Holiday Movie Night 2018

This event evolved from my Polar Express Movie Night. Let's be honest, The Polar Express is a LONG movie, too long for younger kids.

So in 2018, I decided to host a holiday movie night, but look for a movie that was one hour long or less. I settled on A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa.

After the movie, we made beaded pipe cleaner jingle bell ornaments and went on a Present scavenger hunt. The kids turned their completed scavenger hunt sheets in for holiday pencils or stickers. I created the scavenger hunt using free clip art from Teachers Pay Teachers. Find the sets I used here, here, and here.

This was a fun event and took little prep time. I hosted it at all four of my branch libraries and had 38 adults and 53 kids attend. I've already decided that this year, I'm going to show the original How the Grinch Stole Christmas and follow it with a craft and scavenger hunt.

Mo Willems Party 2019

We read The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog!, Let's Go for a Drive!, and I'm a Frog!

We did a bird's nest relay as a nod to There's a Bird on Your Head! I found the idea here.

We went on a Mo Willems character scavenger hunt. Using coloring pages and activity sheets, I located the following characters, in some cases enlarged them, and  finally copied them on to pastel paper. I them cut them out and laminated them. The characters we hunted were: Alligator, Baby Goose, Bus Driver, Cat the Cat, Duckling, Elephant, Knuffle Bunny, Pigion, Piggie, and Puppy. The prize for completing the scavenger hunt was a Dum Dums.

We made Elephant and Piggie paper bag puppets. Find them here. To conserve time, kids made one and took one home to make.

I had a book display of Mo Willems books.

The kids also took home Draw Elephant & Piggie (from We are in an ART-ivity Book!) and Let's Draw Pigeon (from the 10th Birthday Celebration Activity Kit).

Caroline: An American Girl Party

To introduce Caroline, I told the girls she likes sailing, embroidery, and ice skating. I shared some quotes from the Looking Back sections of her books about school, games, and books. I played some music from 1812-1814: Beethoven & Schubert. I also told them a little about the US in 1812.

We tied knots.

We made colored Racing Boats and raced them (Caroline event kit).

We ice skated indoors on the carpet with the help of some wax paper.

We had gingersnap cookies and apple cider for our snack.

I got inspiration from Ms. Kelly at the Library's event American Girl Club: Meet Caroline.

Felicity: An American Girl Party

I shared a little bit of information about Felicity and the time she lived in.

We played Frog in the Middle and Scotch-hopper (both from The American Girls Party Book). We also had a word race (Felicity event kit).

For our craft we made cup and ball toys with dixie cups, masking tape, and string.

We had gingersnaps and lemonade.

I got inspiration from Ms. Kelly at the Library's event American Girl Club: Meet Felicity.

Wand Making

I did this event as a lead up to our annual Harry Potter Book Night in February.

I used two tutorials I found online for guidance. Find them here and here.

Supplies needed: chopsticks, hot glue guns, glue sticks for hot glue guns, crafts sticks (jumbo & skinny), scissors, lotion

The lotion is a tip I learned many years ago from my high school homeroom teacher. To avoid bad burns/blisters when using hot glue, lotion your hands. The moisture keeps the glue from adhering so well to your skin and causing burns/blisters.

I had 4 tables set up around the room with all these supplies. Each table had 2 glue guns.

Down the center of the room, I had 2 tables set up for painting the wands once the hot glue was set. I had paint, brushes, paper plates for palettes, paper towels, and cups of water for brush rinsing.

We had 22 adults and 37 kids show up this event. It was fun and easy, I'm looking forward to hosting the event at two of my library branched again this fall.

Josefina: An American Girl Party

To start the party, I shared some information about Josefina and what her life was like. I shared primarily about how she dressed, Spanish language, and what America/Mexico looked like in 1824. My sources were Welcome to Josefina's World 1824: Growing Up on America's Southwest Frontier and The American Girl Club Handbook.

We made ramillete flowers (idea from The American Girls Party Book) and colored Woven Blanket bookmarks from the Josefina event kit.

We played El Floron (idea from The American Girls Party Book) and Pitarilla (from the Josefina event kit).

For refreshments, we had lemonade and feast day cookies (Mexican wedding cake cookies).

I also got inspiration from Ms. Kelly at the Library's event American Girl Club: Meet Josefina.

Samantha: An American Girl Christmas Party

As always, I began the event with a tour of the 1900s: inventions, artists, books, theater, facts about the US at the time, food.

We sang carols, played Pass the Pearls (Samantha Event Kit) and had a posture relay (Ms. Kelly at the Library).

For crafts we made paper snowflakes and decorated ice cream cone Christmas trees.

Rebecca: An American Girl Party

To find enough activities to host a party (in addition to those in the event kit), I read a few of the Rebecca books. I found that she likes math, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, egg creams, and crochet. I also found food ideas as well as some other activity ideas in the books.

I took the girls on a tour of the 1910s: games/toys, food, and books.

We played the Coney Island Penny Pitcher Game and Silent-Movie Charades from the event kit.

For refreshments, we had lemonade and jelly beans. Both are mentioned in the books.

Maryellen: An American Girl Party

Started the event off with a tour of the 1950s: at the movies, on TV, on the radio, games/toys, food, restaurants, inventions, and at the library.

We listened to music from the 50s, danced, and had a hand jive lesson. We had two contests: hula hooping and bubble gum blowing. We played with Play-doh and played a life size version of Yahtzee.

We preformed experiments on marshmallow Peeps.

For refreshments we had Trix cereal, Cheez Whiz & crackers, Pixy Stixs, and tang.

Julie: An American Girl Party

To begin the event, I gave all the girls pet rocks. These were just black river rocks I got at the Dollar Tree.

We played the 70s Trivia Game from the Julie Event Kit.

I took the girls on a tour of the 1970s using displays I had set up around the room: games/toys, food, at the movies, on TV, on the radio, and at the library.

We did 2 Mad-Libs as they are published in California.

For a craft, I came up with a Design Your Own Tie-Dye T-shirt coloring sheet.

We played Uno, had a Post-It note relay race and did the Pop Art Daisy Scavenger Hunt from the event kit.

For refreshments, we had Country Time Lemonade, Pop Rocks, Twix, Laffy Taffy, Reese's Pieces, Ring Pops, Starburst, and Combos.