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Hunger Games Party Ideas

The third and final installment of Suzanne Collins’ popular Hunger Games series, Mockingkay, arrives on August 24. Why not celebrate the release with a Hunger Games-themed party (minus the brutal killings, natch)?

Inspiration from Other Libraries and Bookstores

Several libraries and bookstores have held parties for the release of Catching Fire or just for fun.

Amity Middle School hosted a party complete with trivia, a cornucopia challenge, and a physical challenge with groups of students competing for different districts. They’ve posted all of their materials and instructions on their website. The trivia questions are especially good!

The blog Bookmarked has some coverage of a Scholastic sponsored Hunger Games event at the Manila International Book Fair. Teams of two created costumes, participated in a cornucopia race, killed each other with stickers, and ended with a prune-eating contest.

Photos and ideas from Highland Park Public Library including homemade bows and arrows for an archery contest.

CardiganNation has some fun ideas like a tribute costume parade, a fanfiction contest, and crafts.

Even more ideas at Publisher’s Weekly Shelf Talker blog. They set up training stations with Nerf archery and shooting, knot-tying, problem-solving, and breath control with EyePops.

More ideas

Movie casting: The inevitable Hunger Games movie is already in development. Have participants vote for their ultimate movie cast based on pre-selected actors or with write-in votes. A few fan lists for ideas: Casting Call, My Cast List for The Hunger Games Movie, The Hunger Games Movie: The Perfect Cast , The Hunger Games – Movie Cast, Mockingjay Fever/The Hunger Games Movie Cast

Decorations: Decorate your space with fan-made maps of Panem (this one is really nice) and images of foreign covers (Scholastic has many posted on their blog with a few more at the Nerdfighters forum).

Display readalikes: Offer a selection of similar books to read once they’ve finished with the trilogy. There are plenty of great lists online like Evanston Public Library, Normal Public Library, and Jefferson-Madison Regional Library. Besides fiction, it could be cool to include survival books like The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook or The complete wilderness training book.

Team Peeta vs. Team Gale: Have your participants vote for who they think Katniss should end up with. But definitely allow alternate options like Team Katniss (who needs a guy?) or Team I Don’t Care!

Prize Giveaway: If you want to give away prizes, simulate the reaping day and the cornucopia by conducting a version of Yankee Swap. Wrap all the prizes and have everyone draw a number. Participants select prizes in order. Each participant has the option to keep the prize they selected and open it, or swap their unwrapped prize for someone else’s opened one.

Costume Parade: Hold a costume parade and contest. Provide small teams with mystery packs of miscellaneous supplies (left-over craft materials!) and a time limit to create tribute costumes. Give out award certificates like ‘most likely to cause a stir in the Capitol’ or ‘most likely to impress Cinna’.

Have you held a Hunger Games event? Do you have any ideas or advice?

July 5th, 2010  ♥  Program Idea  ♥  No Comments »

Program Idea: Minute to Win It and Silent Library

Looking for some quick, fun games to play with teens at the library as part of a teen group meeting or larger program? A few current tv shows can provide some inspiration!

Minute to Win It is a new game show on NBC that features contestants performing 60-second tasks that involve everyday objects. For example, one task called Dizzy Mummy challenges players to unwind a single roll of toilet paper by spinning their body repeatedly in a 360–without tearing the paper. NBC provides the rules, set-up, and how-to videos for the more than 60 challenges on their site and encourages people to send in videos of themselves trying the tasks.

Based on a Japanese game show, in MTV’s Silent Library players have to complete randomly drawn, bizarre tasks while remaining completely silent — they are in a library after all. A list of the challenges is available on the show’s Wikipedia page. Most are a little over the top for a library program, but the concept is a fun one — you could even incorporate the tasks from Minute to Win It with a Silent Library twist.

March 16th, 2010  ♥  Program Idea  ♥  No Comments »

Program Idea: Featuring Local Teens

Brian Mathews, a librarian at UCSB and blogger at The Ubiquitous Librarian, shares an program idea he’s implementing at his library. Each month, he plans to feature a person or group on campus, whether they’re artists, musicians, filmmakers, writers, or whatever. For the kickoff month, the library is offering a free mp3 download of a campus band, hosting an outdoor concert, and highlighting the group on promotional materials. He says:

One of my guiding principles is that academic libraries should highlight the scholarly, cultural, creative, and service contributions of the community. Not only highlight, but strive to make them tangible and engaging.

The same can be said about public libraries, of course. Featuring local teen talent on in-library displays or in programs is a cost-effective way to build community ties and encourage teen participation. Some libraries host battle of the bands competitions and others solicit teen-written material for literary zines. What other ways can you highlight the achievements of local teens?

January 25th, 2010  ♥  Program Idea  ♥  No Comments »

Program Idea: Book Clock

I love this book clock idea from craft blog Ruffles and Stuff. A great way to recycle old books from the discard or weeding pile. You could even make one to decorate your teen space. This also reminds me of making clocks from old CDs, a popular project we did for teen summer reading at one of my internship libraries.

December 30th, 2009  ♥  Program Idea  ♥  2 Comments »

Twilight Party Ideas

The second Twilight movie, New Moon, opens next Friday, Nov. 20. Are you throwing a party at your library? Here are a few ideas for activities, food and decorations to include in the festivities.

Based on the book covers, use apples, red ribbons, chess pieces, and tulips to decorate your space.

I made some vampire bite cupcakes for Halloween, as seen above, adapting this recipe from Baking Bites. To save time, use cake mix and canned frosting. Yum!

Use the beautifully designed labels from Hostess with the Mostess to decorate bottles of red juice or red soda.

Host a trivia contest. Find lots of questions at this Twilight Trivia site, She Knows Entertainment, or write your own if you’ve read the books. Make sure to include a mix of easy and difficult questions.

Make shimmering body lotion, marble magnets using images from the movie or book covers, or Team Edward/Team Jacob t-shirts or buttons.

A librarian on the YA-YAAC listserv suggested a “Drive like a Cullen” race course with cheap remote control cars from Wal-Mart and others suggested a vampires vs. werewolves tug-of-war.

Give out plastic vampire fangs as prizes.

Unfortunately, Summit has pulled public performance rights for the first movie in November and December. Why not show other vampire and werewolf-related movies? Try Blood and Chocolate (werewolves and based on a YA book), Van Helsing, Buffy the Vampire Slayer (movie) or TV episodes, or I Am Legend.

Get lots more ideas at Studio 5 or at Tara’s Twilight Party, a blog dedicated to Twilight parties!

November 11th, 2009  ♥  Program Idea  ♥  No Comments »

Program Idea: Hula Hoops

(via flowers & machinery)

The origin of the hula hoop is unclear (they may have been around in ancient Greece), but it became a popular pastime in 1958 when Wham-o introduced the plastic hoop to the U.S. Since then, the hula hoop has become a mainstay of youth culture with popularity that waxes and wanes over time. Within the last ten years, though, hooping has developed into a thriving subculture, particularly within the jam-band and raving communities. And more recently, hooping has caught on in the fitness world, with hula hoop classes offered at health clubs and at-home exercise videos.

While you can pick up a classic plastic hoop at stores like Toys R Us or Target, these are very lightweight and usually designed for children. Modern hoops used by hooping fanatics are bigger, heavier and flashier. You can even pick up an LED/fire combo hoop for a couple hundred dollars at a site like Superhooper. But one of the appealing aspects of hooping involves making your own hoop and decorating it to your heart’s desire. It can be done quickly and fairly cheaply with materials found at most large hardware stores.

For a fun and not too expensive program for tweens or teens, invite a local hooper to demonstrate hooping techniques and different hoops. Then let the kids get hands-on and make their own hoops. You’ll need a large indoor or outdoor area with access to an electrical outlet for the construction of the hoops.

Browse the Hoop Group Directory to find a local hooping group or see if there is a Hoopnotica or HoopGirl instructor in your area.

Make a Hoop

Supplies needed:
3/4″ 100 or 160 psi Polyethylene tubing (like this from Lowe’s): between 8-10 feet per person, so a 100-foot roll will give you 10 hoops ~$3/hoop
3/4″ plastic tube connectors: <$1/hoop
PVC pipe cutter (like this): ~$20
Hairdryer: bring one from home
Several rolls of colorful tape: Identi-Tape has a large variety of tapes and caters to hoopers. You’ll probably need to budget about 75′ of tape for one hoop, so this is the most expensive part. Vinyl tape is the cheapest per foot, but gaffer’s tape is more popular because of its texture. If you can, also get some metallic, holographic or glow-in-the-dark tape for added fun.

Instructions:
1. Cut tubing to desired size using PVC cutter. The hoop should be about as tall as your waist.
2. Use hair dryer to soften ends of tubing.
3. Connect the two ends of tubing using the connector.
4. Cover the whole tube using your colorful tape!

Visit JasonUnbound for a more detailed tutorial with pictures.

Hooping.org Magazine is the go-to online resource for all things hooping including how-to videos, hoop-making articles, and information on the hooping subculture.

May 11th, 2009  ♥  Program Idea  ♥  No Comments »