Book Exchange Party

We gave the kids another joint birthday party this year.  I must say, it was my favorite we’ve thrown for them so far!  It was a ‘Book Exchange’ party and most of my inspiration came from Pinterest.  The idea was for each child to bring a book instead of a gift/toy and each child left with a book as their party favor.  This way, our guests didn’t have to bring two gifts and our kids didn’t get toys when they already have too many. 

I had so much fun decorating for the party!  The majority of the decorations were made from vintage children’s books bought from various thrift and goodwill stores.  First, the invite.  I had so much fun creating it!

I cut pages out of the old children’s books and glued them together to make standard size envelopes.  I used white address labels for the addresses so they would show well.

The invitations themselves were printed on card stock and placed inside a library card holder.  To embelish the holder, I stamped with a ‘you’re invited’ stamp.

Front: I used the kids’ birthdays and ages as the “info” on the library card. 

Back:

Book page wreath for the front door, entering the party.

 I covered a bunch of my books with scrap book paper and stacked on mantel.  I also stacked homemade “insta-blocks” on top of them to showcase pictures of the kids from the past year. I made a book page garland and hung on mantel, too.

The insta-blocks are instagram pictures printed on card stock and them mod-podged to blocks of wood (made from scraps in JT’s workshop!)

Book page garland made from old children’s books pages, sewed to fabric bias tape!

I had other little decorations around the house that represented the kids. Her initial was sitting on top of books that were mine as a child.  His was sitting on top of some of his favorite books as a baby.

The food table was my favorite part!  A series of book page garlands hung above it and JT made a chalk board for the center piece.  I sat the food on old children’s books.

Since the party was in the afternoon, in between lunch and dinner, we served simple snacks — milk and cookies, cupcakes and snack mix in little brown bags.  We had water for the adults too. 

Books sat around in baskets for the kids to look at.

Each child got a book and a goodie bag with book worms and book labels inside.

I plan on posting a PDF of the book labels soon so you can print them for your children!  They turned out so cute, I wanted to share them with you all!  We had such a good time at the party.  The kids especially. They counted down the days and when the day finally arrived, they were excited. 

Sources:
Invites: designed and printed by me
Invite envelopes: from vintage children’s books, made by me
Library card holders: local teacher store
Book page wreath: made from old book, by me
Book page garlands: from vintage children’s books, made by me
Books on mantel: mine, covered with scrap book paper
Insta-blocks: made by me
Book page balls: made by me
Cupcake toppers: from vintage children’s books, made by me
Chalkboard: Kiwi Wood Werks
Pinwheels: from vintage children’s books, made by me
Cardboard letters: Hobby Lobby
Mason Jars: Hobby Lobby
Milk Jars: recycled Starbucks jars, covered with vintage children’s book pages
Party favor books: Golden Rule books from various stores
Stickers on favor bags: designed and printed by me
Book worm bags: labels designed and printed by me, worms in snack size ziplock bags
Book card labels: designed and printed by me (free printable PDF coming soon!)
Old children’s books: various thrift and goodwill stores