Olivia's Big Book Birthday Bash

This year for Olivia's birthday, we decided to do a book party mostly because I hope our kids will love reading and we want to make sure to do a lot of it this summer. A book-themed party seemed like a great way to kick off the summer. We got some great ideas from www.birthdaypartyideas.com. The invitations looked like little books written by Olivia and told the story of her Big Birthday Book Bash. We told the kids to come dressed up as their favorite book character and to be ready to tell us about their favorite book. It was so fun to hear how excited the kids were about books and reading.Olivia dressed up as Kitt Kittredge, of American Girl fame. She got the book and doll for her birthday (she told the group that it was her "first American Girl" and I quickly reminded her that it would likely be her "only American Girl" because they cost an arm and a leg!).

When the kids arrived, the librarian (me!) gave them a nametag with their character's name and they went and made a foam bookmark. We had all sorts of characters... Coleman was a Jedi Knight (there are Star Wars books out there somewhere, right?), Liv as Kitt, her friend Mercedes was Junie B. Jones, and Jane was Gwen (a star soccer player).
My mom came to help and dressed up like Laura Ingalls Wilder and as you can see we had Robin Hood, Harry Potter, Camilla (from a great book, A Bad Case of The Stripes), David (in the stripes, from No, David!) a couple of Hannah Montana's, a detective named Joe, and Alice in Wonderland. We also had The Man in the Yellow Hat (Curious George), Judy Moody, the Paper Bag Princess, Alice the Fairy, Pippi Longstocking, Peter (from the Narnia books), and the butterfly from A Very Hungry Caterpillar. The kids came up with great costumes and told about their books with a lot of detail. It was refreshing to see how much these little ones love to read and be read to.
After the kids told us about their books, we played a rousing game of "Red Rover" which was hilarious.
My extremely talented friend Sara made an amazing cake when her husband graduated from law school a few weeks ago (see a picture here) and I wanted desperately to copy it for Liv's book party. Sara was kind enough to write a detailed tutorial on how to do it and included a great frosting recipe and lots of insider cake decorating tips. As you can see, my cake is nowhere near the caliber of Sara's, but for a bunch of 7 year olds, it was a hit. It was my first time using cake boards and support straws and meringue powder in the frosting, so I consider it progress. I didn't start the frosting process until 2 hours before the party, which was a mistake. Five batches of frosting later and 20 minutes before the party was supposed to start, this is what we had, in addition to frosting and dirty dishes ALL over the kitchen. Next time around, I'll frost the cake the night before so I can have plenty of time to fix the details and make it as spectacular as I know I could have with more time and a few more tools.
We sent each of the kids home with a book (thanks to a great deal at the end of the year Scholastic book fair) and some "Birthday Bookworms". I was happy to avoid the huge amounts of candy and cheap trinkets that I usually put in the goodie bags. Hopefully all of the kids will enjoy their books this summer. We had such a fun party--Olivia is blessed with great friends that helped her celebrate her birthday in a big way. I was blessed with my mom, my sister Stephanie, and my friend Lisa who helped run the show. Thanks ladies!
**What book character would you like to be?
**Have you played "Red Rover" lately?
**Any good book recommendations (for me or the kids)?