Book Themed Party

Book Themed Party: book page wreath, DIY mini book garland, book page table runner, and lots of fun vintage books and other pieces.

This year for our traditional Back To School dinner I thought it would be fun to do a book themed party. This is perfect for back to school, but would also be great for any book themed party, book club meeting, themed birthday party, book themed baby shower or wedding decor. If you have younger children you could use children’s books. These are great party ideas for anyone who loves a great book.

It was a lot of fun putting it all together in our party space with just a few fun DIY projects, and lots of vintage details sure to thrill any book lover.

I started out shopping my house and came up with lots of vintage treasures to incorporate. I also did some crafting with some old books to fit our party theme.

Book Page Wreath

This fun book page wreath is one that I’ve had for awhile, but was perfect for our book theme. To make it you cut out a piece of Bristol board into a large circle or use a wreath form for a base. Next, use an old book from the thrift store to create some book page cones. Using thrifted books is such an affordable way to decor for a book themed party. Secure the book paper cones together with hot glue, and then attach them to the wreath form. This wreath is perfect for any bookish theme party, or to use as fun decor afterwards.

Mini Book Garland

I also made a mini book garland to hang over the table, like a book bunting.

I made each book cover from cardstock. For ours we used some black, brown, and grey card stock, and then added in some book pages, cut from an old book. Once the mini books were made, used a clothespin to attach them to some baker’s twine. You could create these in any colors to match your color scheme. If you were having a cake an even smaller mini version of this would be a really great way to make a matching cute cake topper.

Book Page Table Runner

To create our table runner, I used more old books, and pulled out some pages. It looks great using an assortment of different sizes of books, and different ages so that some are ore white and some are more yellowed for variation. You could also look for some inexpensive books to use at the dollar store.

I laid out the pages on the table in a runner shape and secured the end pieces to each other with some hot glue, to create the hang over the edge of the table. I love this as a fun alternative to your standard plastic tablecloth. If you where having a specific book as your theme, especially a picture book you could use a second hand one. Or if you didn’t want to damage the actual book, you could use color photocopies to make a table runner, or bunting. This would be really sweet for a child’s birthday celebration.

Vintage Books in Glass Cloches

Another fun idea for the table was to add some vintage books into some large glass cloches. They make a fun centrepiece for the table, and draw attention to the beautiful vintage books. Find vintage books inexpensively at thrift stores or garage sales.

Library Card Place Cards

I used some fun library cards as the place cards for the table. These were such a fun library detail to the table.

Vintage Accessories

I used some of my favourite vintage pieces for our book themed party that add lots of interest to the set up. Over on the side board I featured my vintage book card catalogue, picked up at an antique fair and a real favourite of mine. On top of the catalogue some antique glasses, some one must have left them there after using them for reading. I also included my old vintage typewriter, another antique fair find. It might be fun to type a message on it. For a book themed party maybe a list of your favourite books would be fun, and the detail oriented guest might notice, or could even type there’s on the bottom of the list and keep the list going.

This table was so much fun to put together. I love how it turned out with all the pretty vintage touches. My girls enjoyed it for our traditional back to school dinner. This year things look a little different for us with a delayed back to school start, and a mix of in-school and on-line instruction. It’s been a hard decision for so many families on what to do for school this year. I hope what ever you’ve decided for your family that you’re embracing it and jumping into a new season. This year with things looking so different, it’s more important than ever to enjoy traditions to make us all feel a little bit more normal. Our back to school dinner is one of our favourites.

Book Party Favor Ideas

It would also be fun to include some party favors for our book-themed party or book birthday party. And obvious choose would be to give guests your favorite books. For a birthday party you could include your child’s favorite book, or choose an age appropriate classic like The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Green Eggs and Ham, Curious George, Charlotte’s Web, or Harry Potter. Not sure what books your guests might like best and having a hard time choosing? A perfect option is to choose an assortment of kids books, or young adults books and have let each guest look through the stack of books as they’re leaving and choose one to take home with them.

Another easier option is to give each guest a gift card to a bookstore as a favor so they can pick their own. You might also add a book mark, or a bag of gummy worms with a note saying a gift for the book worm.

With a book themed party for back to school, or for any occasion, life really is a party!

More Inspiration

You might also like our Back To School Dinner here with free Back To School Printables here.

Also check out our Notebook Paper Sugar Cookies here.

You might also enjoy our First Day of School Dinner here.

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