Taylor Swift Pop-Up Party Recap

 At work, we've been missing the boat on celebrating Taylor Swift's new albums. But we decided to do a pop-up party (not advertised in our newsletter only on social media and in the library) 

We hosted one for teens and one for kids

Both made friendship bracelets. We had coloring sheets for everyone.

The teens had trivia questions:

What are the names of Taylor Swift's parents?

What was Taylor's job at the Christmas tree farm?

We read this book for the kids:

this is a super cute story with great illustrations! 

The kids had finish the lyrics like this one:

We handed out stickers and bookmarks

How it went:

It went really well - everyone seemed to have a great time. Everyone went home with goodies. We had a mix of people who knew all the trivia and lyrics and people who didn't know too many. I had such a good time. The only complaint was - next time make it longer!

Library Program Recap: Belle at the Library

 Last weekend, we hosted everyone's favorite bookish princess at the library.

Our publicity 

It was my first time hosting a princess and it was simply the best experience.

When I booked the program, I forgot that it was at the same time as Friends of the Library book sale. Which meant I didn't not have the big program room.

But we made it work. We held the program in the library and took pictures in our storytime room. There were not have been enough room in the storytime room for the program. We had over 100 people attend.

I was anxious the morning of the program and I'm not really sure why. I knew the program would be a hit, but for some reason, my nerves flared up. I didn't have anything to worry about. 

Belle read a story, sang a song, showed off some dance moves, and danced with everyone. It was a magical morning. 

Earlier in the morning:

Belle's Storytime:

The Photo Area:

Everyone was able to take photos with Belle. Afterwards, they received a Princess sticker.

our photo backdrop

Photo props

Belle and I (yes I wore a tiara for the morning!) 

It was so much fun! I think this might be the first annual Princess event 

Take Your Child to the Library Day - Recap

 Yesterday was Take Your Child to the Library Day. If you don't know about this day, it started in Connecticut, but it's gone country wide. You can read more about it here. 

The idea is to celebrate libraries and all that they do for Children (and for all ages). 

At my library, we had a Frozen Day.

I hosted a Frozen Storytime. We read some stories, danced to Do You Want to Build a Snowman with bubbles, waved scarved during our sing-along to Let It Go, and created a wand craft. We handed out a sticker and bubbles to go. The room was packed and everyone seemed to have fun.

Books Read:

Wand craft:

We had a Frozen themed Foodie Fun take & make. We ran out in the afternoon. It usually takes us a few days. 

We had a Frozen Olaf in a Snowglobe Take & Make Craft. We almost ran out of these. 

Lots of families visited. It was lovely to see so many familiar faces and some new faces too. 

It was a great day! 

Dino-Tea Wrap Up

 

A few years ago, I learned about Din-vember where libraries (and other organizations) celebrate dinosaurs the entire month of November. 

My co-worker and I decided to start last year. 

This is our second year and we thought it would be fun to host a dino-tea storytime.

Here was the invitation:

It happened on Saturday.

And it went well. It was not what I had envisioned. But that was my fault. I wanted to decorate the room with all the things dinosaur - sort of like a birthday party. And I ran out of time for it. 

Instead of having everyone at tables and weaving through them as I read stories, it was like a regular storytime. We sat on the floor and read stories, danced, and did a flannel. Afterwards instead of a craft, we had lemonade and black and whites. We gave them a take home craft of a mixed media dinosaur. 

And it went great! 

No one else was unhappy. I just wish I could have pulled something bigger and more special together. However, we are planning to make this an annual event, so fingers crossed for a bigger event next year! 

Book and Craft (1)

During Black History Month, we featured crafts based on Black inventors. Inside our Take & Make craft bags, we included a mini biography of the inventor and a little info about the invention.

Now, there's a book that would perfectly match one of the four we chose:

This picture book biography features Garrett Morgan, who improved the stop light significantly. He had talents that did not lend themselves to working in the field like many of his family members. He wanted to help people. This biography talks about the cause that made Garrett Morgan create a safer way of traveling and it explains the reasoning behind the red, yellow, and green lights. 

Garrett Morgan - Inventor of the Traffic Light & Gas Mask (biography.com)

Craft:

It's great to now have a book that matches the craft and the invention!

 

Teen Summer Reading (5): Foodie Fun

 

  It's that time of year again to start planning the Teen Summer Reading Program.

I have a bunch of craft ideas to choose from this year. I'm not sure teens care about the theme as much, so my crafts don't always follow that.

We're virtual again this summer, so we're creating Take & Make craft bags.

We talked about crafts and food. My favorite nonfiction books. Nonfiction books that I plan to order.

This week is the last week and I'm diving into a program that we do at the library for kids and teens. It's been our most popular program during the pandemic. 

It's is a costly program. The Friends of Cragin Library generously pays for it. We've been doing these programs monthly, but in the summer, they are weekly. 

Foodie Fun is a cooking program. Or rather, a baking program. We pick out a recipe, purchase the ingredients, bag up the ingredients, and film a video. If it's a very common household item, we don't include it. Then the kids/teens/parents pick up a bag, watch the video, and make the sweet treat. 

We hand them out on a Saturday. A video of instructions drops that morning.

We usually have between 30 and 40 bags. They are gone by Tuesday.

What do we make?

Usually sweets. We pack each bag enough for a serving. If they like it and want to make more, they have the instructions. We do seasonal themes - the picture above is bags from our turkey Oreo pretzel. I like making different Chex Mixes or variations on chocolate bark. 

Here is our Pinterest board where I gather ideas.

Here is the latest video:

And that's the program. It works better during the pandemic months than it does in person. 

Library Program: Connecticut Ghost Hunters

Following the summer reading theme of night, I devised the programs into weeks (dreams, monsters, night, ghosts, and vampires). I asked Connecticut Ghost Hunters to come to the library for a presentation after seeing their website.

I loved their presentation and it might have been my favorite program of the summer!

They shared their knowledge and experience. There was laughter and a little spookiness.

They brought equipment and talked about each piece.

  They talked about types of paranormal phenomenon

They spoke about their experiences visiting haunted places in Connecticut including Norwich hospital and they shared clips of their recordings.

Then we ate dessert!

Women of the Civil War Era Tea

This was an event hosted last weekend at the library to celebrate Women's History Month and the 150th Anniversary of the Civil War. We had members of the community, library staff, and NFA (the local high school) dress as women of the era with costumes from R.E.A.D. Amusements. We had the Midnight Belles sing music from the time period. It was a great event!

Here's the room:


Presenters:

Midnight Belles:
Lucy Hayes:

Louisa May Alcott: Belle Boyd:
Mary Todd Lincoln:
Sarah Emma Edmonds:
Rose O'Neal Greenhow

Pictures of the Crowd:


Pictures of the high school presenters:



Pictures of all the women presenters:

You Rock: Fun Valentine Craft

I saw this craft and tried at the library with teens/tweens.

They loved the idea and the candy and had a great time making the ipods. Most of them took items home to make another one. I liked it because while it is a valentine project, I thought it was cool enough to get their attention. Plus I loved the idea of creating your own playlist - which is what I did.