How to Host a Book Club Birthday Party for Teen Girls

This book club birthday party is perfect for the book loving teen girl in your life! Get all the details here to help you plan a night of fun and laughter.

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Reading is like breathing for my oldest child. It’s a rare thing if she doesn’t have a book in her hand. So it only seemed natural to do a book club themed birthday party for her. Not surprisingly, many of her friends love reading as well and we knew it would be a fun teen girl birthday party. We came up with a variety of ideas and ultimately settled on what I’m sharing in this post.

This book club themed birthday party could easily be adapted to adults. You’ll find ideas for food, decor and activities, as well as a full supply list at the bottom to make shopping easy.

Food

We had so much fun coming up with ideas for book themed food. I will admit, I did get a little help from ChatGPT for this. If there are specific foods or books you want to use, this could be a good option for you. I’ll list the book themed food we had at the party, along with the book it came from:

• Marilla’s Raspberry Cordial (raspberry lemonade) – Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
• Pool Water (ice water) – Starfish by Lisa Fipps
• Butterbeer Bites (pre-packaged Butterbeer cookies, but anything butterbeer flavored would work) – Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
• Miss Trunchbull’s Chocolate Cake (brownie bites) – Matilda by Roald Dahl
• Secret Garden Fruit Salad (fresh fruit) – The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
• Half Blood Oranges (orange slices) – Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
• Benoit Farms Veggies (fresh veggies) – Scarlet from the Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer
• Poison Apples (apple slices) – Fairest of All from the Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer
• The Itch Snack Mix (variety of pretzels) – And Then, Boom by Lisa Fipps
• The Hobbits Pantry Cheese (cheese cubes) – The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
• Bite Sized Books (Hershey nuggets)
• Book Worms (gummy worms)

Decor

I kept the book club birthday party decor pretty simple since I didn’t want to decorate the entire basement. We had just enough book themed elements that it felt intentional. I used one of my daughter’s old books and created three different types of decorations: a banner, food labels and table runners.

To protect the tables, I used tablecloths I already have (2 white for the folding tables and 1 colored for the food table). I also wound some fairy lights around the various dishes on the food table.

Book Club Banner

The best way I found to make the banner was to create a template that I traced on each page. Then I cut it out and used poster size letter stickers to form the words. I made sure to cut extra banner pieces to go at the beginning, end and in between each word to help with spacing.

I punched holes in the top of each banner piece with my hand held hole punch and used the first one as a template for the rest. This ensured that the spacing was the same on each piece. To string them all together, I used jute twine. It gave the banner a more aged look and the rough texture prevented the banner pieces from moving.

A fun detail I added was to use the numbered chapter page to go in between my daughter’s name and the word ‘book’. It was a subtle way to include the age she was turning without taking away from the design.

Food Labels

The food labels were easy to put together. I used a 12×12 piece of black cardstock and cut it down into 3″x4″ rectangles using a paper trimmer, then folded it in half. I pulled more pages from the book I was using and cut them into 1.5″x2.5″ rectangles.

To write the name of each food, I used a Sharpie so it would stand out against the text on the book page. Then I used a tape runner to adhere the label to the cardstock. (You could also used doubled-sided tape.)

Table Runner

To make the table runners, I pulled more pages out at random, then started layering them together. I angled the pages and made sure the torn edge wasn’t always on the same side before adhering them. I used my tape runner for this part as well. All the pages were facing the same direction, so none were upside down, but that is just a personal choice.

We used the runners on two 6-ft folding tables and each runner was a little shorter than that.

Book Stacks and Greenery

I have some old books that I use as decor on some of the shelves in our house. I pulled 8-10 out and made two stacks: one for each folding table. I also included a few artificial plants on the food table.

If you want to use books as decor, you don’t have to use old books to make it special. If we didn’t have those books already, I could have used other books we have. A few ideas would be Harry Potter, Lunar Chronicles, Divergent series, etc. Or you could check out your local thrift store for hardbound books. Remove the paper jacket (if there is one) so the cloth cover is exposed and stack 3-5 together.

Activities

Book Guessing Game

Another way I used ChatGPT for this book club themed party is to have it help me create clues for various books. All of my daughter’s friends love reading and read a variety of books so we thought this would be a fun activity to test their book knowledge. We chose books that were well known to the girls, either because they all like the series (like Harry Potter), or books that are part of their local Battle of the Books challenge.

I typed in the books that I wanted included for the game, then asked ChatGPT to create clues from easy to expert, for a total of four levels (easy, medium, challenge, expert). I printed it out and placed it on a clipboard to avoid anyone getting an unfair advantage. We decided not to form teams and to make it a group game. I wrote the books they could choose from on a piece of paper and hung it up so they could all see.

Then I read the clues, starting at the expert level and making my way down the list of clues. I wrote down their guesses and at the end, let them know which ones they’d gotten correct. While this game is pretty specific to a book club themed party, it fit well and all the girls had fun. I think the only change I’d make if I were to do it again would be to do a few less books.

Book Bedazzling

When my daughter sent out the invitation, she asked each girl to bring their own book to bedazzle. I bought a set of multi-colored rhinestone gems, wax pencils, B7000 craft glue and gem sorting trays. There were 11 girls at the party and we still had quite a few rhinestones left over.

The girls bedazzled their books and listened to music for about an hour before finishing up. Of course, we had to take a picture of the finished books. It was so fun to see the variety of books they chose to bring to the party.

Book Club Birthday Party Supply List

• 12×12 cardstock (black)
• Poster size letter stickers
• Paper trimmer
• Hand held hole punch
• Jute twine
• Tape runner (or double-sided tape)
• Ruler
• Pencil
• Black Sharpie
• Clipboard (for game)
• Drink Dispensers (similar)
• Rhinestone Gem Kit
• Wax Pencils
• B7000 Craft Glue
• Gem Sorting Trays
• Fairy Lights
• White Tablecloths

I absolutely LOVE doing themed birthday parties for my kids. Ever since I did the first one when my oldest turned 3 (a pirate and princess theme), I haven’t looked back. My kids love being part of the planning and it gives both of us direction for food, games and decor.

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