Through Facebook, I have watched my cousin do this with her kids for years and have been excited for when we got the first chance to do so. I have always loved to read, and I wanted to share that love with my kids in an engaging way. For our first book, we read one of my childhood favorites: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis. I’ll outline each activity that we did for the evening, mostly using pictures.
I recommend planning the crafts and activities based mostly on what you already have at home, but here is a list of supplies based on the activities that we did. We had kids form 2 years to 10 years.
Supply List: 1. Play doh 2. Washable markers or face paint 3. Pipe cleaners 4. Dinner supplies (fish and potatoes, cooked however your family eats them) 5. Tea (We used chai with milk and sugar) 6. Turkish delight (the only thing I purchased specifically for this night. I got this box from Amazon for about $8.) 7. Disney+ subscription for the movie
This was our first activity. Everyone got play doh and the suggestion to make anything they wanted from the book.
Ana Lia made the witch, but everyone else made random things not necessarily from the book. That’s okay too. I try not to control their creativity. We can all enjoy our book party, even if it is not exactly the way I would have done it.Our kids write on themselves with washable markers all the time, so I didn’t feel the need to buy face paint for this activity. Anyone who did not want to have their face decorated got to decorate someone else.Fin is excited anytime he gets to participate with the older kids.Ana Lia wanted to be a cat princess. To my knowledge, there is not a cat princess in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, but again, it doesn’t have to be precise.Next, we made wardrobes out of pipe cleaners. I participated in this activity, so I didn’t get any pictures of the final products. Some of the girls made bracelets for each other instead.We had potatoes and fried fish for dinner like the children ate at the beaver’s house in the book. I also served chai that was mostly milk with some sugar in it. I bought Turkish Delight specifically for this book party, but it’s the only thing. I tasted Turkish Delight for the first time when I moved to England at 18, and I thought it would be a fun experience for the evening. Spoiler alert: Eliam is the only one who likes it.We finished the night with the movie on Disney+. The movie is a little more than two hours long, so be sure to plan plenty of time to watch it. We had popcorn and blankets for movie time.
