Throw a book party!

Decorate your walls with classic quotes from children’s books (You can print out the ones we've chosen here). Pick up various sizes of frames from a dollar store or thrift shop and paint them for some colourful pizzazz. Next, print out your favourite quotes, centre them within the frames and fix them to your walls. 

When the wee readers show up, place the books they bring in a Book Swap box. Once it’s full, ask the kids to pick through the pile and choose a new book. 

For empty-handed guests, be ready with some titles from our incredible list, “The 100 best Canadian kids’ books of all time,”which you can find at todaysparent.com/100books.

Next up: Game time!
Get the kids to sit in a circle, and ask one to start a story using the line, “Once upon a time….” The kid to the storyteller’s right will continue the tale using the sentence just created and generating his own. After that, play a game of Name That Character: By checking out each kid’s literary getup and having him or her act the part, the group has to guess who the character is. (Hints can be given!) Once the tiny thespians have finished performing, it’s time for some nosh. 

Serve your grilled cheese books with an assortment of fruits and veggies, and apple juice. You can find the instructions for your grilled cheese books here.

Download our library card invitation and envelope from todaysparent.com/printables and print them on card stock. On the back of the invitations, ask guests to bring a copy of their favourite book and arrive dressed as a character from it.

1. You will need a glue stick, two magnetic strips, scissors, a photo of someone (or something!) cute and card stock.
2. Cut around the photo, and then cut a rectangle from the card stock and fold it in half through its middle.