards inspire your guests to write on the inside of the book, or ask them to give a little note to the child that they will be able to have and look at forever. This way your guests will feel like they have given something valuable, worthwhile and a gift that the child will remember when they grow older. And in the end you will have a collection of books that will kick start their own library and hopefully create a lifelong love of reading. No matter how you choose to do it, book giving parties are a fun way to mix imagination, fun and even a little education, while providing your kids with a library of books that they can keep and cherish throughout their lifetime.
Phil C. Stone writes for The Folio Society, a publisher of limited edition books. Popular books include children’s classic books and beautifully illustrated books.
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